Book 4: A Small Town Summer
Love in Harmony Valley Series
On this page, you’ll find the story blurb, an excerpt, the story behind the story, and bonus content.
They were best friends.
When Shelby Hawkley’s husband was alive, Gage Jamero was a best friend to both of them. Why wouldn’t he be? The three of them grew up together in Harmony Valley, a small town nestled in a northern corner of rural Sonoma County.
But things changed.
Now widowed, Shelby has moved back to her sleepy hometown to care for her grandfather and work for the small winery that’s opening. She hasn’t seen Gage in a long time. So, when he shows up, she’s expecting their friendship to pick up where it left off. Best buds, right?
Can she stand for things to change again?
Nothing is going well for Shelby. Not the wine harvest, not her grandfather’s health, and not the diminishing days until Gage is scheduled to leave for Kentucky. Maybe Shelby’s making all the wrong choices this summer, maybe she isn’t over Nick’s death, and maybe she should keep Gage in the friend zone.
Fans of friends to forever love romance and movies like P.S. I Love You and Catch and Release will love this emotional, heartwarming, clean romance with a cast of quirky town characters and a happily ever after.
Readers love A Small Town Summer:
“This town is like a warm blanket on your soul. I need more!” Goodreads Reviewer, 5 Stars
"Oh, this was such a lovely story! It’s such a sweet tale of loss, friendship, and love." Goodreads Reviewer, 5 Stars
“This book was seriously hard to put down and I definitely wasn’t disappointed with how it ended.” Goodreads Reviewer, 5 Stars
“This is such an emotional story. I'll admit that I cried.” Goodreads Reviewer, 5 Stars
Excerpt:
“Accept my apology, Sugar Lips?” Gage Jamero was up to his elbows in trouble with his latest lady love.
Well, at least one elbow.
Sugar Lips’s contraction built like a blood pressure cuff around Gage’s right biceps. His face heated, his fingers numbed, his body felt as if it was wrapped in a too-tight bandage.
“Breathe easy, honey.” Gage tried to follow his own advice. During his internship and residency, he’d gained quite a reputation as a horse whisperer when it came to peevish, pregnant horses. Since then, he’d soothed countless mares and saved many foals trapped in utero by breach positions, like this one was. But this foal, sired by a Kentucky Derby winner, was the equivalent of a million dollar baby.
On the floor of a hay-lined stall, sprawled on his back, his legs half across Sugar Lips’s chestnut flanks, Gage sweated through the mare’s next contraction. He hadn’t been this nervous about his performance since he choked while asking his lab partner out in the twelfth grade. Saving this foal would make or break his fledgling career.
He’d graduated. He’d passed his licensing exam, both in California and Kentucky. He had a job offer in Lexington. All he was waiting for was his predecessor’s retirement. Until then, he was working for lucrative per-delivery fees from the Thomason Equine Hospital, a facility in Davis which was also an open classroom to local university vet students. They received notification when a procedure or delivery was imminent at Thomason and were able to observe through specially installed viewing windows. Today they were witnessing Gage, one of their own a year ago, on the main stage.
He’d never been requested to deliver such a valuable foal before. If he screwed this up—and there were many ways to fail here—it would be a blow to his young career. He might even lose the job in Kentucky.
As if sensing what was at stake, the student onlookers and support staff in the hallway of the birthing center fell into a hushed silence, much like the gallery at a golf tournament before a pro-golfer shot for birdie and the win. And just like that pro-golfer, Gage knew he had supporters and detractors. No one wanted anything bad to happen to the mare and her foal, but everyone was hungry for the spotlight he’d recently claimed.
The contraction faded and Gage regained use of his fingers, pressing them harder against the flat of the foal’s forehead, pushing it farther back into the mare’s uterus. He shifted more weight onto his shoulders and the mare’s haunches. Extending his arm, he found the foal’s front leg and eased it forward without snagging the umbilical cord until he had two delicate hooves in his grasp.
