Melinda Curtis here to share a scene from my latest book in the Love in Harmony Valley series – A SMALL TOWN WEDDING. In this book, Vince is invited home for his younger brother Joe’s wedding. Vince hasn’t been home since he left town years ago, not wanting to relive bad memories. His brothers have been worried about Vince and nagging him to find a woman and get settled down. That’s why he’s been telling them he has a girlfriend. But now, they expect a girlfriend to show up at the wedding. Hence his bargain with his ex-girlfriend, Harley, to travel back home with him in the role of girlfriend of good standing.
This series is about the connections of community and family. I chose this excerpt because it shows the love between Vince and his brothers as well as some of the scars of the past.
Copyright Melinda Curtis 2024
The closer Vince had come to Harmony Valley, the more he’d wanted to turn around.
Harley’s joking banter had helped, but she couldn’t keep him from falling into the past, not when he stood on the property he’d grown up on.
He’d learned to ride a bike on that driveway, with Mom running beside him. He’d learned to throw a football in that field with Gabe, with Mom cheering him from the sidelines. And then there’d been the milestones she’d missed. His driver’s test. Prom. Graduation.
The urge to tell his brothers he’d located their mother was strong. The urge to tell them the truth about the day she left was stronger.
Vince rejected them both.
Don’t rock the boat by bringing Mama drama to Joe’s wedding.
“Gosh, the Torino boys are big.” Harley came to stand next to Vince.
His brothers sprinted across the field toward them, whooping and hollering as if they were in their teens not their thirties.
Gabe slammed into him first, wrapping his arms around Vince and lifting him a couple inches off the ground. He was a mountain of a man with the strength and rigid posture gained from years in the military. But not even the Marines could wipe away the mischievous gleam in Gabe’s eyes. “Vince!” He dropped Vince back on his feet. “How many years has it been?”
“Six or seven?” When they’d gathered for Joe’s first wife’s funeral in Los Angeles.
Joe hugged Vince with a set of hearty backslaps. He was clearly the runt of the family. He’d never filled out the way Vince and Gabe had. “It’s been too long, brother.”
“It has been,” Vince agreed, feeling some of his misgivings evaporate. He attributed it to the lack of humidity in the air, and two family members happy to see him. They were clearly in a good place and no good would come from Vince shedding the burden of his secrets.
“And who have we here?” Gabe claimed Harley’s hand and kissed it.
She laughed and Vince felt a stab of something he didn’t recognize in his chest.
He made the introductions, saving Harley’s hand from Gabe’s because she’d said she didn’t like PDA and probably wouldn’t like it from his come-on-too-strong brother. “Watch out for Gabe. He used to steal my clothes and my girlfriends.”
Harley’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink.
Vince didn’t let go of her hand. Totally because of appearances.
A pint-size girl wearing dirt-stained coveralls crashed into Vince next. “Uncle Vince!” His niece Samantha grinned at him, no longer a baby but a teen.
Her hair was dark brown and just as short as the last time he’d seen her. But instead of looking as if Joe had hacked it with sheep shearers, it was stylishly cut and straightened. If she was styling her hair, the next step was wearing makeup, talking to boys, and refusing to do oil changes because it wrecked her manicure.
“Sam, don’t grow anymore,” Vince told her.
Samantha shushed him. Her cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink than Harley’s. “You’re embarrassing me.” She glanced furtively at a dark-haired teenage boy, who looked to be about thirteen and was staring at Sam the way Sam had once stared at the stuffed beagle Vince had given her when her mother died.
Vince exchanged a quick what-the-heck glance with Joe, who gave him a subtle calm-down gesture.
“And here’s the other love of my life.” Joe introduced his fiancée. “Brittany.”
Vince’s soon-to-be sister-in-law had a thick mane of brown hair with golden highlights, a wide smile that sparkled, and natural makeup. Like Sam, she also wore smudged coveralls. This was no high-maintenance female, even though he’d been told she ran the town’s beauty salon.
Vince liked Brittany immediately. “Welcome to the family.” He hugged her warmly.
“Call me Brit.” Joe’s bride-to-be inched out of Vince’s hug. “Joe, why do all your brothers have such gorgeous manes?” She ran her fingers through Vince’s hair.
Vince jolted backward until Brit’s hands fell away. “It’s getting hot in here.”
Harley laughed, no help at all.
“Hey, honey, your hands should only be in my hair.” But Joe laughed without any jealousy. “And the hair of your paying clients, of course.”
Harley was still chuckling, ignoring Vince’s SOS, which he decided to excuse when she reclaimed his hand. “Their hair is unreal, isn’t it, Brit?”
