Book, Reviews, Excerpt

A Hometown Hearts Story

Suddenly a Father
Holly Jacobs

A Holt Medallion Award Winner!

RELEASE 9/20

She Doesn’t Believe in Love...
He Doesn’t Believe in Himself

Angelina Tucker has spent her adult life juggling single motherhood and the family business. She doesn’t drop the ball. She gets it all done. Until Tyler Martinez walks into the shop.

Tyler’s the successful businessman who has asked Tucker out more than once. He’s the one she turned down more than once. But Tyler’s life has taken a turn. He needs a job. And whether or not he knows it, he needs help with his new baby. Tucker hires him and pitches in with the baby. So what are she and Tyler, exactly? Helpmates? Friends? She needs some definitions, because she's already in love with his little boy and—heaven help her—she's falling for Tyler, too.

Fans of Jacobs’ Just One Thing will love this story of a strong woman passing life’s tests.

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Hometown Hearts Series:
2020
Crib Notes 1/20
A Special Kind of Different 3/20
Homecoming 6/20
Suddenly a Father 9/20
2021
Hometown Hearts Wedding:
Something Borrowed 1/21
Something Blue3/21
Something Perfect 5/21
A Hometown Christmas 9/21
A Hometown Hearts Short Story
Something Unexpected 7/21

Excerpt

Reviews:

"Award winning author Holly Jacobs writes heart warming family romances that touches her readers every time.  Her latest captivating book, A FATHER’S NAME, reacquaints us with familiar character Tucker and introduces us to Tyler, an honorable man that goes  above and beyond to protect his friend’s reputation.  Jacobs lovingly portrays the unconditional support given Tyler by Tucker and the other employees at the garage, the kind of support usually only given within families.  A delightful addition to the Whedon, Pennsylvania series by talented Holly Jacobs." cataRomance

"Custom motorcycle and car/truck detailer Angelina Tucker starts working with recent ex-con Tyler Martinez. She is attracted to the former investment banker, but has turned down numerous dates from him in the past, determined to devote herself to raising her son. But working in close quarters with Tyler is more than Angelina can handle. Real sparks fly between Angelina and Tyler, both very well-developed characters. Angelina’s determination to do right by her son rings true, as does Tyler’s willingness to help a friend in spite of the personal cost to himself." ~RT BookReviews

"Nobody does Pennsylvania contemporary romance better than Holly Jacobs consistently writes. Tucker who has appeared in support roles in other tales like Unexpected Gifts proves she handle the lead." ~Harriet Klausner

 

Book, Reviews, Excerpt

 

EXCERPT:

Suddenly a Father
Copyright Holly Jacobs

Chapter One

Gary Johnson’s phone number flashed as a missed call on Angelina Tucker’s cellphone and she tried to tamp down her annoyance.

Tucker didn’t date often, but when she did, she practiced a catch-and-release program. Unfortunately, Gary Johnson didn’t want to be released and had been calling for days asking for another date.

She’d tried being polite, then tried to joke and pretend she was one of the guys with her let’s-be-buddies pitch. Neither worked. Gary obviously wasn’t getting her not-so subtle hints. She’d have to try something more direct.

The man was so dense it was going to have to be something big. Something like a swift kick or else a restraining order.

Seeing Gary’s number on her caller ID added a sour undertone to her normal happy Monday mood. She stomped into the garage, not wanting to think about that upcoming phone call.

“Hey, Lou,” she called by way of a greeting as she made a beeline for the coffee machine.

“What’s on the schedule today?” Lou asked.

“I’ve got to come up with some brilliant idea for the Paradisi bike.” Tucker was building a name for her custom paint jobs on motorcycles and an occasional car or truck. Thanks to the popularity of shows like American Chopper and Pimp My Ride, her airbrushed murals, pictures and plain old pin-striping had taken more and more of her time away from the basic mechanic’s work. To be honest, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d replaced a valve or rotated a tire.
She took a long sip of her coffee, knowing she needed caffeine in her system before she could come anywhere close to inspired.

She thought about the black custom bike that sat in her paintroom as she took a second sip. “Lou, you and the other guys start in on the appointments, okay? I’m going to head back to my office for an hour or so. I have some invoices to get out.”

The only good thing about paperwork was she hated it so much, her mind frequently wandered and got creative in order to avoid doing it.

“Is your dad coming in today?” Lou asked.

“I’m sure he’ll show up eventually.” She offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile to Lou, but she couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t good at faking it–never had been.

“‘Kay, Tuck,” the older man said.

