WIP Wednesday: Christmas in June

If you follow me on Facebook you know I've been in a self-imposed holiday music hell for the last week or so as I finished up my Dreamspinner Press Advent submission. I'd been working on it on and off for months and found I needed to buckle down and focus or I'd never make the deadline.

My kids were beyond tired of Christmas pop, so they were thrilled when I picked them up from camp yesterday blasting the Hamilton soundtrack. That's right, my Advent draft is finished!

I'm so excited to introduce you to Grant, Josh, and Aubrey in today's excerpt. As you can see (that's them in the snowglobe), Josh and Aubrey are ridiculously adorable together, so I'm sure you can sympathize with how irresistible Grant finds them when they walk into his art studio looking for Christmas craft lessons.

Audiobook news

Between that and the Tall, Dark, and Deported audiobook coming out on Monday, it's been an exciting week for me--and it's only Wednesday! Dorian Bane does an amazing job on it, so I hope you'll listen to the sample. I love the way he makes Crawford and Mateus come alive and infuses both of them with so much personality. This is my first title to be released in audiobook and I thought it would be weird to hear my words but it was so much fun to listen to. (And now that I don't have to listen to holiday music in the car on my commute, I can listen to the entire thing today when I head in to work later! *g*)

Excerpt

The wreath Thing 2 and I made last Christmas.

And now, enjoy some crafty Christmas fun with Josh, Aubrey, and Grant from my latest WIP. Grant is talking Aubrey through making an ornament wreath (see the picture) while Josh listens. He's been flirting with Josh for several lessons and decides it's time to double down on his innuendo...even though he's pretty sure Josh is straight.

❄❄🎄❄❄

Grant rooted around in the basket and found the set of glittery rub-on letters he’d put in earlier. “You said you were giving the wreath to your aunt, right Aubrey?”

Aubrey shifted her focus to him without missing a beat. “My Aunt Jo.”

“Well, if you think she’d like it we can monogram the wreath with her initials. I think it would look great with the frosted ornaments you’ve picked out.”

 

Aubrey squealed. “She’d love that!”

“Okay. Well, once we get your wreath glued together we’ll put these letters on the three ornaments that are in the center. What do you think? Top or bottom?”

Josh made a choking noise from the next table where he’d sunk into a chair with his coffee. Grant looked up, startled, and then caught the accidental innuendo. Instead of backing away from it as he should have, he dug in deeper. “If it was for me I’d say bottom. It’s my favorite position for things like that. It’s always better on the bottom.”Josh’s coffee sloshed when he put it down abruptly, spilling over his knuckles as his coughing fit continued. Grant didn’t know if that was a good thing or not, but at least he’d tried.

“I want to put them at the bottom,” Aubrey said, blessedly oblivious to the undertones. “Monograms are the things with the letters from her name, aren’t they?”

Aubrey’s wreath was all arranged, so Grant turned on the glue gun to warm it up. He’d gone with an assortment of bright colors for his, laid haphazardly. It was a big contrast to Aubrey’s carefully laid pattern of understated colors. They looked great next to each other. He’d have to take a photo for the studio’s Instagram when they were done. And maybe a few with Aubrey and Hot Divorced Dad for his own personal scrapbook of students with their art.

“You can do monograms two ways. You can do the first letter from her first and last name only or you can add her middle initial, too,” he told her. Josh had recovered from his coughing fit and was watching them with a veiled expression, his long legs splayed as he lounged in a chair that was meant for someone much smaller than him. Grant’s knees were practically touching his ears, so he could sympathize.

Aubrey studied her wreath. “It would be nice and centered if we do the one with three.”

The kid had great instincts. Grant hoped she’d become a regular, and not just because Josh came with her. He didn’t know if she had any natural talent for drawing or painting, but her eye for color and design was well beyond her age. He’d bet that carried over into artistic talent, especially given how well her father could paint.

“We’ll do three, then. You’ll need to find her initials in capital letters.”

Aubrey talked to herself as she chose the letters. “Josephine Clarke.” She frowned and looked over her shoulder at Josh. “What’s her middle name?”

“Lynn,” Josh said without hesitation.

That must mean this aunt was his sister. Between the shared last name and his certainty about her middle name, it made sense.

“Hmm.” Aubrey dug through and found an L. “Mom’s middle name is Lydia.”

“And mine is Leonard,” Josh said.

Aubrey giggled. “So you all have the same monogram?”

Josh’s ex hadn’t changed her last name? Didn’t women usually do that after a divorce? And her name started with J, too? They’d probably had one of those weddings with their initials engraved on everything. It would have been cute. Grant kind of hated her for that.

The light on the glue gun clicked off, signaling it was ready to use. Was Aubrey ready to handle it on her own? Grant flicked his glance from the glue gun to Josh, who shrugged.

“She’s used one before, but I don’t know how closely Jill supervised.”

So the ex’s name must be Jill. Josh and Jill. It’s too adorable to hate them. Ugh.

“I’m allowed to hold the pieces together,” Aubrey said. She waved a hand dismissively.

“You have to put the glue on.”

Well that settled that.