When I was a little girl I dreamed of being a real author like Ann M. Martin, because The Baby-Sitter’s Club was the pinnacle of literary achievement to me in fourth grade. I dreamed of seeing my name on a book one day, a dream that would persist long after I gave up on being an astronaut or a prima ballerina.

In January, 2015, I started a story that was called “Siem Reap,” because it was set in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Meg and RJ’s story wasn’t as simple as I first thought. I had envisioned them as one-time lovers, but as the story emerged, I realized that they’d once been engaged and Meg had called off their wedding. Why had she done that? Could they have a one-day fling, or get back together without dealing with all of their existing baggage? Thanks to my beta reading team of my husband, Tamsin Flowers, and Lynn Townsend (and a few irl friends) the end result was Capturing the Moment, which is now available for pre-order from Totally Bound.

I am so flooded by emotion right now seeing my book–MINE, not an anthology I’m part of--available for pre-order. My book–MINE–has a goodreads page already. It feels surreal, and thrilling, and I’m so scared I’ll wake up from this dream any moment.

There’s a short excerpt on the website, but I’m going to offer a more extended view of that scene.

Angkor Wat, silhouetted against a pre-dawn sky, was the photograph Megan had waited over a decade to take. She stood at the edge of the pond, in front of the twelfth-century Cambodian temple, making minute adjustments to her tripod. The night sky, once inky black, transformed into a riot of pink and purple. The sky and Angkor Wat were perfectly reflected in the water. The moment Meg had dreamed of had arrived. She stepped up to the tripod and looked through the viewfinder. Her finger tapped the shutter button repeatedly.

 

To: Meg

From: Mother

 

I don’t see why you insist on complicating everything. If you’d just come directly to Bali like you should have, you wouldn’t be stuck in the Beijing airport. Two canceled flights are a sign, Megan. Why are you still bothering with Cambodia? You’ll only have one day there. Between Rachel and her destination wedding, and you with your Cambodia caper, the two of you are driving me crazy!

 

The bright colors gave way to pale dawn light. Although the number of tourists clicking away on their iPads was still growing rapidly, Meg and her fellow early birds were ready to move on. They knew the magic hour—and the best shots—were done. Meg slipped the camera from the platform before folding up her tripod.

“Get any good shots, Meg?”

Meg spun around and nearly dropped her equipment. If life were fair, exes would become repulsive to you the moment you broke up. But no, she itched to run her hands through his black hair. She remembered licking and sucking her way across every inch of his brown skin. Her eyes flicked to his full lips and she almost whimpered as her panties grew damp at the memory of his eager tongue. Nope, life was decidedly not fair.

“Arjun? What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for a date to a wedding.” He grinned. “Want to be my plus one?”

“Bite me.” Suppressing the urge to slap him, she turned to thread her way out of the crowd as fast as she could.

Stop picturing him naked. Stop it!

A line of stalls selling goods ranging from postcards to T-shirts to food was slowly coming to life.

“Can I have a Coke, Uncle?” she asked the owner of a stall. The guidebook had told her to address everyone older than her as Auntie or Uncle. Whether due to the rapid increase in heat since the sun had crept over the horizon, or the shock of seeing RJ, she was dying of thirst.

I can’t believe he’s here. This is almost as bad as if he were at the wedding.

“Oh. My. God. Wedding.” The bottle froze halfway to her lips. “A date to a wedding.”

Maybe it’s some other college friend’s wedding that just happens to be on the other side of the planet the exact same weekend as Rachel and Paige’s, and oh my fucking God he’s going to be at their wedding. Oh God, oh God, oh God—

Wishing it was a beer, Meg took a swig of the soda.

“Want to share that?”

Meg choked on the liquid. RJ’s hand pounded rhythmically on her back.

“Stop that! I’m—” She flapped an ineffective hand at him as she fought her way through another coughing fit. “Fine!” Panting, she took a cautious sip. What was supposed to have been blissfully cool relief was now cloying sweetness.

She glared at RJ. “Why are you here? Don’t feed me any of your charming bullshit.”

“Rachel told me you’d be here.”

Traitor! Exasperated, she threw the soda into the trash and turned to face him. “If you wanted to warn me you’d be at the wedding, you could’ve used email like a normal person. Or my sister could’ve told me you would be there. What made you think crashing my dream vacation would be fun?”

“This wasn’t just your dream vacation, remember?” His tone was mild, but she caught the flash of anger in his eyes. “This was our dream vacation.”

“So you decided to invite yourself along? Clearly, your ego is as massive as ever.” Meg shook her head in disbelief. She picked up her camera bag and tripod.

He stepped in front of her. “Megan, spend the day with me.”

“Why should I?”

“If you don’t, you’ll always wonder what it would have been like. C’mon, Meg, it’ll be fun.” He offered her a winning smile.

You were trying not to think about him even before you knew he was here. Have you ever had much willpower when it came to those dimples? It’s been six years since the break-up and they’re lethal as ever.

“If I agree to hang out with you today, you’ll try to sweet talk your way into my bed. Don’t think you’re going to succeed, RJ.”

“I didn’t say anything about rolling around naked on your bed. You’re the one who brought it up.”

Capturing the Moment is now available for pre-order on Totally Bound’s website. It will be on sale March 29 on Totally Bound’s website exclusively for one month. On April 29th, it will be available on Amazon and with other retailers.

Filed under: Capturing the Moment Book Tour, Published, Writing | Tagged: Capturing the Moment, delilah night, Lynn Townsend, Tamsin Flowers, Totally Bound | 1 Comment »