#MFRWhooks Blog Hop - An Excerpt From NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - Let's Try This Again

Happy Wednesday! Today I've got an excerpt from NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE. In this snippet, apprentice angel Gabriel attempts for the second time to convince Joanna to go back in time for a second chance at love. This time he's going to show her what happened to Lucas when she didn't help him with his wrongful dismissal case. He's counting on Joanna wanting to right past wrongs. I hope you enjoy the excerpt!

Excerpt:

Joanna startled, one hand on her chest. “You again. My figment of imagination. I’m starting to think I should contact my doctor. I believe I’m having a stroke.”

“No, you’re fine. You’re just seeing an angel.”

She looked him up and down. “An angel who wears a tuxedo, apparently.”

“I was on my way to a gala on the day I died. Turns out, the clothes you die in are the clothes you wear for the rest of your afterlife.”

“Whatever.” Joanna turned back to the window, her expression bored. “Why are you here again?”

“Same reason as before. To convince you to come with me on a journey to your past. To give you your second chance at love.”

“I told you, I’m not interested.” She wheeled her chair away. “Time for you to go.”

“Did you ever see Lucas again after that time he came to your office asking for your help?”

“If you’re an angel, I’m sure you already know the answer is no.”

“Then maybe you need to see this.”

Gabriel pointed at her television, and with Thomas’ help, it jumped to life. When Lucas’ face filled the screen, Joanna pushed her wheelchair in front of the TV, intrigued despite what she said. Lucas closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest, his hands gripping the steering wheel of his truck. When the camera pulled back, revealing where the truck was parked, Joanna gasped.

“This is the street in front of my old office,” she said.

“Yes. This is the day you told Lucas you couldn’t represent him in his wrongful dismissal claim.”

“I told him I’d recommend another lawyer in the office for him, but he never came back.”

“No, he didn’t. He only wanted you.”

When Gabriel next pointed at the television, images flipped by quickly in fast forward. He halted the motion, and a picture of Lucas sitting at a bar appeared, a glass of amber liquid clutched in his hand. Lucas looked years older, his hair disheveled and several days growth of beard on his face. His winter jacket sported a dark stain, and the cuffs were worn and frayed.

“This is several years after you last saw him. Things have not been going well. After unfairly losing his job as an electrician, he couldn’t get hired anywhere else. He became discouraged and couldn’t hold down any kind of job. As you can see, his drinking became a problem.”

Lucas downed his remaining drink and set the empty glass on the bar. “Another whiskey.”

The bartender snatched up the glass. “You’ve had enough. Time to go home and sleep it off.”

Lucas grinned at that. “Can’t. Got no home to go to.”

Joanna turned to Gabriel in alarm. “He has no home?”

“Without work, he couldn’t afford an apartment. He couch-surfed with friends for a while, but that wasn’t sustainable. Eventually, even his mother kicked him out.”

“His mother?” Joanna stared at Gabriel. “Lucas lived with his mother?”

“Until she threw him out,” Gabriel said. “Let’s watch what happens next.”

The bartender looked toward the entrance of the bar and signalled to the bouncer stationed there. “Well, you can’t stay here. This gentleman will escort you out.”

The bouncer grabbed Lucas’ upper arm and pulled him from the bar stool. Lucas stumbled and nearly fell, only remaining upright because the bouncer hauled him to his feet. He was half dragged to the door, then pushed outside into the cold. He staggered down the street.

Joanna stared at the television in disbelief. “This isn’t the Lucas I knew. He was hardworking and reliable. When we were together, the only thing he drank was the occasional beer. I never once saw him drunk.”

“When you didn’t help him with his wrongful dismissal suit, he lost hope. When a person no longer has any hope, it’s an easy slide into depression and alcoholism.”

Joanna turned her face away. “I don’t want to see anymore.”

“Just a little more. Let’s follow him.”

