Читать книгу A Dad For Charlie - Anna J. Stewart - Страница 4

Dear Reader,

Welcome back to Butterfly Harbor. I’ve been looking forward to writing Paige and Charlie Cooper’s story since they first walked into the Butterfly Diner back in book one (The Bad Boy of Butterfly Harbor). They were both a surprise, characters I never expected to exist. When they stepped onto the page they did so with a wink, a smile and most definitely some secrets. Above all, they arrived searching for what so many of us want: a place to call home. But Charlie wants a bit more than that. She wants a dad, and this determined eight-year-old has her sights set on Deputy Fletcher Bradley.

Whenever I begin a story, I’m usually pretty certain whose story it is: the heroine, or in this case, Paige, a woman doing her best to protect her only child from the mistakes she’s made. Or maybe it’s the hero, Fletcher, who struggles with being thought of as a hero, especially when his own failure as a young man changed his family’s future forever. There’s usually a leaning one way or the other. But as I wrote, I realized this was the first story where a third person was equally important: a little girl desperate for the same family stability her best friend has. She wants—she needs—someone other than her mother to count on, to love her.

I’m a firm believer in family, and not just the kind we’re connected to by blood. My friends are my family, and they’re who I think of whenever I come back to Butterfly Harbor. I love that we can choose our tribe, that we can thrive in communities we might not have been born into but that we find along the way. Taking that one unexpected turn (or in Paige’s case, a highway turnoff) can give you all you’ve ever wanted—and needed—in life. I hope you enjoy Paige and Fletcher (and Charlie’s) journey to their happily-ever-after.

Anna J.