“Here we go, Sugar Lips,” he crooned, much too aware that his back was at the mare’s mercy should she kick.
The mare’s wet flanks heaved as if this breath would be her last. She was young and this was her first pregnancy. She’d spent much of her pre-labor huffing, glaring and kicking at Gage, blaming him for her condition. So far he’d been extremely lucky in avoiding injury, but luck only lasted so long when idiots were present.
“Dr. Jamero?” The question echoed through the birthing stall.
Sugar Lips coldcocked Gage in the kidney with one powerful hoof.
Pain sucked Gage’s legs and torso into a stiff ball. He almost lost his grip on the foal. It was a sign of how spent the mare was that she didn’t kick him repeatedly. It was a sign of good fortune that this position allowed him greater mobility to shift when delivery was at hand. He’d have to remember that. File for use later.
Because Sugar Lips’s uterus tensed once more. It was go-time.
Moments later, Gage lay panting in the hay cradling the trembling key to his dreams. Sugar Lips lifted her head to see what all the fuss was about, whinnying when she saw her newborn.
Gage’s chest swelled with pride. This was what he loved about being a veterinarian—facing difficult challenges, saving a life, making a connection with a beautiful creature that communicated primarily with body language.
Some boneheads started clapping. Gage curled protectively around the foal being careful not to tear the umbilical cord. He glared at the lone student who was still applauding until the onlooker stopped. Steady hands transferred the newborn to the ground and checked the vitals of both mare and foal.
Dr. Leo Faraji, a colleague and the man Gage had beaten out for the Kentucky job, helped him to his feet. “Need a doctor, doctor?” he asked in his singsong accent.
“Never.” Knowing he looked as if he was the only survivor in a horror movie, covered as he was in blood and birth fluids, Gage drew himself up to his full six-two height, pretending Sugar Lips hadn’t nearly deflated his kidney.
“Someone wanted me?” he asked. And then he smiled.
His mother always said his smile could charm a tantrumy two-year-old into eating vegetables. Since Nick had died, Gage saw it more as a first line of defense. He smiled and people assumed he was okay. Now he used it because he wasn’t going to let these clean, white-coated, wanna-be veterinarians see how nauseous and spent he was.
Someone sucked in a breath, as if awestruck.
That was a more god-like reaction than he’d been hoping for, but as veiled praise went, Gage would take it.
“Yeah, um, Dr. Jamero? There’s some guy on the phone for you.” It was the center’s new student assistant. She hadn’t been around long enough for Gage to learn her name, test her knowledge, or teach her barn etiquette. “He’s been on hold awhile now.” She handed him a pink note.
Gage’s smile didn’t break as he reached for the message, dripping the mare’s afterbirth onto the girl’s hand.
Accidentally, of course.
“Ew.” She hopped back, shaking the fluid from her fingers.
“Sorry.” Gage checked the stained pink pad and read the name—Dr. Wentworth. His smile faded as he sped from the stall, his steps purposeful and steady, despite the pain radiating in his midsection.
Dr. Wentworth had nurtured Gage’s interest in animals since he was a kid. Whenever he called, Gage quickly responded.
Gage’s family had been small town cattle ranchers. Their home had been situated in the middle of a neighborhood street on the edge of Harmony Valley, one without sidewalks or streetlights. Their backyard led out to acres and acres of grazing land. Doc’s family had been their next door neighbors and were always bringing home stray animals in need of care. Gage had gravitated toward Doc and his patients. He’d set broken legs and viewed medical procedures before he’d earned his driver’s license.
Minutes later, Gage had ditched the messy smock he’d been wearing and grabbed the office phone. Today was one heck-of-a good day. He couldn’t wait to share the news of the healthy foal with Dr. Wentworth. “What can I do for you?”
“Turn on your cell phone, for one.” The gruff voice, loaded with the attitude of a seasoned hound dog, brought back fond memories of the things Gage liked best about Harmony Valley—its people. “Whoever heard of a doctor nowadays without a phone or a beeper strapped to his waist, Gage?”
