Mikaela's Story 2

Kathy Almeida

Description

Mikaela's a self-employed young woman, living in the country, with lots of animals and in love with three men. Who will she choose?
She’s cute, adorable, and she’s living her life, just the way she wants to in a small town in the Sunshine State off of Lake Weir. She has her own business selling from her old beat-up truck; produce and flowers that she’s grown in her garden, plus old fixable stuff that she’s repurposed and now people want and love. She has a steady income, a fixer upper house that’s over a hundred years old, plus a cat, dog, a rescued steer, and a crazy goat to keep her company on the five acres of land that she owns. Everything is old and broken down, but she doesn’t care. She loves her life, family, friends, and home.
She’s met three men; an Italian who was going to be a priest, a famous author-who just happens to live next door, and a musician who lives in Tennesse. She’s attracted to all three, like kitchen magnets to a refrigerator. And all three say they want her, but each one has betrayed or forgotten her.
Will she forgive them and pick one? Or will she move on to someone new?
Find out as you follow the adventures and escapades of Mikaela living her best life out loud.

Sujets

• Florida
• Romance
• Florida (homonymie)
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Balboa Press
• Date de parution: 25 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798765235515
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Mikaela’s Story 2
A Novel
 
 
 
 
 
KATHY ALMEIDA
 
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Kathy Almeida.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
Balboa Press
A Division of Hay House
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.balboapress.com
844-682-1282
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidences, and dialogue in this novel, are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Some of the places and restaurants are real.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Author Photo by Michael Almeida
 
 
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3549-2 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3550-8 (hc)
ISBN: 979-8-7652-3551-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021920109
 
Balboa Press rev. date:  10/25/2022
 
Books by Kathy Almeida
          Novels
Sunny’s Story
Sunny’s Story 2
And Then There Was Rain
Charity Noelle
Catherine’s Story
Mikaela’s Story
 
          Inspirational
It’s All About Attitude, Loving and Living Well With Autism, co-authored with Gayle Nobel
 
This one is for you Carolyn… and to all those who died alone in hospitals unable to be with their loved ones during the pandemic…
And for Carlos, our beloved goat
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
 