“Times three.” Brit ignored Joe’s warning and ruffled Gabe’s military-cut hair. “I’m a hairdresser. It’s hard not to touch it.”
“I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” Vince said, meaning it.
They all had thick, black hair. So what? Joe’s hair was a bit too long for a man about to be married and Gabe’s was extremely short. Vince’s was somewhere in between. Like the three bears, they’d each found what was right for them.
“Who cares?” Gabe leaned over to give Brit better access to his scalp. “Brit, do that again.”
“Don’t,” Joe said firmly, tugging Brit away from his oldest brother. “I draw the line at making Gabe happy. He teased me mercilessly when we were kids.”
“Oh, Shaggy Joe.” Brit snuggled close to Joe the way Harley had snuggled close to Vince when they were dating. “I love your hair best.”
Vince glanced down at Harley, which wasn’t far considering how tall she was. “I think you should limit your hands to my hair, too.” His words came out low and intimate. He might just as well have been saying, You should limit your lips to mine, too.
Harley got the message. Her cheeks bloomed with color, and she tried to ease her hand free.
But Vince held on. To her hand. To her gaze. And for just this week, to her.
“Dear brothers, stop with the googly eyes.” Gabe turned toward the field, looking like he was on duty. “Come on, Sam. When Brit calls your dad Shaggy Joe, it’s time to vacate the premises.”
“Googly eyes are disgusting.” Sam pulled a face but glanced longingly at that teenage boy.
“Gabe’s complaining about googly eyes?” Vince taunted good-naturedly. “He’s lucky Harley and I don’t make out right now.”
Harley made a disapproving noise. “You’re impossible.”
Vince smiled fondly at Harley. No kisses? Yeah, he’d make her suffer a little for that rule.
His wedding date huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, finally getting that space she wanted, although their shoulders touched.
“Brad.” Gabe shook his finger at the teenage boy. “If I ever catch you looking with googly eyes at my niece again, I’m going to drop you off that bridge.”
Sam gasped and glared at Gabe. “Why would you say that?” She hissed like an angry cat. “Why?”
“Because I’m your uncle and I love you.” Gabe gave her a devilish grin cut from the same cloth as Vince’s. “And I was a teenage boy once.” And a love magnet.
“I will never.” Sam raised her hands heavenward. “Look at anyone. Like. That.” She pointed at Joe and Brit.
Vince chuckling, knowing Sam would eat those words someday.
Still grumbling, Vince’s teenage niece took off running. Sam’s admirer joined her as she raced past him. Gabe plodded behind them at his own pace.
“Joe, don’t give that boy an inch with Sam.” Vince nodded toward the young pair. “She’s too young to be interested in boys.”
“Brad knows what the rules are and respects them, unlike Gabe at that age.” Joe grinned and it was like looking in a mirror. Except for his eyes. Joe was the only Torino who had their mother’s blue eyes. “I hope those are clothes you can get dirty, because we could use an extra pair of hands.”
Vince took stock of his blue jeans and polo shirt, as well as Harley’s similarly casual attire. “We’re good. Are you hooking cars up to the tow truck and taking them somewhere?”
“One at a time?” Joe shook his head. “That would cost a fortune in gas. We found a scrap hauler willing to take the rest away with a double-decker semi-trailer. He comes tomorrow.”
“The rest?” Harley shaded her eyes for a better view. “How many cars are there?”
“Joe already got some running and sold them.” Brit started walking, beckoning Harley to join her. Next to Brit, Harley looked like a beanpole, as if she lacked curves.
So not true.
Harley’s curves were classic and subtle, like her personality.
“We just need to clear the debris between the cars and the road,” Brit was saying. “And then tow them into a line on the edge of the pavement for the hauler to take them away.”
“That sounds easy,” Harley said without having any clue how labor intensive it really was.
Vince and Joe fell into step behind the women.
“It would go so much faster if my soon-to-be wife wouldn’t have to look at every piece of debris.” Joe wasn’t fooling anyone with his complaint. His tone was indulgent.
“I’m an upcycle artist.” Brit told Harley proudly. “When I’m not doing hair, junk sculpture is my life. If you see a hub cap or a bicycle on the side of the road, pick them up for me.”
“You did the mermaids?” Harley pointed to a sculpture of a mermaid on a bicycle above the service bays.
Vince followed the direction of Harley’s finger.
Designed in metal and painted bright green, the mermaid rode on a red, white and blue bicycle above the service bay doors. There was what looked like another mermaid on the grass near the bridge, along with a Volkswagen made out of stacked rocks, and some other pieces of what Vince had been told were art.