They watched as Lucas made his way along the snowy sidewalk. He had little protection against the cold and wind. His hands and head were bare, and the zipper on his jacket appeared to be broken. He gripped the edges of his jacket together with one hand as he trudged through the snow, his head down.

“Dear God,” Joanna whispered.

Lucas stopped in front of an old brick building. A sign above the entrance proclaimed it to be a homeless shelter. He rang the bell and huddled inside the doorway. Finally, someone opened the door.

The man shook his head. “Lucas, it’s late. If you wanted a bed, you should have been here hours ago.”

“Sorry. Is there room? It’s real cold tonight.”

“We’re already over capacity. What happened to the winter gear I gave you the other day?”

Lucas hung his head. “Got stolen. Sorry.”

The man sighed. Snow fell heavily now, and the wind whipped it into a frigid frenzy. “I don’t have a mat or even a blanket left for you, but maybe we can find you a bare piece of floor somewhere.”

“Thanks, Bill. I appreciate it.” Lucas stepped inside, and Bill closed the door behind him. Gabriel stopped the video, a picture of a dishevelled Lucas stuck on the screen.

Joanna shook her head. “This is awful, just awful.”

“Yeah, it is,” Gabriel agreed. “It all started when Lucas unfairly lost his job. He never caught a break after that. You were the one person who might have been able to help him, but you didn’t.”

“I didn’t know he was going to end up like this.”

“If you’d known, would it have made a difference? Would you have helped him get back on his feet so he didn’t end up in a homeless shelter?”

“Stop trying to make me feel guilty!”

“Is it working?”

Joanna didn’t reply. She backed up her wheelchair and rolled into her kitchen. Gabriel followed her. Through the static, he picked up bits and pieces of her emotions, mostly guilt, but also sadness and anger.

“Why are you angry?”

Joanna’s hands bunched into fists. “Because he never came back! I would have found someone to represent him. He didn’t have to go through all this. Why was he so stubborn!”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was embarrassed.”

He’d wanted to connect with Joanna again but when she turned him away a second time, that was it for him. He was done fighting, Thomas offered.

You’re probably right.

“So damn stubborn.” Joanna huffed out a breath and shook her head. “Fine. You win. I’ll go back in time with you to 1979, and this time I’ll take Lucas’ case. But I don’t want to hear any more nonsense about second chances at love. I’m strictly correcting a mistake I made back then.”

“That’s great, Joanna. You won’t regret this.” Gabriel extended his hand to her. “Take my hand and our journey back in time will begin.”

This time, she didn’t hesitate. The minute she clasped Gabriel’s hand, a flood of her emotions swept through him. Though she pretended she didn’t believe what he told her about second chances at love, a part of her wanted it to be true. Her life had been very lonely for a long time.

“I’ll make it happen, Joanna. I promise.”

He held tight to her hand. Thomas placed his hand over the two of theirs, and they were on their way.

Blurb:

Apprentice angel Gabriel Daniels faces his second task in becoming a full-fledged angel. His new client, Joanna Compton, broke up with her fiancé Lucas Kendall in 1971 after a car accident left her paraplegic. She refused to be a burden the way her father was. Eight years later, Joanna, by then a lawyer, declined to take Lucas’ wrongful dismissal case when he came to her for help.

 Though Gabriel convinces Joanna to go back to 1979, Joanna insists she’s only doing so to give Lucas the justice she should have helped him attain the first time around. She doesn’t want a second chance at love. Gabriel is desperate to change her mind so he’ll be one step closer to becoming a citizen of Heaven.

Meanwhile, Gabriel’s mentor, senior angel Thomas, shows him how much his inability to accept his parents’ divorce and the bipolar disease that runs in his family has cost him.

Gabriel must help Joanna accept the things she cannot change. And Thomas must help Gabriel do the same or neither will truly be at peace.

Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/Never-Can-Say-Goodbye

I’m participating in MFRW Book Hooks—browse the current hop here:

https://airtable.com/appvKrW9skkDjJe1n/shrqsbVq9LOioYMUD