Instant Grandpa
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About this ebook
Summer at the Jersey Shore just got hotter... Take one widower grandfather, add two little grandkids, and widowed grandmother with a small granddaughter. Mix well. Stir in sun drenched beach days and moonlit nights. What have you got? A kite flying high with a new tail; an author writing a book to sort out emotions; a talented boy with his mother returned to claim the prize. Family complications and a happy beginning... not the end.
From the new Charmaine Gordon series The Beginning...Not the End. Mature Love, Romance, Suspense.
Charmaine Gordon
Charmaine Gordon writes books about women who Survive and Thrive. Her motto is take one step and then another to leave your past behind and begin again. Six books and several short stories in three years, she’s always at work on the next story. The books include To Be Continued, Starting Over, Now What?, Reconstructing Charlie, Sin of Omission and The Catch, and her series of Mature Romances, The Beginning...Not the End.“I didn’t realize at the time while working as an actor in NYC, I’d become a sponge soaking up dialogue, setting, and stage directions. I learned many tools of writing during the years watching directors like Mike Nichols and actors including Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, and Billy Crystal. And would you believe, I was Geraldine Ferraro’s stand– in leg model, my first job giving me entrée into all the Unions needed to work. When the sweet time ended, I began another career and creative juices flowed.”You can reach Charmaine athttp://authorCharmaineGordon.wordpress.comAnd on her FB page http://www.facebook.com/charmaine.gordon
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Instant Grandpa - Charmaine Gordon
Instant Grandpa
by Charmaine Gordon
Instant Grandpa
Copyright 2013 Charmaine Gordon
Published by: Vanilla Heart Publishing on Smashwords
Ebook Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
Dedication
Instant Grandpa is dedicated to the ones I love best: daughter Amy, grandest granddaughter Cassidy Rae, my youngest son Paul and my husband, Don. Thanks for your loving support as always.
Acknowledgements
Where would I be without the firm guiding wisdom of Kimberlee Williams? Thank you, Ms. K. for showing me the way. I couldn’t ask for a better publisher, friend and editor rolled into one.
And to the Hudson Valley RWA, it’s a pleasure being a member of this group of published authors.
A special shout out to the core Vanilla Heart Authors. We support one another and that’s unique in this competitive world.
Chapter 1
Who’s taking care of you, little girl?
a deep male voice said.
I hurried across the hot sand where my granddaughter, age five, sat on a blanket smiling widely at a gray haired man with two little boys in tow. The small ice chest I carried bumped against my leg. Ouch. Guaranteed to leave yet another bruise on aging skin. Unless the stranger collected small kids for evil purpose, my little Patti seemed fine.
Here’s Granny. We’re roomies. Mommy and Daddy are on vacation to Mexico.
Too much information to a stranger. I would have a little Granny chat with her soon about that.
I’m Ralph Berg. These fine boys are my grandsons. Mike is four, Tony is six.
He smiled. His white teeth gleamed against tan skin. The boys said hi and showed Patti their trucks and shovels.
Hello, I’m Claire,
and I busied myself with straightening the blanket, sun chairs and clamping the umbrellas. Alone with my granddaughter for the first time on vacation at the Jersey shore, I applied sunscreen to a wiggling Patti, tied her purple hat in place and wished this Ralph person would leave the boys to play and move on. I’m a widow, for God sake. Can’t he tell I’m in mourning from my black bathing suit?
Years before, when beach front property at the Jersey Shore wasn’t too expensive, I think dinosaurs roamed the earth back then, Larry and I bought our cute little house. With loving care, we renovated and winterized it to use all year. We raised a batch of kids and this is where we had the best of times. His ashes were inside a white stone bench near the house. My secret. The kids would not have approved. They kept telling me to begin again now that I’m single. Single. The word didn’t apply to me. After forty five years of marriage, I only knew about doubles.
I sat down, stretched out and greased up with one eye on Patti who had playmates to keep her busy. And where did Ralph settle down? As if we had adjoining rooms, he set up camp next to me. The beach was crowded but really … not that crowded. Lots of sandy real estate to spread out. I ignored him, removed pen and notebook from the old carryall and began to write a story lurking in the shadows of my mind.
A shipwreck with all passengers lost save one. A girl swims to shore. The wind blows her blond tresses dry as she strides on the sand, a trail of footprints in her wake. Her name is Claire.
Shrieks of laughter from the children broke my concentration. Ralph is up and running to check on them. How nice.
Rereading the few lines I’d written, I thought this sounds as if Shakespeare wrote it. Twelfth Night? What in the world is going on?
Chapter 2
Patti and I were together for ten days while daughter and her husband, what a good guy, went on a second honeymoon. The forecast might prove right this year with sunny days and no rain. I’d write the book my publisher waited for, at least get a good start, and Patti and I would have a lot of fun.
Except Ralph,