Hi, all! Yes, I know I’m a little late with this, but once you’ve read my story, you’ll understand why time management is a challenge for me. My life is crazy busy, loud, and occasionally messy, and, though there are times when I long for peace and quiet, ninety-nine percent of the time I’m cool with that. 
     For me, the noise, the activity, and the chaos is just a reminder of how full my life is these days. It’s all about family.
     Okay, so I tend to stretch the idea of family to the limit. But then I’ve always blurred the line between family and friends. You’ll understand that once you’ve read my story. And theirs.
     So who are they? They are the kids I grew up with. 
     Simon’s the oldest of all of us, but he lived in England until his parents divorced when he was fifteen. His Mom moved him and his little sister, Kim, back to the US and into the house next door to mine. I should mention that his Mom, Pamela, and my Mom, Beverly are cousins, which makes us second cousins. I always loved their visits when we were younger; there was something so exotic about having a relative with a British accent, you know? Unfortunately, Simon wasn’t in town while my story was unfolding, but you’ll get to know him soon enough. 
     I was the next oldest, which is why I tend to mother them all. And trust me, with the four younger boys along, keeping them out of mischief was a full-time (and impossible) job. 
     I’ll start with Darius, better known as Dare. He’s a Kincaid, my cousin, and son of the local police chief. He tended to be the voice of reason, mainly because of Uncle Ed, but he usually gave in to whatever mayhem the others had planned. Thankfully, their pranks were relatively harmless, since they were good kids at heart. Dare’s one of my favorite people in the world, but I worry about him since he became a cop down in the city.
     David Jameson grew up two houses down from me with his little sister, Tessa. He was the kind of kid who was always a little grubby because he was always outside digging in the dirt. Davy fell for Simon’s sister, Kim, the day they moved in; he was nine, she was seven. He tended to be a little torn between wanting to hang out with the boys and wanting to spend time with Kimmy. I have to say, he did a pretty good balancing act, and I think the other boys were always a little jealous that he always had a girl.
     The other two boys were both Brodys, cousins Matt and Sinclair. Matt’s Dad was our local pastor, so he could be a bit of a hellion. Matt always says that as a preacher’s kid, he was expected to be an angel, and that was the kiss of death. Still, he always had the kindest heart and knew what to say to make me feel better. His cousin, Sin, didn’t grow up in the village, but he spent most of his summers here growing up, so he’s always been one of the gang. He told the best campfire ghost stories of all of us; some of them left me sleepless for days. 
     The four boys could be a handful, but I caught glimpses of the men that they became. Did they make me crazy? Without a doubt. But I can admit that I enjoyed their crazy antics, at least in retrospect.
     I’ve already mentioned two of the girls. Kim Prince, little sister to Simon, fell for Davy as quickly as he fell for her. She always knew she would marry him some day. I envied her that. They always had each other. It took me a long time to find that kind of love. 
     Tessa, Davy’s little sister, was our tomboy. She tried to tag along with the boys, but they usually wouldn’t let her. (Until the day they all noticed that Tessa was, in fact, a girl and a stunning one!) Since the boys didn’t include them on their adventures, Tess and Kim bonded and became best friends.
     The baby of our group was Abby Brody, Matt’s little sister. Although she was a lot younger, Abby hated to be left behind, so we brought her along when we could. 
     A typical summer day for my little tribe usually meant walking to the creek. To get there, we had to pass the Walker house, the biggest, showiest house in the neighborhood. Mary Sue Walker was just a year younger than the boys, but she was never allowed to join our fun. It always made me sad to see her peeking out the window, but her father didn’t like us, so … Poor kid.
     Apart from Davy and Kim, I doubt any of us could imagine where our lives would take us on those sunny summer afternoons at the creek. Life wasn’t quite as simple as those picnics on the creek bank. It’s been difficult. Painful. Even ugly. Some of us have made it to the top, others, like me, got stuck in a life we didn’t really want. But all of us eventually found what, and who, we needed. 
     They’re incredible stories! I can’t wait for you to read them and get to know my ‘family’. 
     But my story is first. And it’s one hell of a story if I do say so myself.
     You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You may even swoon a little. 
     And you’ll understand why I adore every second of my crazy busy, loud, and occasionally messy life!