“Way to go, Tuck,” she muttered to herself as she stomped back to her office. She had to have a talk with the guys sometime soon, but not until her dad was ready. And to date, George Tucker wasn’t ready and she wasn’t going to rush him. Lou knew the score without explanation and had pretty much taken over running the floor of the garage without being asked. And she’d taken over most of the hated paperwork. If her dad really did retire, she’d be doing it forever.

That was not the thought she wanted to start her day with, much less a week with.

She needed to talk to her dad about giving Lou a raise. Just one more thing on her to-do list. A list that, no matter how hard she worked, never seemed to get any shorter.

She slammed open her office door, her Monday mood really shot to hell now, between Gary Johnson’s and Lou’s innocent question about her father.

“Well, it’s a hell of a thing when a man can’t rely on his daughter’s totally deluded, but always consistent happy Monday mood.” Her father was sitting in a chair, his own cup of coffee in hand.

“What are you doing here, Pops?”

Her father looked so much better than he had a few months ago. Thanks to her very vigilant eye on his diet, he’d lost a few pounds, which the doctors said would help with his heart problems.

“Enjoying the view.” He pointed at the bird feeder she’d mounted in the overgrown mulberry tree outside her window. “I never noticed the feeder before.”

“I put it up years ago.”

“I figured. It’s got a weathered sort of look to it. Guess there was a lot of things I didn’t notice before. Sorry for that, kiddo.”

“You noticed plenty, Pops,” she reassured him.

“No. I missed some very big things, and even things I did notice–well, some I plain old ignored. Like the fact you were a girl. It was you, me, and the guys at the shop. I treated you like one of them. I never pushed you to do girly things. If you’d had a mom, she’d have made sure you didn’t spend all your time being one of the guys.”

Since her father had been sick, he’d had days of uncharacteristic nostalgia and occasionally bouts of regret. Tucker wasn’t sure what to do with his overflowing emotions, other than try to reassure him. “Pops, if I really wanted to do girly things, don’t you think I would have done them? I mean, honestly, in my whole life, has anyone ever forced me to do something I didn’t want to do, or managed to talk me out of something I did?”

“No. But the point is, I never gave you a chance to explore what you wanted. I kept you close and here you are, in your thirties and still working at the garage. Still living in the same house.”

He father had bought a nice double-wide trailer and set it up on the opposite side of the garage, leaving the house she’d grown up in for her and her son, Bart. “You could have stayed there and I could have gotten my own place.”

“Not my point and you know it,” he scolded. “I didn’t want to stay there–but maybe you shouldn’t have wanted to stay there either.”

“Are you saying you want me to move?”

“Are you being deliberately obtuse, Angelina?” her normally affable father lashed out. “I don’t want you to move and you know that I always wanted you to work at the shop with me. But I’m wondering now if I was selfish. Maybe all men reach an age where all they can do is look back and second guess their past decisions.”

“Pops, is something wrong? Are you feeling short of breath, or having chest pains?” It was so hard to think of her once unstoppable father as ill and she hated it. She wanted him well again and back to his old self.

“No. I’m fine now, but I guess being sick leaves a man with a lot of time to think. I’m pushing seventy, and I won’t be here forever. I’m worried about you.”

The doctors had found blockage in her father’s arteries near the holidays and put a stent in. He’d come back to work, but not full-time. He’d wanted to, but she’d put her foot down. The doctor had told her that her father needed a lighter schedule, less stress and a better diet. She’d made it a point on trying to see he had all three, but she obviously hadn’t done a good enough job if he was worried about her.

“I’m fine, Pops. You have to know that I love my life.”

“Yeah, but your life has always centered around the job, me and Bart. I’m here to tell you that I’m stepping back from the day-to-day operations of Tucker’s Garage. Actually, that’s a cop out. I’m not only stepping back, I’ve decided that I’m retiring. Officially. I’m going to leave the business, along with the worries, in your capable hands. And Bart is going away to college in the fall. I guess, I’m concerned about where that’s going to leave you?”

Tucker looked at her father. Finding out her father was mortal shouldn’t have come as a shock, but he’d always been so healthy, so much larger than life. His illness had scared her. He looked better now, but she couldn’t help but worry. Having him retire from the business and take it easy would ease those worries a bit.

“I think it’s a great idea, Pops. Me and the boys can handle things at the shop.”

“We both know that you’ve been handling things for the last five months with no problem, other than there’s been too much work for four people.”

“And we’re not complaining,” she assured him. “Given the economy, it’s great that our business hasn’t ebbed, but instead has exploded. The guys don’t mind overtime, and I help in the garage as much as my schedule allows.”

