Hi, I’m Gail Pallotta. I’d like to thank Coffee Time Romance for having me today and you for stopping by to read about my book, Love Turns the Tide.
It deals with the emotional pain of Cammie O’Shea. Her fiancé hurt her so deeply she never wants to date again. She enjoys a successful career as a feature writer for a newspaper. Perhaps a little too successful, because she’s ordered from Cedar Forks, Georgia, to Destin, Florida, to help start a new paper, The Sun Dial.
Heartbroken and alone, she wants to return home to her longtime friends and family. But she throws herself into her work, because she doesn’t want to get fired and have a blight on her work record.
For her first assignment at The Sun Dial she has to interview Vic Deleona, an important real estate developer. She already resents him because she has to move one week early to make the appointment his secretary scheduled. When she arrives, Vic, in the throws of a major business problem, rushes out nearly running over her. Before he goes through the doorway he tells Cammie his secretary will re-schedule the appointment.
When Vic and Cammie meet again, Vic’s smitten with her. Immediately he proposes future meetings. He wants her to see a unit before she writes about it. That leads to photos he says he’ll get to her. Later he asks to meet to go over her draft of the article. Cammie’s attracted to him, but not about to admit it to herself. After all she’s been through with the ex-fiance, she’s so afraid of being hurt, she wants to finish the interview and get Vic out of her life.
Then vandals break into Cammie and her friend’s condos. Guess who comes to their rescue? Vic. Eventually he and Cammie investigate the crimes. She warms up to him. But she gets an opportunity to return home to her old job. Will Vic solve the crimes and win Cammie’s heart or will she leave Destin?
I’ve been asked quite a bit why I wrote this type book. The inspiration came from talking to women and men who’ve experienced hurtful relationships. While some people meet someone, fall in love and walk down the aisle, others get hurt again and again before they find the right person. I wanted to encourage those people while writing an interesting story in a romantic place. I believe God has a plan for each of us if we open ourselves to Him. That’s what Cammie did.
Here’s the opening of Love Turns the Tide.
Chapter One
Twenty-six-year-old Cammie O’Shea’s hand trembled as she took hold of the gold doorknob to Vic Deleona’s real estate office in Destin, Florida. Opening it, she waited for what seemed like an eternity while a muscular man with broad shoulders stood at a file cabinet with his back to her. Finally, she gave the door a little push, so it banged, but not too loud. He jumped with a start, turned around, and glared at her with angry green eyes. Had hearing someone enter offended him? Surely not, he must have seen something in a file that upset him. “Hi, Miss uh”¦”
Before he finished speaking, the phone rang. He picked it up with his large hand, gripping the receiver tightly with long fingers with dark hairs on the knuckles. “What do you mean he can’t come to do the inspection?” Wrinkles creased his brow as he slammed the receiver back into the black cradle on his mahogany desk. “We’ll see about that,” he mumbled to himself. Stuffing some papers in his briefcase, he picked it up and came around the desk like he’d been shot out of a cannon. Charging toward the door, he stopped just short of bumping into Cammie. “Miss uh”¦”
“O’Shea, Cammie O’Shea.”
“I’m sorry. I have to deal with a situation.” He said the word “situation” in a loud tone. “We’ll have to re-schedule. See my secretary, Marge Galloway, for another appointment.” He glanced at his Rolex. “She should be in by now,” he said. Then he rushed past Cammie, the door slamming behind him.
Tears puddled in her eyes. She turned to walk out, but before she did a woman with medium-length, strawberry blonde hair entered. “Hello, Miss O’Shea, I’m Marge. I’m so sorry Mr. Deleona had to leave. I hope it won’t be an inconvenience.”
An inconvenience! She had gotten up at six this morning to dress nicely and make sure she arrived at this important engagement on time. However, she said, “I’m sure it isn’t your fault, but I do need to talk with him. I arrived in Destin this past weekend to begin working this morning at The Sun Dial, the new newspaper. I haven’t even met my boss yet. This time last week I was writing features for The Loop, another paper owned by The Dexter Group, in Cedar Forks, Georgia.
“You must be an excellent writer if The Dexter Group asked you to help start a paper.”
Marge was a good public relations person. She had re-routed the conversation from the fact that Vic Deleona had skipped a scheduled meeting and practically run over her on his way out to her writing. However, it was not surprising that she knew how to smooth over bad situations. After meeting Vic Deleona she imagined Marge had gotten lots of experience doing just that. Still, it was nice of Marge to insinuate that it was her job performance that had brought her here. Since The Dexter Group had demanded she move to Destin and help get The Sun Dial on its feet, she had thought only of how much she wanted to stay in Cedar Forks. If it hadn’t been for the appointment with Vic Deleona she could have waited another week to report. But Marge didn’t need to know all of that. “If it’s all right I’ll call to re-schedule.”
“Yes, give me a buzz when you get settled, and I’ll get you in here to see Mr. Deleona right away.”
Cammie went outside, got in her navy Honda, propped her arms on the steering wheel, and lay her head on them. Her heart still broken from the abrupt break-up with her fiancé, Jay Marias, she didn’t need the extra stress of a new job, especially one that had begun so dismally. But she was in the thick of it now”¦”
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