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The Road To Comfort -- Becky Lower

The Road To Comfort -- Available in e-book from Soul Mate Publishing

Juliette St. James has only done two impetuous things in her life. The  first resulted in her becoming a single mother at age 18. Now, she’s  embarking on a cross-country trip to celebrate becoming an empty-nester. Not sure of what she will do now that she’s flying solo, she comes face-to-face with her worst nightmare—a cowboy.

When ex-bull-rider Cyclone Kelley heads out on his horse, the last thing he expects to find is a damsel in distress parked alongside the road. Especially one that resembles his first rush—Brigette Bardot.  He doesn’t need or want a complication in his life. His wife died  while he was chasing the elusive dream of fame and fortune on the  rodeo circuit. Blaming himself for her death, he quit the rodeo and returned to Nebraska. Now his mantra is “love them and leave them  smiling.”

They are attracted to each other and decide a one-nighter would be a  good idea. After all, what happens in Comfort, Nebraska, stays in  Comfort. But when Juliette’s car gets sucked up in a tornado, she’s  forced to spend a week in the town instead of just one day. While neither denies their attraction, they both realize that a week  together will change the course of their lives forever. They are both  forced to decide if love is worth gambling on what could be. Or if  tornadoes, and Cyclones, are better left alone.

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reviews

Becky Lower ... one of my fave authors who delivers again and again! I loved The Road to Comfort, it was an endearing and smoky read. The words flowed, the pages swiped and before I knew it, this book was done and I was believing in love at first sight! The Reading Cafe

Such a fun and playful read from Ms. Lower. I loved Cy’s character and how well he understood what Juliette needed, even when she didn’t always seem to know. My Book Addiction

From Historical to Contemporary Romances this author knows her stuff! This quick read will have you turning pages faster than a Cyclone, pun intended. Leslie K.

excerpt

Juliette St. James had only done two impetuous things in her life. And, from the billowing cloud of black smoke belching out from under the hood of her car, the second one was no wiser than the first.

The first occurred twenty-three years earlier when she shared one night with a handsome stranger, which resulted in becoming a single parent at the age of eighteen. The second, taking a cross-country road trip on her own to celebrate becoming an empty-nester, was turning out to be every bit as ill planned.

She nudged the car to the side of the road and cut the motor, thinking maybe she should get out of the car before it caught on fire. Or before the noxious fumes the fire was causing made her pass out, in which case she’d literally be toast. Fighting against the uneasiness beginning to nibble at the corner of her brain, she quickly stepped out of the car and glanced at the surrounding landscape. Row after unrelenting row of corn surrounded her. Not a landmark in sight. Hadn't Stephen King written something about monsters coming out of the cornfields? Not the image she should be putting into her already overactive imagination. What she needed to do was call for a tow truck. What state was she in, anyway? Nebraska? Oklahoma? Kansas? They had all blurred together over the past day and a half.

Having a plan of action in her mind, finally, she leaned in through the open window and reached for her enormous purse lying on the passenger seat. She rummaged through it, pulled out her cell phone, and turned it on. No signal. Oh, great. Even if she did know where she was, she couldn't call for help. Wonderful.

What to do? She couldn't get back in her car and huddle there forever, even though the smoke was beginning to taper off. She'd just have to start walking, children of the corn notwithstanding. Grasping the door handle, she hesitated as a fat drop of rain fell onto the car’s windshield. Very dark clouds were quickly moving in from the direction she had been headed when her car finally gave up. If it had been a dog, her car would now have rolled over alongside the road, wheels spinning in the air. She glanced at the sky. It remained sunny behind her. If her car had still been working, she'd turn around and head back the way she came, maybe outrun the rain. What kind of storms did they have in this part of the country, anyway? Tornadoes? Cyclones? She drew in a breath.

Maybe she should get back in the car. At least, with the rain, the immediate threat of a car fire was obliterated. The clouds on the horizon outmatched the one still billowing slightly from under the hood. They did mirror her thoughts though, as she mentally kicked herself, locked in a state of indecision. Why had she taken off on a whim anyway? On a trip to nowhere? By herself?

It was so unlike her normal controlled world. She wanted to shake herself for being so impulsive. But then, it wasn't every day that her son got married and left home. Leaving her alone. She was all by herself, for the first time since she was eighteen. She obviously didn't know how to act, making decisions based solely on what she wanted. It was a luxury she hadn’t ever before experienced. And she botched the very first one she’d made. What had she been thinking?

Sure, she’d had a grand time of things so far. She’d let her hair stream down instead of putting it into her usual bun; she’d turned up the volume on her car stereo and sang along at the top of her lungs with Adele and Bruno Mars. Trips inside various quick-stop grocery outlets meant that all kinds of junk food filled her car to overflowing. Her arm dangled out the window, outrageously in violation of her admonition to her son over the years not to ever do that, since you never knew when a dog would come along to bite it, or a passing vehicle would get too close and rip it out of its socket. She’d basically thrown her rigid common sense to the wind on her wild trip, and now she surveyed where her impulse had gotten her. She was in the middle of nowhere.