Last week I shared a little about Leo and an exclusive teaser from my Christmas Falls book, 12 Dates of Christmas. This week I want to introduce you to Nick Morgan, Leo's love interest.
When I first started planning the story, I did a little brainstorming session with DJ Jamison. We always have fun bouncing story ideas off each other and when she suggested that one of my main characters could be a matchmaker I was IMMEDIATELY sold. I've never written a matchmaker before and it sounded so fun.
Nick is 38 years old and widowed. Nick started dating Nicole in their late teens and unexpectedly lost her to a heart condition a few years before the story starts. He's through the worst of the grief but believes that he's already had the love of a lifetime and couldn't possibly find someone else he'd ever love as much ...
Surprise! He just hasn't met Leo yet! And while he's going to try to set Leo up with other people, he just can't get Leo out of his head ...
Keep reading for an exclusive teaser from the story.
Nicholas Morgan straightened the pens inside the green glass cup on his desk, oddly nervous about the upcoming meeting.
He’d spent the past month working virtually with Leo Fenner to update his website but they hadn’t actually spoken face-to-face yet. But Leo had just moved to town a few days ago and had emailed Nick asking if they could have their upcoming meeting in person.
Nick had said yes.
Leo had been a lifesaver already.
Nick had started the matchmaking business last year, mostly operating on word of mouth and a few poorly cobbled together Google forms. He had tried to build a website himself, signing up for one that was advertised itself as “easy to put together in minutes!” but that had proven to be a lie. At least for him. He had no idea what he was doing and had quickly gotten in over his head.
It didn’t do half of the stuff he wanted, and the half he’d managed to do looked like garbage.
Nick had reached out to Hayden Bradley for help but he’d taken one look at what Nick wanted, then frowned and shook his head.
“I think you need a web developer. I can make your site look pretty but some of the functionality you want is … well, I’ll be honest. It’s beyond my skills. I know some coding but you want to integrate that kind of in-depth questionnaire and scheduling into your site, you need someone who can build the thing from scratch and really personalize it to your needs. I have a friend I went to college with who does some freelance work though, if you’re interested. He does top-notch, professional work and he’s not crazy expensive.”
Hayden had given Leo’s email address to Nick but Nick had been a little embarrassed to email Leo about what a mess he’d made of things.
He’d put it off for weeks, but once he finally did it and got a response back, he’d regretted dragging his feet. Leo had been kind and funny in their email interactions, and had immediately put Nick at ease.
Nick had filled out spreadsheets and forms with all kinds of information about his business and what he was looking for.
He loved what Leo had created so far.
But the About Me section was where Nick kept getting stuck. How could he put into words why he’d felt the need to do this?
Why he wanted to help other people find love.
Nick had tried to put a positive spin on things, but frankly, it was a little depressing to remind potential clients that the love of his life was gone. It didn’t exactly seem like it was the kind of thing that he wanted to include on his site. He’d scare people away, reminding them that even if they were lucky enough to find their soulmate, it didn’t mean they’d grow old together.
With a sigh, Nick sat back and looked around the cozy office Nicole had used to write her books.
They’d put the addition on the house a few years before her death. She’d been a prolific romance author and once her books had really taken off, they’d agreed she desperately needed a dedicated office space instead of her desk being crammed into a narrow spare bedroom.
The addition had turned out beautifully with walls of bookshelves, a wide desk and a cozy reading chair.
Donating Nicole’s clothing and tossing her toiletries had been gut-wrenching, but dismantling this space that was filled to the brim with reminders of her and her work had felt impossible. The room had sat nearly untouched for more than a year after her death, until Nick’s older sister had finally held his hand through the process.
But as Nick had sorted through letters from Nicole’s fans that talked about how her stories had encouraged them to be brave and find love, an idea had begun to grow. An idea to start a matchmaking service.
A way to help other people find the love Nick and Nicole had shared.
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