Title: LINKED
Author: Judy Serrano
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 265
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Daphne Foster is a substitute teacher stuck in an English class, waiting
for that dreaded parent-teacher conference. With much preparation and
anxiety, she encounters the unforgettable Charlie Cross. His charm and
good looks, win her over but rumors of his involvement with organized
crime make his continued disappearances disturbing. In walks Heathcliff
Vanderpool, creating a love triangle of unusual sorts. Unknown to
Daphne, Heathcliff and Charlie are old friends: Older than she could
have imagined. With Charlie away on business, Daphne and Heathcliff
discover a passion between them lying beneath the surface. As their
souls link, pulling away from Charlie becomes next to impossible. Will
his involvement in organized crime consume them both before she’s able
to get free? When you become “linked,” the choice may not be your own.
The blood was pulsating through my
veins and when I looked down, my hands were shaking. All that schooling and
relentless training still did not prepare me for what was coming next. What
would I say, and how would they react? All the uncertainty was driving me mad.
Sometimes I doubted my very own motives. I took this job out of necessity, not
out of a passion for my craft, and with every passing day, I grew just a little
more disheartened.
I am a substitute teacher and this
is my very first parent-teacher conference. Sometimes the meager pay that I
bring home for this incredulous journey hardly seems worth it. I earned my
degree, got my certification, and couldn’t find a job as a teacher. So, the
principal promised me a teaching position if I would just do this one last
thing… be a long-term sub for a high school English class. This has not been my
finest hour. The teacher I replaced had already made a mess of things and the
students were failing left and right. One of the moms called and demanded to
know why her little Michael was failing. Maybe
if he did his homework… is of course what I wanted to say, but now I have
to face her and tell her why little Michael is my least favorite student in the
class.
I got all my papers together and
sat back down at my desk when Michael walked through my door. “Michael,” I
started. “What are you doing here?”
Just then a very handsome man
walked in behind him. He was about 5ft. 10, blond and blue-eyed, wearing faded
jeans and a button-down, powder blue sports shirt. When he smiled, my knees
went weak and I’m sure my face flushed. “I’m Charles Cross,” he said, putting
out his hand to shake mine. “My friends call me Charlie.” He smiled. “You look
surprised. We do have an appointment today, don’t we? I hope I didn’t get the
date wrong.”
“I’m sorry, I was expecting
Michael’s mother,” I told him. “And yes, we have an appointment. I’m Daphne
Foster.”
“She was unavailable,” he
continued. “So now I guess you’re stuck with me.” He pushed Michael ahead of
him so that he would move farther into the room. I’m sure my face was still
red.
“I don’t mind,” I told him. Little
did he know that my insides were doing somersaults. “Please, sit down.” I motioned to the two
chairs that I had strategically positioned in front of my desk.
“I understand that you’re not even
really a teacher,” was his icebreaker.
“I’m certified,” I replied, trying
not to sound too defensive. “I have just been unable to find a full-time
position. But I assure you, Mr. Cross, I am more than qualified to teach your
son’s class.”
“Good to know,” he answered,
sitting back and starting to relax. “Michael is generally a good student,” he
continued. “But he appears to be carrying a 60 in your class. Tell me what you
think the problem is so that I can help him fix it.”
Michael was staring down at the
floor with his baseball cap on backwards. I’m sure if he was standing up, we’d
both be able to see his boxer shorts, peeking out beneath his sagging pants.
“For starters,” I bravely began, “he can lose the baseball cap.” Michael
sneered at me. “He’s not allowed to have it on during school hours, yet he always
walks through the door with it on his head. This is a continuous waste of my
valuable time, since we seem to need to argue about its importance, daily.”
Charlie laughed, which frustrated me a bit. “He hasn’t turned in one homework
assignment since I’ve been here, and he is very disruptive during class.”
“Well, Miss Foster,” he responded
in a condescending tone, “sounds to me like you have a problem with my son.”
“Mr. Cross,” I replied, trying to
conceal the agitation in my voice, “you
are the one with the problem.” He sat up, giving me his full attention. I must
admit that I began to feel my blood pressure rise. “I suggest that you get a
handle on this boy before I fail him and do not underestimate me, because I
will do it.”
“Miss Foster, do you know who I
am?” he asked. Michael smiled at this point and looked me square in the eyes.
“I don’t care if you’re Obama’s
long lost son. He doesn’t do his work, he fails… pretty simple, really.”
He stood up and motioned for his
son to stand. “I suspect that you will change your mind.”
I stood up at that point and put
out my hand. “Thank you for coming in to see me, Mr. Cross… Michael.”
“Daphne.” My name glided off his
tongue like music. “Such a beautiful name.” He shook my hand. “The pleasure was
all mine.”
Judy Serrano holds a Master of Arts in English from Texas A&M University, Commerce. She is the owner of Make Cents Editing Service,
and was an adjunct professor at a local college. Currently she teaches
high school English and is a freelance writer for certain on-line
publications. Judy also writes romantic suspense and paranormal romance
novels. She is the author of The Easter’s Lilly Series,The Linked Series, and Ivy Vines, Visions.
Her latest book is the paranormal romance, LINKED.
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