{"id":253425,"date":"2026-07-13T02:48:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/a-sweet-memory-maria-michaels-1\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T02:48:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:48:44","slug":"a-sweet-memory-maria-michaels-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/a-sweet-memory-maria-michaels-1\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sweet Memory – Maria Michaels (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/figure>\n

\u201cEven Benny was tight-lipped about all his fostering work. These guys are in a service industry that doesn\u2019t want to be acknowledged. But I have hopes. I\u2019m meeting Julie for coffee. She\u2019ll talk.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s not the writing I\u2019m talking about and you know it.\u201d Mandy was about to bring up spicy romance again. \u201cI\u2019m not going to do that anymore.\u201d \u201cWhat? Why? This is your best chance.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m terrible at it, that\u2019s why. I made myself laugh. Pretty sure you\u2019re not supposed to laugh during romance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot if you do it right.\u201d \u201cLook, if I have to write spicy romance to be successful, I guess I just won\u2019t write fiction.\u201d Mandy gave her a wide-eyed look. \u201cGive up?\u201d \u201cNo! Not give up.\u201d She sighed. \u201cI just need to write what I like to read and see what happens.\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s one way to go.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t mention it again. Okay?\u201d \u201cAll right. Whatever you say. Just trying to be supportive here.\u201d \u201cYou want to be supportive, go back and tell Mom about our progress.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve boxed up all the old magazines lining the hallways. Everything in the house that needs fixing is getting fixed. Gran is getting out of the house again. And she has the right to live in her home, surrounded by people who love and care for her.\u201d \u201cYou don\u2019t have to convince me. But Mom will be out in August. Save the speeches for her. Speaking of which, when are you going to tell her that you\u2019re done working at the boutique?\u201d \u201cWhen I come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

She owed Mom that much. Working at the bridal shop between all the rest of her dead-end jobs had provided the little savings that she had. Mom had been generous because, Diana believed, Mom had hoped either one of her daughters would take on what she\u2019d worked so hard to build. Diana couldn\u2019t blame it all on Tiffany and Bradley, though they were a big part of it.<\/p>\n

Having seen behind the smoke and mirrors of one special day had amounted to the death of romance for Diana. One dress, worn once, shouldn\u2019t cost as much as it did and yet brides were willing to pay and pay dearly. Not to mention other unethical things brides like Tiffany were willing to do in order to snag a groom. But knowing that she was done working for Mom and telling her face to face were two different things. Try as she had, Diana still hadn\u2019t found her courage.<\/p>\n

The search would continue. \u201cYou\u2019re a writer?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Thank you for inviting me to your wedding. I would attend, but here\u2019s the thing: I\u2019d rather be hung over a crocodile-infested swamp and used as bait. Diana Mulvaney highlighted the second sentence of her email and hit \u201cdelete.\u201d Those words didn\u2019t quite get across the message that she wanted. I would rather have a root canal without the benefit of Novocain.<\/p>\n

There. Better, because Bradley understood how she hated the dentist. She begged for the laughing gas every time. Paid extra for it. But still not quite right. I would rather sit on an uncovered gas station toilet seat. Much, much better. Bradley knew how she felt about public restrooms.<\/p>\n

But it might be a little crude, plus the last thing she wanted was for Bradley or his new bride to picture Diana on any toilet seat. She\u2019d just have to keep working on it. Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day and all that. Diana closed her laptop and picked up the \u201cSave the Date\u201d invitation she\u2019d received last week from Bradley.<\/p>\n

Beautifully engraved, it announced the marriage of Mr. Bradley Ballard to Miss Tiffany Smythe. How kind of Bradley to think of Diana. Another man might not invite his former college girlfriend of six years to his wedding, but not her Bradley. He was a special kind of stupid. Diana dug in her suitcase, found the silky pink lingerie she\u2019d bought a year ago, and slipped it on. It was just one of many hopeful items in the honeymoon trousseau she wouldn\u2019t need any longer.<\/p>\n

Dating Bradley for six years meant that she had quite a collection of lingerie now collecting dust, but this one was by far her favorite. The tight pink bodice hugged her, trailing to a flowing white skirt with slits that showcased a lot of leg. This would at least serve some purpose now, even if it wouldn\u2019t be to entice Bradley away from his software programs. Diana took a long look at herself in the full-length mirror then pulled her bathrobe on because, let\u2019s be honest, she was nothing if not a prude.<\/p>\n

She walked over to the sliding glass door facing the back of her motel room and took in a deep, cleansing breath. Truly, there was nowhere else in the world quite like Napa Valley. Outside in the twilight of the day, the courtyard garden seemed to glow with purple bougainvillea, pink azaleas, and yellow and white daisy shrubs. Everything about Napa Valley, and Starlight Hill in particular, cried out, \u201cWe do wine and we do it better than you.\u201d How she\u2019d missed this place. Missed Gran.<\/p>\n

Her cell phone rang with the theme from Cops. Mandy, her sister. Diana answered. \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d \u201cDid you do it yet?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m about to if you\u2019ll give me a chance.\u201d Truthfully, this whole thing was Mandy\u2019s idea, and Diana still didn\u2019t think she could do it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\nToggle<\/span><\/path><\/svg><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n