Possibilities

As I mentioned earlier, our son graduated from college in May and will be starting medical school in the fall. In the meantime, he’s preparing to move out of our home and into an apartment. He lived on-campus during college, so this will be his first experience as a renter. We spent a couple of weeks touring every apartment complex within quick commute of his med school — and he soon realized that a student’s budget does not necessarily stretch to some of the higher-end amenities presented so temptingly by the most expensive options. Finally, he selected a nice, more modestly-priced place in a good location and reserved an apartment that will become available in a few weeks. Now he’s becoming aware of the expense of furnishing and stocking his new home. At this point, his only household furnishings are a raised-panel oak bookcase his dad made for his dorm room, a computer desk handed down from his second sister, and a used washer and dryer set he found on Craigslist last week. His older sister gave him a like-new set of dishes, we provided new pots and pans, and his aunt passed along a few kitchen utensils and a gently-used smoothie maker. We’ll make a discount store run for small kitchen items like a can opener and pizza cutter (two staples for a bachelor kitchen), and in the meantime he’s keeping an eye on the classified ads and accompanying me to estate sales in search of furniture. Being the youngest child, he has slim pickings from our extras — his older sisters already raided our storage room.

It has been rather amusing watching our son pricing new furniture for the first time in his young life (his excellent tastes lead him straight to the leather couches and mahogany tables his just-starting-out budget cannot cover). Remembering the hand-me-downs and garage-sale-specials that filled our first home, his dad and I smile in sympathy. Starting out isn’t easy and in many ways it’s scary — and yet, it’s exciting, too. So many possibilities lie ahead for him, so many adventures and choices.

This is why so many of my books feature women and men on the brink of change in their lives … new homes or jobs, new challenges and definitely new loves! Life is full of possibilities, and it’s fun for me to take my characters to a major fork in their life journey and follow along as they make their choice about which path to follow.

A HOME FOR THE M.D., my Harlequin Special Edition available in stores now, centers around such a choice for the heroine, Jacqui Handy, and the hero, Dr. Mitch Baker. Jacqui has been searching for a home of her own since her rootless, unsettled childhood, and she has settled happily in Little Rock, Arkansas. Yet now she finds herself falling for a man who is tempted by his own growing restlessness to take off for footloose adventures. Both Jacqui and Mitch are forced to determine what “home” means to them — and how much they are prepared to gamble in pursuit of their dreams. I hope you enjoy their exploration of all the possibilities open to them as they stand poised on the brink of change.

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