Meant to Be
Nan Reinhardt
(Four Irish Brothers Winery, #2)
Published by: Tule Publishing
Publication date: July 18th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Can a near-tragedy help two best friends realize they’re meant to be so much more?Best friends since grade school, high-powered Chicago attorney, Sean Flaherty, and small-town mayor Megan Mackenzie have always shared a special bond. When Sean is shot by a client’s angry ex, Megan rushes to his side, terrified she’s about to lose her long-time confidant.Upon his return to River’s Edge to recuperate, Sean discovers that his feelings for his pal have taken an undeniable turn for the romantic. While Megan struggles with an unfamiliar longing for Sean, she worries that he may be mistaking a safe place to land for love.Can Sean help her realize that they are truly meant to be so much more than friends?
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EXCERPT:
Meg was afraid to ask, but she did anyway. “What happened?”“Sean’s been shot.” Sam crumpled back into the booth, sobbing.Megan gasped as bile rose in her throat. She couldn’t even comprehend Sam’s words. Sean was shot? The invincible Sean Flaherty? Her buddy? Her best friend? His handsome face flashed into her mind—the lock of dark hair that invariably fell across his brow, the blue, blue eyes that sparkled sapphire with wit or turned dark navy with emotion, that killer smile, those amazing Flaherty dimples… impossible!“What?” She sat down across from Sam. “Shot?” She could hardly catch her breath. “When? Where?”Sam grabbed a napkin from the dispenser on the table and swiped at her eyes. “I–I don’t know much. Charlie Smith at the firm said it happened right outside the courthouse in Evanston early this afternoon. Some crazy woman. The wife of his current client. They took him to Northwestern; he’s in surgery right now.” She took a shaky breath. “Conor’s driving up to meet Aidan and Brendan at the airport, then they’re heading to the hospital.” She covered her mouth with both hands as if that could stop her lips from trembling, then shuddered. “Dear God, Meg.”Megan closed her eyes, trying desperately to banish the dreadful pictures in her head—Sean on a gurney, pale and bleeding—and replace them with ones from the last time she’d seen him—grinning and pouring sparkling wine on New Year’s Eve.They’d hugged each other at midnight because neither of them had had a date, and Sean had pressed his warm lips to her forehead. “You’re the best, Megs,” he’d murmured and held her close to his brawny chest for a long moment. She felt the even beat of his heart under the navy sweater he wore—the one she’d knitted for him for Christmas that made his eyes look deep blue.“I’m going up there.” Megan stood and gazed at Sam. “I have to, Sam. He’s my oldest and dearest friend. Maybe there’s nothing I can do, but I can spell the guys at visitation and maybe, I dunno, give blood or something. I just know I can’t stay here. I’ll go crazy. I have to see him.”Sam stared at her silently, then sighed. “Come on. Let’s trade cars. I don’t trust your old beater to make it to Indianapolis, and you sure as heck can’t ride Big Red all the way to Chicago.”
Q&A with Nan Reinhardt, author of Meant to Be
Questions compliments of USA-Today bestselling author Liz Flaherty
Tell us about one of those defining, aha moments when, as a writer, you were in the place you needed to be.
If you mean those “oh, that’s how I’m going to write this scene!” moments, then for some weird reason they always seem to come to me when I’m driving of all things. It’s awkward because then I either have to stop in a parking lot or on the side of the road to make notes. Fortunately, I’m never without paper and pen. But if you mean, literally a place that I know is a story in itself, I’d say on my first trip to Frankfort, Michigan.
What heroine in what favorite book would you like to talk to, maybe have lunch or a glass of wine with? What would you talk about?
Unquestionably, Anne Shirley and Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have tea with them on the porch at Green Gables and talk about Prince Edward Island and writing and Avonlea? Maybe Matthew and Gilbert might join us later. Sheer heaven!
If trends and marketing weren’t things you had to consider, what book would you like to write?
ANY Times bestseller? Seriously, I think I’m writing the books I want to write at the moment. I have a women’s fiction novel and a time-travel story in me, I’m sure, but right now they’re still brewing, so until one of them comes to the top of the cycle, I’ll continue with contemporary romance.
You’re not only a bestselling author but an editor as well. Do the two jobs ever get in each other’s way?
The editor slows down the writer, I’m afraid, and that’s often discouraging because I’m driven to reread what I write and to edit as I go along. That means sometimes I lose steam in storytelling. I’m working on that.
