Collision
Kate L. Mary
Author Bio
Kate L. Mary is a stay-at-home mother of four and an Air Force wife. She spent most of her life in a small town just north of Dayton, Ohio where she and her husband met at the age of twelve. She enjoys any post-apocalyptic story – especially if zombies are involved – as long as there is a romantic twist to give the story hope. Kate prefers nerdy, non-traditional heroes that can make you laugh to hunky pieces of man-meat, and her love of wine and chocolate is legendary among her friends and family. She currently resides in Oklahoma with her husband and children.
Description
When Kara Jones slams her car into a tree on the way home from college, she inadvertently throws open her mom’s closet full of skeletons. Learning her dad isn’t really her biological father has her head spinning, and to make matters worse, Kara’s mom also refuses to reveal any information about that man who actually gave her life.
Drowning in a sea of lies, Kara is desperately in need of a distraction. Enter former classmate, Derek Miller. His nerdy, sci-fi loving charm is too much for Kara to resist, and it turns out he loves a good mystery. Together they dig into her mother’s past, hoping to discover who Kara really is. But the closer they get to the truth, the more Kara wonders if some secrets are better left untold…
Book excerpt
The walls vibrate from when my dad slammed the door. It’s more violent than an earthquake.
Or is that me?
I have to blink a few times to get my eyes to focus. My legs shake and every tiny tremor that runs through my body makes me ache even more. I dig my fingers into my knees to keep them from knocking together, but it’s pointless. My hands are shaking, too.
The silence in the room is so thick it chokes me. I swallow, but it takes a lot more effort than it should. Like a golf ball is lodged in my throat. She’s watching me. Her eyes are more intense than a laser beam. I can’t force myself to meet them.
My head pounds. I abandon my shaky legs and massage my temples, keeping my eyes down. Anything so I don’t have to look at her. “Where’s my real father?”
“It’s not important.”
I look up even though I don’t want to. “What?”
Mom twists a strand of dark hair around her finger. “You don’t want to know him, trust me.”
She sinks into the overstuffed armchair like her legs are about to give out. Still twisting the hair. Over and over it circles her fingers until she releases it and starts again.
“I deserve to know where I came from,” I whisper. I don’t even have the energy to yell.
Mom sinks deeper into the chair. “Sometimes a lie is better than the truth. Believe me.”
“Trust you? Believe you?” My face gets hot. Maybe I have the energy after all. “I’ll never be able to do that again! You’ve lied to me my whole life. To Dad! Everything has been a lie!”
“No, it hasn’t. Your dad will see that soon. He’ll come around.”
She’s crazy. I saw the look in his eyes. He’s devastated. A person doesn’t come back from something like this. “How can you think that?”
She finally looks at me, and her blue eyes shimmer with unshed tears. “What about your life has been a lie? One thing. One tiny, insignificant thing. I love you. Your Dad loves you. We’ve been happy. He is your father in every single way but one. How can this matter that much?”
I ball up my hands into fists and press them against my temples while I try to process the words coming out of her mouth. “You lied. That’s what matters. Dad will always be my dad—biology can’t change that. But I want to know where I came from. What can be so awful that you can’t tell me that?”
“Kara,” Mom says softly, “once you learn something you can never unlearn it. If I tell you the truth, it will change your life.”
Author Website
Best place to buy your book