     I can honestly say I love my life. It’s more than I ever dared imagine and more than I once believed I deserved. I guess that’s why I wanted my story, our story, told. 
     I’ve always been the one to take care of everyone else. When I was a teenager, I regularly looked after half the neighborhood kids, so I got used to putting what I wanted and needed at the bottom of the pile. Looking back, it became an awful habit, compounded by the fact that I was pretty much a misfit at school. 
     So, yeah, I was insecure, and my self-confidence was more-or-less nonexistent. Add a series of boyfriends (emphasis on boy) who treated me like dirt and I just … gave up. Oh, I was still in love with the idea of romance, but not for me. I devoured romance novels like they were Hershey’s Kisses and I reread Jane Austen over and over, but I felt like my chances of finding my soul mate were slim to none. I was in my early thirties, after all; if I hadn’t found Mr. Right by now, it probably wasn’t going to happen. 
     Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t miserable. I come from a tight-knit if slightly annoying family, I got regular kid time with my three adorable nieces, and I had two of the best friends a single girl could ask for. Jess is like the little sister I always wanted, and Meg is the kind of person who gives you the pure, unvarnished truth (whether you want it or not). 
     But in my hopeless romantic heart, I still longed for what I believed I would never have. And, honestly, I wanted to be hopeful instead of hopeless, even if I was afraid to ask for it.
     It turns out, I didn’t have to ask. We all have those moments that change everything, right? Moments that take us down a different path, that set in motion a series of events we didn’t dare to dream. 
     My moment was a single phone call. Nothing’s been the same since and for that I am profoundly grateful! So how can one phone call change everything? You’ll have to read my story to find out …

My original idea for this post was to introduce you to my main character, Lizzie Kincaid. But as I sat down to type, Lizzie gave me a not-so-gentle nudge. It seems that she wants to introduce herself, so, without further ado, I’m giving her control of the keyboard.  – Lily
   
     Hi, all! I thought she’d never leave! (Just kidding, Lily!) Seriously, though, I’m thrilled to be here, but I’m even more thrilled that she’s finally going to put my story out there. Trust me, it’s been a very long time coming!
     I’ve read hundreds of romance novels over the years, and I can honestly say that I never expected to live one. Oh, I was a hopeless romantic, emphasis on the hopeless part, but I’d given up on finding a love story of my own. Too much heartache, too little actual love.
     But I’m getting ahead of myself. My full name is Anna Elizabeth Kincaid; I’m Lizzie to family and friends, but Anna at work. Weird, I know, but there was already an Elizabeth and a Liz when I started, and management wanted to avoid confusion. Whatever. I didn’t really mind.
     My childhood was relatively normal. We weren’t poor, but we didn’t have a lot of money for extras. Still, it was happy enough, great parents, annoying older brother, quirky relatives, and a menagerie of dogs, cats, bunnies, and other assorted furry creatures.
     We lived in Crossroads, which is barely a tiny dot on the map. It’s the kind of place where you know almost everybody, or if you don’t actually know them, you have someone in common. Small town life has its pros – safety, security, comfort – and its cons – zero privacy and every single thing you do gets back to your parents. Ugh.
     Growing up, I spent most of my time playing with the other neighborhood kids. You’ll get to know them along the way since we’re all still close. We had a lot of fun, even if I did spend half of my time trying to keep them out of trouble. Okay, so I may be a bit of a mother hen, but that’s not a bad thing, right?
     I’m not sure I ever really chose my grown-up life, you know? I went to Penn State, studied English lit (I blame Jane Austen for that), and, with no real career aspirations, I drifted into a job as a corporate travel agent. Trust me, it’s not the glamorous job that people imagine, but it did pay the bills. Or it paid some of the bills, at least; there was never quite enough left after paying my rent to pay them all.
     It wasn’t all bad, of course. My family may be quirky, but I know I can count on them. And I have two amazing best friends who always know when circumstances call for an emergency bottle of wine or two. But I wasn’t really living, you know? No romance. No adventure. No actual life.
     The thing is, I didn’t really understand how lonely and lost I was until I wasn’t.
     And now? I’m living a life I never imagined and, trust me, I have a vivid imagination!). I’m happier than I ever dreamed possible, all because of one phone call.
     Curious? Good, because it’s an amazing story, complete with romance, near-tragedy, laughter, tears, and, yes, a surprise (or two)!
 
XOXO
 
Lizzie (by the way, you can follow me on Twitter, too! I'm @LizzieKincaid)