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After posting my Valentine’s story, the characters refused to leave me alone. I know when writers say things like that some people think we’re insane. But what I mean is I couldn’t stop wondering about them, especially Louise. I thought about how she and Rhonda had to conceal their love because they were schoolteachers from the 1960s to the turn of the century. I watched the scene in my mind’s eye as Louise sat behind the family at Rhonda’s funeral, bitter and heartbroken, with no one to comfort her. I wondered too about Marty, like why she left the LPGA tour, and what sort of mother she might have been. So I wrote another short story. And another. And another.
Then I got a note one day from a reader, who gave it to me right between the eyes. She wanted to know why my young and sexy characters got to have sex, while Marty & Lou were relegated to fade to black. So I knew I had to write their whole story. When the editing was finished, I had a new short story, cobbled together with snippets that got chopped from the book. I’ve added it here as a Bonus Read.
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