Back To You by Jessica Scott Pre-Lanch Blitz & Giveaway
He's in for the fight of his life . . .
Army captain Trent Davila loved his wife, Laura, and their two beautiful children. But when he almost lost his life in combat, something inside him died. He couldn't explain the emptiness he felt or bridge the growing distance between him and his family-so he deployed again. And again. And again...until his marriage reached its breaking point. Now, with everything on the line, Trent has one last chance to prove to his wife that he can be the man she needs ...if she'll have him
. . . to win back his only love.
Laura is blindsided when Trent returns home. Time and again, he chose his men over his family, and she's just beginning to put the pieces of her shattered heart back together. But when Trent faces a court martial on false charges, only Laura can save him. What begins as an act of kindness to protect his career inflames a desire she thought long buried-and a love that won't be denied. But can she trust that this time he's back to stay?
“So, to what do I
owe the honor of this visit?” she asked, minimizing her e-mail to
be able to focus.
“Don’t throw me
out of the office,” he said, trying to keep his voice light. “But
I need to talk to you about Trent’s case.”
Laura leaned back
in her chair, folding her arms over her chest, and started counting
to ten.
“I know you’re
having a hard time with him.”
Laura sucked on her
top lip for a moment before answering. “I wouldn’t necessarily
call filing for divorce a hard time.”
“And that’s
what I need to talk to you about.”
“Patrick…”
“Just hear me
out, okay?”
She ground her
teeth but after a moment nodded.
“Listen, there’s
no case against Trent. It’s weak at best. With the Article 32 about
to start, we have a good chance of getting it stopped here before it
goes to court-martial. But I need to plant doubt that the allegations
against him are true.” He met her gaze. “I need you to do that.”
Laura chewed on her
bottom lip, playing his words over and over in her head, not
understanding what he was asking of her. “What do you mean, you
need to plant doubt?”
“The primary
witness against your husband, PFC Adorno—”
“Oh, we’ve
met,” Laura said dryly.
Patrick’s smile
was humorless. “Yes, well, that’s part of the prosecution’s
problem. She’s alleging that Trent was inappropriate but the
problem is that she and Lieutenant Randall were caught in their
shenanigans downrange.”
Laura frowned. “So
you think this is a ploy to get herself out of trouble?
“Her and her
husband. If they were working together to steal the missing weapons
systems, then what better way to get out of trouble than to make this
stuff up against Trent? Takes the focus off her and her husband
completely.” Patrick leaned forward, tapping his index finger on
the desk. “If I can cast Trent as a sympathetic family man who
would never do anything like what she’s alleging, this case is all
but dismissed. I’m not attacking her. All I have to do is make
Trent look better than the story she’s telling and we’ve got a
win.”
“And you need me
to paint on a happy face and be the loving wife.”
Patrick shook his
head. “No, I need you to be one half of a loving couple. And I need
you to do it publicly where everyone can see it—in the PX, in the
chow hall, everywhere. I need the officers on this board to believe
exactly what I’ll be telling them on the day of the hearing.”
She looked down at
her empty ring finger, absently rubbing the bare skin beneath the
bandage. “Everyone knows that we’re having problems, Patrick.”
“Then make sure
everyone knows you’ve fixed it.” He leaned back. “I wouldn’t
ask you to do this if I didn’t think it was our best shot at
getting this whole thing thrown out.”
She looked up at
him. “Why didn’t Trent ask me to do this?”
Patrick swallowed
and looked away. “He refused to drag you into this,” he said
quietly. “For what it’s worth, I don’t in a million years
believe the allegations against Trent. I don’t think he would ever,
ever be unfaithful to you.”
Laura pressed her
lips together in a flat line. “You’re wrong, Patrick. He’s been
cheating on me for years. It was just with the army instead of
another woman.”
“Laura—”
“Let me think
about it,” she said quickly. “I won’t say no out of hand but I
can’t make this decision on a whim.”
Patrick leaned
across the desk, gripping her hand. “I know this is hard for you,
Laura. I know what I’m asking you to do.”
