Mañana!

Well, everybody, tomorrow you get to meet my dear friend, Sarah Phelan. She’s the star of my new novel, Occasional Soulmates, and I thought I’d tell you a little bit about her before the formal introduction.

Sarah and I spent the better part of a year getting to know each other, so I think I’m pretty familiar with her portfolio. First of all, she’s a doctor — a family physician who can’t stand for people to feel badly. It seems to be hard-wired into her to do anything she can to help her patients, probably a trait she inherited from her father.

But she’s not your typical doctor, objective and efficient. She’s a tad eccentric, you might say. For instance, she carries a “Land of the Giants” lunchbox (above) as a purse. She drives her dad’s old Volvo though it’s become a bucket of bolts. Her taste in men is eclectic, or, maybe a better way to put it is that she’s flung a lot of pasta against the wall to see what sticks. So far, her foray into online dating has been a bust.

She’s the kind of person who makes you wonder how we get to be the way we are. Nature, nurture, or luck o’ the draw?

I guess you could say that Sarah is securely insecure, if that makes sense. She’s had a run of bad luck in romance, but she genuinely likes herself and hates to think she might have to retool her idiosyncrasies in order to find happiness. That doesn’t sound fair, does it?

The truth is, I like Sarah. We’re still friends, and I for one hope she never gives up her lunchbox.

Occasional Soulmates, coming mañana!