“I’ll turn on my cell as soon as we hang up.” Gage’s phone was in his backpack in the corner of the sparsely furnished office beneath a picture of Secretariat draped in red roses.
The old vet wasted no time on pleasantries. “I wanted to be the first to offer you a chance to buy into a practice—mine. Here in Harmony Valley.”
“Wow.” Gage’s knees buckled and his butt dropped onto the metal desktop. Practice back home? That wasn’t happening. Harmony Valley was filled with bittersweet memories. Not to mention it was wine country now. No racing thoroughbreds or horse breeding farms in the entire off-the-beaten-path valley. “Uh, thanks b—”
“The folks in Harmony Valley sure do have a lot of respect for you. We need a vet.”
“But—”
“Don’t interrupt. Did leaving town wipe away all your manners?”
“No, sir.” It had just reinforced the view that life outside Harmony Valley had more to offer and less heartache.
“Now. Where was I?”
“You were talking about good manners,” Gage suggested helpfully.
“My father—” Doc began in a sweeping tone “—would have said you’re being impertinent. I called to talk business, Doctor Jamero. It’s true, I’ve had to let much of my practice go in recent years, although I do still treat Bea Larkin’s milk goats.”
Gage’s shoulders sagged beneath the weight of the old man’s expectations. “Well, you see—”
“There you go again.” There was a snap in his voice that indicated the cantankerous old dog was about to bite. “Just because an old man takes a breath doesn’t mean he’s finished speaking.”
Gage wisely refrained from any jokes about Dr. Wentworth’s age, old dogs, and new tricks.
“What I’m trying to say is that we’d make a good team. I can mentor you, like I used to.” The old man drew an audible breath, as if he’d spoken too quickly. “Young people are slowly moving back here. They’ll be having kids, adopting dogs, and getting hamsters and all kinds of creatures who’ll need a vet. Don’t tell me you can’t come back. Why, Shelby moved in with me yesterday. I’m sure she called you along with the other volunteers they’ve rounded up to help harvest grapes this Friday night. The winery she’s working wasn’t able to schedule a harvesting crew last minute, so they are gathering the troops.”
This was news to Gage. Shelby hadn’t called. She’d stopped calling over a year ago.
Secretariat stared down on him with a gaze that had never backed away from a challenge. Of course, Secretariat had his choice of women.
If Gage’s career decision was racehorses versus some old woman’s shaggy milk goats; the excitement of the training yard, breeding stables and track versus the slow paced life in small town Harmony Valley; or a life where no one knew his past versus a life where everyone knew why he had a scar on his right temple...
It didn’t matter how many pros and cons Gage thought of, the life of a racehorse veterinarian was the one he desired. It was the one he’d choose every time he was asked.
So it made no sense that he didn’t reject Dr. Wentworth’s offer outright, other than to show his respect and spare the old man’s feelings.
Because Gage refused to acknowledge that Shelby Hawkley—Doc’s granddaughter—had anything to do with his return to Harmony Valley.
The Story Behind the Story
I’m not a huge fan of romances where best friends fall in love. Why? Because best friends already know each other really well. But when I got the idea for this story, I thought it would be interesting if they were estranged BFF’s. That creates some tension and gives them some tender, emotional moments during the story.
I love Gage. The son of my mother’s best friend was involved in UC Davis’s equine programs, although not as a veterinarian. It gave me an interesting perspective on the inner workings of a university equine center and the dreams of those involved in the program. Gage has big dreams, dreams that don’t involve Harmony Valley.
I have a real fondness for this story. It just brings all the feels, which for me means that readers get warmth, laughter, and tears. I hope you fall for Shelby and Gage the way I did.
Bonus Content
If you read the book, make sure you download the free Bonus Epilogue.
This book was originally published by Harlequin and updated when I received the rights back. Here’s a look at the cover history of this title:
(coming soon)
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