She said nothing
for a long moment and he gave her a sympathetic but firm smile. “Give
it some thought, okay?”
When she was alone,
she sat there, staring at the picture of her family. Wondering how
she was going to bring him back into the kids’ lives and then rip
him out again. What he was asking wasn’t fair. He had no idea what
this was going to do to her family.
She glanced at the
photo on her desk as she typed furiously, trying to get ahead of the
flood of e-mails in her inbox.
There was a quiet
rap on her office door. “I’m not here,” she said quickly,
looking up.
Her fingers froze
on the keyboard. Her heart stopped in her chest.
Trent stood in the
doorway. He had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. His glasses hid
the darkness of his eyes. There was a streak of dirt on his cheek. An
assault pack hung limply from his left hand.
A thousand emotions
ripped through her all at once, rioting for supremacy as she drank in
the sight of her husband.
Ex-husband, she
reminded herself. Or at least he was supposed to be.
She wished that
this were a normal homecoming. One where she would rush across the
small space and crash into him. His arms would come around her and
she would inhale the strong spicy scent of his skin. Feel the heat of
his touch. Savor that first, wild kiss.
Instead she had
this. This empty chasm between them, echoing with loneliness.
And she had no idea how to cross it.
Romancing the Readers would like to thank Jessica Scott for answering a few questions for us!
BACK TO YOU Pre-Launch Blitz Q&A
- You first introduced Trent and Laura a few years ago and readers have been eagerly awaiting their story for a few years. Did you always know when you first created them in BECAUSE OF YOU that this was how their story would play out?
I knew they would have a story to tell
but telling their story in this particular way, no I didn’t intend
it. It took finding my amazing editor along with multiple attempts at
trial and error to get them just right. I’m a nervous wreck about
their story but I’m also really excited because I’m very happy
with how their story turned out. Plus, hamsters. Who can argue with
that, right?
- BACK TO YOU is the incredibly emotional story of a marriage at the breaking point. What or who inspired you to write this story?
I remember standing in the ops one day
and one of the guys was on the phone with his wife. He was telling
her how much he was sorry, how much he didn’t want to work late.
Then one of the other guys remarked that he always says that but he
doesn’t ever mean it. So I had this idea of a man who was so driven
to get back to war that he let his entire family and personal life
suffer but I also wanted a wife who people could relate to, as well.
Laura is Trent’s perfect compliment.
- In your own personal life, you’ve been the soldier that has deployed to a war zone and the spouse that stayed home and has taken care of the family on the home front. Which was more difficult for you in your experience? And why?
That’s a much bigger topic than we
have time for but I’ll say this: each one has it’s own unique
challenges. Being deployed, not being able to get home when your kids
are crying that they want mommy, that’s brutal. It rips your soul
out. But then coming home and your reality doesn’t live up to the
fantasy? In some ways, I think it’s worse and that doesn’t make a
whole lot of sense. As far as being the wife at home? I remember
vividly lying awake at night, obsessively checking to make sure my
ringer was turned on. I never cared when he called I just wanted to
hear his voice. So which one is worse? I can’t really say. But I’m
grateful that we’ve made it through each one a little bit stronger,
you know?
- Which is your favorite story to write—a reunion romances like Trent and Laura’s where each scene is alive with their own history or a fresh romance where they meet for the very first time and everything is new? Why?
I love a reunion story. I love the idea
being able to forgive and love the person you’re with right then
and not the memory of someone. I’m a huge sucker for reunion
stories, honestly. I love the reconnection, the noting of how things
have changed, of learning to love that person all over again,
especially after a betrayal or things didn’t work in the past.
- Trent is such a compelling character and you do a beautiful job of showing his survivor’s guilt and the resulting anxiety and fear that provokes in him. He’s both so alpha and strong and so very broken. What inspired you to create such a complicated hero? A real life person? A culmination of your own experiences? What you’ve seen yourself in the army? And were you at all concerned about the way readers would respond to him?