Share a paragraph you’ve written that you particularly love—whatever the reason.
This is silly and it’s more than one paragraph, but I love the scene in Meant to Be when Sean and Megan are driving home from their disastrous double-date and he tries to explain Vinnie using an analogy from the movie Up. I loved his rationalization and her complete rejection of it.
He glanced over at Meg, who appeared focused on navigating the curvy driveway into the winery property. “Here’s the thing”—he side-eyed her as she pulled into Char’s driveway—“Vin is like... like that dog in Up.”
She switched off the car and turned to face him, her expression incredulous. “What?”
“You know the dog in that movie Up? We watched it with Ali at Christmas?” His point was valid if she would just open her mind, so he explained further. “The dog had a great ball that he was playing with—having fun, enjoying himself. Loved that ball. Then a squirrel ran by and he was completely distracted, dropped the ball, and chased the squirrel.” He grinned, hoping to get some kind of positive reaction.
She rested her elbow on the steering wheel and cupped her chin in her palm. “So, I’m the ball in this scenario?”
“Yeah.”
“And Vin is the dog?”
He nodded. She was getting it.
“And Gia is what? The squirrel?”
He threw his hands up in exultation. “Yes, exactly.”
She gazed at him for a long moment, “I’ve heard you say some really dumb stuff over the years, Sean Flaherty, but that has to be the dumbest. Stop defending him.”
I know you researched heavily for both of your series.
Do you remember anything particularly surprising you learned?
I was surprised when I learned that Indiana was one of the very first places that grew wine grapes and sold wine commercially. I had no idea our state was so steeped in wine history.
Do you ever feel pressured to write something you don’t want to—by publishers, readers, or the little voice in the back of your mind?
I did when I first started writing and trying to sell romance. My agent sent me a book from another client of hers and told me to “write like this.” I tried, but it wasn’t me. That’s a big part of the reason I went indie with my Women of Willow Bay series. But Tule, my current publisher is amazing and gives me lots of freedom. I love working with them.
What’s something we don’t know about you?
I love Big Band music and the songs from the Great American Songbook. Sinatra, Crosby, Tony Bennett—they all make me swoony. I would love to learn how to dance the way they did back in the thirties and forties when that music was popular. I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know much about today’s music or artists…I’m hopelessly stuck in the musical past.
Tell us about your favorite day in all the world, whether it’s already happened or you’re still hoping.
This is so trite I know, but my best day ever was the day my son was born. We’d waited so long and tried so hard to have him. He’s been a blessing from the first moment he took a breath.
You love traveling, right? So what’s on your bucket list for trips not yet taken?
Prince Edward Island with my bestie, Liz. We’re definitely going to do it in the next year or two. I’d love to go back to Ireland and France, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m okay with that. Liz and I do writing trips together once or twice a year and those satisfy the wanderlust.
A few short ones here just to get people acquainted:
Favorite color: Yellow
Favorite song: Anything from the Great American Songbook
Favorite movie: Little Women, the Denise DiNovi version with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder (Yes, I’m a true sap!)
Favorite wine: Armida Winery’s El Campo Estate Field-Blend zinfandel (I know that’s scary specific, but it is amazing wine!)
Coffee or tea? Coffee mostly, but I love Harney and Sons’s Paris tea
Any tattoos? Nope and nope it remains for all eternity.
Author Bio:Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today-bestselling author of romantic fiction for women in their prime. Yeah, women still fall in love and have sex, even after 45! Imagine! She is a wife, a mom, a mother-in-law, and a grandmother. Nan has been a copyeditor and proofreader for over 25 years, and currently works on romantic fiction titles for a variety of clients, including Avon Books, St. Martin’s Press, Kensington Books, and Entangled Publishing, as well as for many indie authors.Although she loves her life as an editor, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. Her latest novel, Meant to Be, Book 2 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing releases on July 18, 2019. A Small Town Christmas, which is the first book in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing, is available now, and she is currently hard at work on Book 3.Visit Nan’s website at www.nanreinhardt.com, where you’ll find links to all her books as well as blogs about writing, being a Baby Boomer, and aging gracefully…mostly. Nan also blogs every sixth Wednesday at Word Wranglers, sharing the spotlight with five other romance authors and is a frequent contributor the RWA Contemporary Romance blog, and she contributes to the Romance University blog where she writes as Editor Nan.
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