Bringing Love of the Past into the Present
Mark Allen Coleridge and Tessa May Black shared a history. They both grew up in the same rural Georgia trailer park. They grew up with limited funds, learning that wishes and desires sometimes had to be delayed if money were required to fulfill those wishes or desires. And, they both grew up knowing that their way out of trailer park life was education.
Both were bright and eager to learn and achieve. And while Tessa’s focus was to use her brains to move forward—to gain scholarships and financial aid for college, Mark, who was also bright and achieved academically, was also an athlete of great ability. So while beautiful Tessa’s with her blonde ponytail helped lead the cheering crowd, the athlete Mark made his presence known as captain and running back for their high school’s football team. And, it was not surprising, when the young friends with so many parallel life experiences became best friends, sweethearts and then, in their senior year, lovers.
But, unexpectedly they parted after high school, or rather Tessa put an end to their relationship after graduation as if they had not shared a relationship since the seventh grade. Tessa turned her back not just on Mark, but also on Mark’s family who had been the only real family she had known. As an only child of a mother who walked out when Tessa was 10 and a dad who had travelled for business, Tessa had often shared meals and nurturing under the loving eye of Mark’s mom, Lettie. But, right after graduation, she broke ties with Mark and his family when she moved to Savannah were her grandmother lived.
Now, 6 years later, Fate has brought the former lovers to the same town, Savannah, Georgia. 23-year-old blond-haired and brown-eyed Mark has been signed as the running back for the local major league football team, the Savannah Sharks, and the team is playing a preseason opener at the club’s home stadium in Savannah. As he is walking back into the locker room at half-time, emotionally buzzing after running out the first touchdown of his rookie career, Mark turned to watch the jumbotron’s images. But, his heart stops when he glances a face—a beautiful face with greenish-grey eyes, a sweet smile, and blonde hair gathered into a high ponytail—his only love, Tessa Black. But most disconcerting is observing the child beside her—a young boy—a blonde-headed boy with brown eyes—a face that is the mirror image of his own face when he was a boy.
North invites the readers to open their minds and their hearts to two childhood friends and lovers who must learn to trust each other as they explore adult emotions of love. As they learn to heal the hurts of the past, to give life to dreams of the love and family in the present. North explores the ways in which the dreams and passions of individuals can merge into something magical while also struggling with the tensions of the past and present.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review ARC, but I enjoyed the reading experience so much that I bought a copy for my “read again” collection.