Trent is going to be hard for people to
read, I suspect. He comes close to crossing some boundaries and I
wanted to do that deliberately: I wanted people to understand that
coming home from war isn’t cured in a day or a week. It’s a
process. Someone like Trent who has bled in combat isn’t going to
be okay after a night of magical sex. I know that’s the fantasy but
I wanted something more: I wanted the fantasy that the couple will be
strong enough to make it. So for me, Trent is deeply, deeply personal
because I’ve seen friends struggle with some very tough choices.
And the truth is, there is no magical cure but there can still be a
happily ever after if you have someone strong enough to stand with
you.
- Laura is such an amazing character because she’s done the best for her family at every turn and supported her husband. But when all communication breaks down with her husband and he just keeps deploying, she serves her husband with divorce papers while he’s serving. It seems like such a taboo to serve papers while your spouse is deployed—is that true? And why did you choose to have Laura, the ultimate good wife, respond this way?
Laura sending Trent divorce papers
while deployed I think is the ultimate prohibition. It’s just wrong
on so so many levels and yet, I wanted to give readers a sense of
what could drive someone to their breaking point. Laura is such a
strong woman and yet, she broke. The strongest of us all have our
breaking points. I wanted to show people how hard the war has been on
everyone: not just the soldiers deploying but on the kids, on the
spouses but I also wanted to give people hope, too.
- Agent Chaos and Fluffy, the family hamsters, almost steal the show with their disappearing acts and they add the perfect amount of cuteness and comic relief. What inspired you to add them into the story?
Ah Fluffy and Agent Chaos. So for
readers who don’t know, we have hamsters. It all started when we
volunteered to buy the pre-k class pet. I didn’t realize that this
would include home visits for the holidays. Fluffy was the first
hamster and she promptly escaped within the first 24 hours. After
that, we’ve become a multiple hamster household and well, when they
escape, it’s madness because we have dogs and cats who, by some
miracle, haven’t actually ever managed to capture one of the little
buggers.
This story badly needed something to
lighten it up. I thought adding in some escaping rodents would be the
perfect thing to break up a really tough interaction between Trent
and his kids. They provided a bridge for him to cross, a way to reach
them while he was still getting used to them.
- Big wedding or small? Hamsters or dogs? Sweats or lingerie?
Small wedding. Both
hamsters and dogs and cats. Sweats all the way.
- Emma and Ethan, Trent and Laura’s kids, are adorable and watching Trent learn how to be a dad again is an amazing thing. How do you think Trent got so detached from his family?
Coming home to be a parent again is
probably the hardest thing soldiers do. The kids have changed, they
have their own wants and needs and, well, they’re not your
soldiers. They don’t listen like your soldiers have to. The noise
and the chaos and the constant needs are really tough to get used to
again so I think Trent just ran away because it was too much to deal
with.
- Since this is such an emotionally charged story, was it difficult for you to write? Or did it come easily?
It was very, very difficult to write. I
wanted to push boundaries and create at least a glimpse of what it’s
like to come home. I wanted to give readers a taste of the emotions
that people go through, the fear, the uncertainty but also the love
and the hope and the relief that their loved one is home safe.
- Since you’ve been in Trent’s shoes, what is the hardest thing about readjusting to civilian life after a deployment?
The crowds and
the entitlement. To this day, I won’t go into crowded stores or
wait in crowds. It’s suffocating. And it’s funny because when I
first came home, I was so annoyed at people complaining about lines
and traffic and school starting. I was just so grateful to be back.
Now, I’m much more sympathetic to everyday gripes and groans. I
think it’s just part of how we get through our days.
About the author:
USA Today bestselling author Jessica Scott is a career
army officer; mother of two daughters, three cats and three dogs; wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She is a terrible cook and even worse housekeeper, but she's a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon and someone liked
some of the stuff she wrote. Somehow, her children are pretty well-adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.
She's written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View: Regarding War Blog, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn and has served as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas.
She's pursuing a PhD in Sociology in her spare time and most recently, she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year for 2012.
She's written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View: Regarding War Blog, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn and has served as a company commander at Fort Hood, Texas.
She's pursuing a PhD in Sociology in her spare time and most recently, she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year for 2012.
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I want to read some of her books. She is a new author to me.
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