“Yep,” Brit said cheerfully. “Mermaids are my thing. You should see the one in my beauty salon. Kiera is my masterpiece.”
Vince came even with the repair shop. His steps slowed. The sun disappeared behind a cloud as a memory unfolded.
“It should run! It should run!” Dad’s freaked-out voice. His silhouette seemed to move through the empty service bay, pacing, hands tugging at his hair.
“It’ll be all right.” Mom’s shadow was close at Dad’s heels. “Let’s try it again, Vince.”
Joe laid his arm around Vince’s shoulders. “The place is different now,” Joe said quietly. “We’ve made changes. It doesn’t feel as if it was ever his.”
His. Their father’s. A man plagued by voices in his head.
“And there’s no trace of her here, either,” Joe said with resentment.
Her. Their mother. A woman who’d spent years trying to make peace with her husband’s many extreme mood swings to shelter her children from instability, until it became too much for her.
Too much for me.
Vince acknowledged Joe’s comment with a grunt, the only sound he was capable of making.
They moved even with the house. This time it wasn’t a gloomy shadow Vince felt but the icy hand of guilt. His actions had left their family without a reliable parent.
“We’re remodeling the house.” Joe’s words rang with pride. “We tore down some interior walls, ripped out all the flooring and removed everything in the bathrooms. You wouldn’t recognize it.”
Oh, I bet I can.
Vince bet he could mark an X on the spot where Dad had his after-work meltdowns. Or stand in the kitchen where Mom would smoke with the window open, hoping Dad didn’t notice the tinge of nicotine in the air.
Vince walked faster, heading toward the field and the junker cars that needed moving.
“Sam and I are living in the apartment above the garage until the house is done.” Joe stopped Vince with a hand on his arm. “I’m saving to buy you out. You and Gabe.”
They stood in front of Vince’s old bedroom window. There was a reason nothing had ever grown beneath that sill. After dark, he and Gabe had used it as their own personal entrance.
“You don’t have to pay me.” The three brothers had inherited the property. But Vince didn’t want anything from Harmony Valley.
“I can’t give you top dollar.” Joe set his chin the way he had when he was a kid and Vince had told him to go away. “This place was a wreck when we got here. Any value in it is coming directly from my pocket.”
“Keep your money. I don’t need it.”
“Say what you want. There’s a check coming your way.” Joe walked on, back stiff with all his honorable intentions.
If Joe had gone to Texas, he’d have done things differently. He’d have shown up at their mother’s door, introduced himself and told her off.
Vince lingered behind, taking in the property, the small house, the modest business, the cluttered field. Joe might believe things looked different now.
To Vince, things looked exactly the same.
Love in Harmony Valley #13
A small town romance with quirky characters about the healing power of unexpected love from USA Today Bestselling author Melinda Curtis.
He needs a fake girlfriend.
Although they dated for only a month, Harley O’Hannigan agreed to be Vince Torino's plus-one at his brother’s Harmony Valley wedding. Big mistake, given her feelings for the tall, dark, unavailable bachelor.
But things quickly get complicated.
Vince never told her about his prickly relationship with his brothers or his bad boy past. Not that Harley has been forthcoming about her submarined career either. But secrets have a way of coming to light when you’re sharing a tiny room with twin beds, making Harley wonder if they’re both due for a fresh start…together?
Fans of fake relationship romance and movies like Can’t Buy Me Love and The Wedding Date will love this fun, heartwarming, clean romance with a happily ever after.
Romance Small Town [Franny Beth Books, On Sale: June 21, 2024, e-Book, / ]
Although Melinda has lived in Georgia and Texas, she's a California girl at heart. Her earliest memories are of life on an isolated 50-acre sheep ranch in rural Sonoma County, California. Picture rolling hills covered in brown grass, a eucalyptus forest, a long gravel driveway lined with plump sheep and no sidewalks. It was a big deal to drive into town on a one-lane road in a ramshackle, bubble-fendered pickup for an ice cream.
Flash forward to this century. Melinda lives in California's hot central valley with her husband - her basketball playing college sweetheart. With three kids the couple has done the soccer thing, the karate thing, the dance thing, the Little League thing and, of course, the basketball thing.
Melinda writes sweet to medium heat contemporary romances as Melinda Curtis and red hot reads as Mel Curtis. She loves writing romances about women who don't realize how strong they are until a hero comes along to show them, while capturing the wry humorous power struggle of falling in love - because, really, who lets the man have the last word?
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