The ocean gives and takes; a truth etched deep into the soul of anyone who calls this quaint coastal town their home. My quiet, small-town life, centered around the comforting scent of aged paper and strong coffee in my beloved bookstore was precisely that: Quiet. Routine. Safe.Until he walked in.With his arrival, the predictable rhythm of my life was about to get a whole lot more interesting. I knew, with that chilling certainty that settles in the pit of your stomach, that the peace I had carefully cultivated for myself was about to be irrevocably shattered.This man wasn't just a customer; he was a catalyst. Lara used to scribble her fictional characters down on legal pads in high school, and then not show them to anyone. In recent years, she started posting her work in public forums for feedback, which gave her the courage to publish professionally. She needs copious amounts of coffee and chocolate to survive. She enjoys eavesdropping on the character conversations in her head, which she has been assured doesn't make her crazy. She always gets the best ideas while in the shower, driving, or about to fall asleep.Though she's a Florida girl at heart, Lara currently resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband of twenty years and their three children, where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age fifteen.
