Josh & Anna and Gabe & Claire
Eliza Freed
Publication date: November 15th 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
No marriage is perfect.
Josh and Anna Montgomery are trying to have a baby. Well, Anna is. Josh is making the minimum contribution necessary, and it’s ruining their relationship.
Gabe Hawkins is trying to survive the wild ride that is life with his wife, Claire. It’s passionate everywhere but in their bedroom.
For these four friends, the difficulties of their marriages are camouflaged by hazy happy hours, extravagant vacations, picturesque weddings, and sleeping in. The possibilities of their youth are wilting in the light of their waning twenties, and on one fateful night, four friends become two. Survivors become lovers. Truths are told, and nothing seems like forever anymore.
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Author Bio:
Eliza Freed graduated from Rutgers University and returned to her hometown in rural South Jersey. Her mother encouraged her to take some time and find herself. After three months of searching, she began to bounce checks and her neighbors began to talk; her mother told her to find a job.
She settled into Corporate America, learning systems and practices and the bureaucracy that slows them. Eliza quickly discovered her creativity and gift for story telling as a corporate trainer and spent years perfecting her presentation skills and studying diversity. It’s during this time she became an avid observer of the characters we meet and the heartaches we endure. Her years of study have taught her laughter is the key to survival, even when it’s completely inappropriate.
She currently lives in New Jersey with her family and a misbehaving beagle named Odin. An avid swimmer, if Eliza is not with her family and friends, she’d rather be underwater. While she enjoys many genres, she has always been a sucker for a love story…the more screwed up the better.
Excerpt
Gabe
I didn’t give a fuck what the reason was, I was relieved to have Anna in the car with me instead of Claire, especially since it was Claire’s idea. She must have gotten over whatever she thought she’d seen inside Victory.
A sweet, floral smell followed Anna into the car. It floated around me, and I inhaled it deeply into my lungs. It was the same smell that always shocked me when I was close to her. Next to her in an elevator. Randomly seated beside her in a booth. Reaching across her shoulder to pay for drinks. This was the smell of Anna. It was her smile, and the color of her eyes against the bay, and the way she quietly laughed at all my jokes.
Anna was in a flowy red dress that was completely innocent unless she sat just the right way, shifting the fabric high up to her mid-thigh. I kept my head pointed completely straight and snuck a second glance at her legs. I gripped the steering wheel hard and released the image from my mind. What the fuck was wrong with me? She was Josh’s wife. Claire had legs, too. They just weren’t as long or perfectly shaped as Anna’s.
I inhaled deeply and turned off Baltimore Pike.
“You ready for vacation?” I asked. Normal topics should be discussed. I needed to fill the car with conversation so Anna never suspected how I felt about her. She’d end this friendship immediately. She’d never let any of these emotions exist behind Josh’s back. She was that good, and so was I.
“Oh, man. I can’t wait.” She scrunched up her nose. “I do have to work a little, though.”
“What?” I practically yelled, dragging out the one syllable as if it was a full interrogation.
She laughed at the way I asked the question. I could always make her laugh. “I’m working on a new logo for work, and the mock-ups are supposed to come back on Thursday. They’ll want the final turned around quick.”
“You and Claire would kill us if Josh and I brought work to the beach.”
“The same rules don’t apply to us.” In the space where she’d usually laugh, Anna only stared out the window and ran her hand up and down her seat belt.
I turned into the driveway and hit the garage door opener button. The silence was thick between us, but it was comfortable. Anna was easy to be around. It wasn’t until I’d pulled into the garage and closed the door behind us that I realized something was wrong. Anna was still turned away, but there was a faint shimmer on her cheek. Was she crying? I leaned forward for a better look.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Fine.” Something was definitely off.
I listened for Josh’s car to pull in behind us. In the silence the garage light clicked off, and Anna and I were completely in the dark.
She didn’t say a word. Only sat next to me as if the two of us in a dark car in a closed garage was normal, when in fact, there was nothing less casual than the way I felt sitting next to her.
“We should go in,” I said and yanked the door handle.
When our vacation was over, I was going to have to back off this friendship. Claire and I would have to stop doing so many things with Josh and Anna. Really just with Anna, but that’d be weird. I’d tell Claire I needed some space from Josh. That working with him and hanging out with them socially all the time was wearing on me. She’d understand. Based on the way she looked at me tonight, Claire might fully comprehend the issue. It was the right thing to do.
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