“A lot of that increased business has come from your end of things. You need to concentrate on the painting, not the mechanics. And now that I’m officially retiring, you’ll have the business side of things to worry about, too.”

“I can do it all.” To be honest, she had a lot of time to work. Even though Bart was still here, he was wrapped up in his own life and enjoying the end of his senior year of high school, and she encouraged that. She’d been in her teens when she had him, and she wanted to give him all the moments she’d missed out on.

“Now that I’ve decided to retire, rather than just cut back, I think, more than ever, we should find someone to buy into the business,” her father said.

“No.” Since he’d been ill, he’d mentioned selling some of his half of the business shares and bringing on a third partner to help them out. Someone else who would have a vested interest in the business. Tucker just shook her head. They’d had this conversation–well, fight actually–before. She didn’t want some stranger having a say in the business she’d invested her blood, sweat and paint in, but she didn’t want to upset her father by fighting about it again.

“I’d leave you controlling interest, but a partner could take over the paperwork and the chores you hate–things that someone has to do,” he tossed out, obviously hoping it would make the idea more appealing to her. “We could let someone else buy in and do all those things you hate. The things I used to do.”

“No,” she repeated, hoping her monosyllabic response would get her point across without another out-and-out fight that would send his blood pressure skyrocketing.

“I’d say we could hire someone, but I don’t trust someone who doesn’t have a vested interest with the books. A partner would–”

“Pops, I’ll find a way to make it all work out. I won’t work with another partner.” Hoping to soften her refusal, she added, “Once you’ve worked with the best, it’s hard to settle.”

Her father sighed. “I’m not ruling the idea out, but we’ll table it for now. That being said, I am making one last executive decision.” Her father had that look.

Tucker would be hard pressed to define the look to an outsider, but as his daughter, she had no trouble recognizing it. There was a slight compression of his lips. The smallest flaring of his nostrils. His eyes squinted slightly and he reached up smoothed his normally rumpled grey hair.

“What decision is that?” She was pretty sure that his look indicated that he thought it was a decision she wouldn’t like. “Pops?”

“I hired someone.”

“Pops, we’ve always done the hiring together.” Even before she’d officially worked for her father, then with him as a partner, he’d had her sit in on interviews. He said he didn’t want her forced to be around someone she didn’t like.

“This one is special. I’ve known the guy for years and he really needed the work. And in the interest of honesty, he’s got a record. White collar, six months in county, still on probation.”

Tucker groaned. “Pops...” She didn’t add anything to it, because she knew it was pointless. When her father made his mind up, he was immovable. That’s what his look said. I’m a stone and you can’t budge me. I won’t change my mind. So, she admitted defeat with grace. “When’s he start?”

“Today. Told him to be in by eight-thirty. Wanted to talk to you and smooth things over before he showed up.”

“Yeah, Pops, that’s you, all smooth operatory.”

Her father either didn’t notice her sarcasm, or chose to ignore it as someone knocked on the door and her father glanced at his watch. “Punctual. Gotta like that in a new employee,” he said with a grin.

“Come on in,” Tucker called. She expected to see some trouble-hardened man at the door, not... “Mr. Martinez?”
Tyler Martinez was one of the garage’s best customers. He indulged in new vehicles like other people indulged in ice cream. High end vehicles that fit well with his high end designer suits, his dark good looks and his power job. But today, there was no designer suit, but rather a well worn pair of jeans and a white t-shirt that emphasized the fact the man worked out.

If the lines beneath his shirts were any indication, he’d been working out more than usual.

Not that she usually noticed.

Okay, so she noticed. A woman would have to be dead in order to ignore Tyler Martinez’s sensual dark looks. An image of a panther flashed through her mind and she almost laughed at how cliche that felt.

She pasted on her best business smile. This was one of their best customers and it wouldn’t do to be rude. “Mr. Martinez, I’m in a meeting. If you wouldn’t mind waiting for a few minutes, I’ll come get you and we can go over whatever your current vehicle requires.”

“My current vehicle is a 2002 Ford F-150 that has seen better days, but I’m working on it myself, so it doesn’t require any of the shop’s services.” Tyler frowned at her father. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Doesn’t pay to rush my Angelina,.” her father said with a trace of pride in his voice. “She comes around to things in her own time. I did tell her only I hadn’t told her who.”

Tucker looked at Martinez, then at her father. Her mom-senses were tingling, something that normally only happened with Bart. Something big was up. “Told me?”

“Angel, meet Tucker’s Garage’s newest employee, Tyler Martinez.”

Book, Reviews, Excerpt