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
New Year’s Eve December 31, 2020
“M aria!”
“What?”
“Where’s the dip, you know, in the red dish I brought you back from the mountains last year?” I asked.
“Right next to you. Mikaela, are you blind?”
“Are you mean?”
“Maybe. Pregnancy does that to a person,” Maria said, arranging the platters.
“You’re pregnant? Again?”
“Yep,” she said, taking a chip from the bowl.
“Maybe you and Antonio should take a break once in a while.”
“What else were we supposed to do during the pandemic?” She asked plopping the chip in her mouth.
“I guess. You could have planted a garden.”
“We planted a garden all right, a big fertile one.”
“What are you saying?” I stopped, hand in the chip bowl, to look at her.
“I’m saying that, this time, we’re having twins!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“And?”
“What?”
“What are you having?”
“Babies.”
“Very funny. Boys or girls or one of each?”
Maria looked at me as I took a chip and filled it with the dip. “You should have gotten a bigger chip,” she said.
“I know,” I said, as half of the dip fell to the floor. “Noel! Come here boy!” Noel, my golden retriever, came running from the living room, and immediately scooped up the dip in one big lick. “Good boy,” I said to him, patting the top of his head. “Maria, thanks for letting me bring him.”
“No worries, although the way he keeps chasing Nacho, and the way they keep running into everything, I probably should have had my head examined.”
“Probably, Noel’s so much bigger than she is. She’s only a cocker spaniel and he’s … well he’s as big as the hulk,” I said, smiling. “Now tell me! What are you having?”
“Boys!” Maria said, holding her belly, which was just beginning to show.
“Hi babies!” I called out to them, as I leaned down to Maria’s belly. “So, boys,” I said, standing up straight.
“Yep. Boys,” she said, and we both looked at each other and started laughing.
“So, are you ready for the ride?”
“Of course, I am, but just so you know, you’ll be right there with me. And Antonio. I don’t mean to leave him out,” Maria said, with a smile.
“What do you mean, I’ll be right there with you?” I asked, taking a bigger corn chip, and taking half as much dip as I had before. This time I was successful in getting the whole thing in my mouth without a spill, as Noel stood by waiting just in case.
“Why, you’ll be the godmother.”
“Maria! I’m already the godmother of Alejandra and Micaela. Don’t you have anyone else to ask besides me?”
“Could, but we want you.”
“But technically I’m not even religious.”
“But you’re a good person. Well, sort of,” she said with a laugh.
“Maria! So, tell me who’s the godfather? Antonio’s brother, like before?”
“Nope, not Nelson, this time we asked an old friend of yours,” she said.
I looked at her suspiciously. “And who would that be?”
She actually looked at me straight in the eye and with a straight face when she said, “Dominick.”
I choked on what was left of the chip in my mouth, spitting out crumbs and dip together.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked once I’d caught my breath. “Tell me you are not serious.”
“Serious, as the fact that I am three months pregnant.”
“Maria! What were you thinking? Have you lost your mind? Dominick and I can’t both be the godparents. Besides, he lives in Italy. And didn’t he and what’s her name get married? And what do you mean, three months pregnant? And I’m just finding this out now? Why do you always keep stuff from me? I thought I was your bestie, even more than that, your sister by different parents. We’ve known each other our whole lives.”
“Well to answer your questions, no, he and Sophia did not get married, and Italy won’t be a problem. I wanted to wait until I’d passed the first trimester. And I tell you stuff.”
“Baloney. And what do you mean that Italy won’t be a problem?” I asked, picking up my wine glass and taking a sip.
“Dominick’s decided to make his home in America,” Maria said with a smile.
I looked over the glass at Maria, studying her hard. “Maria, this whole thing’s an April Fool’s joke, right? You’re not really pregnant with twins, Dominick isn’t coming here and we’re not going to be godparents together … right?”
She walked to the cabinet and pulled out a glass, then went to the refrigerator, taking out the milk jug and pouring the milk into the glass. Then she turned to me and drank the whole thing in one gulp.
“Oh my God! You are pregnant! You never ever drink milk except when you are pregnant. By the way you look like one of those ‘got milk?’ commercials,” I said to her, looking at the white mustache on top of her mouth. “Okay, so you’re really pregnant, which by the way congrats, but you are teasing about Dominick, right?”
“Ciao, did someone call my name?”
I turned from Maria to the sound I’d just heard. There standing in the doorway of the kitchen was none other than the Italian Stallion (Maria and I once went to an all-male review in Tampa and there was a guy there who looked a lot like Dominick. He called himself the Italian Stallion. He had me until everything came off but his ballet flats. That turned out to be a real turn off for me. I shook my head thinking about it.) Now I looked at the man who was going to be a priest until he fell for me, then dumped me because he fell in love with Sophia, then she dumped him, he wanted me again, and then he and Sophia were a thing again. I got a headache just thinking about it.
“La Mia Bellissima,” he said, coming over to me and taking me in his arms with a big hug.
“Dominick?” I said, still in shock that he was actually standing here in Maria’s kitchen on this night.
“Si,” he said with a big smile, with those gorgeous white teeth gleaming. Don’t ask me why, but I wanted to touch them, they were like pearls or maybe it was those sultry sensuous lips around them, inviting me in for a little taste. “Are you happy to see me, Bella?”
I heard a growl. Looking down I saw that Noel was not too happy with Dominick’s arms wrapped around me. I pulled away from him and leaned over to reassure Noel, with a stroke of my hand.
“It’s okay Puppy, I’m okay,” I said to my dog, who stood thigh high and was no longer a puppy, but I still thought of him as such.
Dominick looked at my golden retriever with a question in his eye.
“Sorry, he’s kind of protective of me,” I said.
“Noel, come here boy, let’s go see where Alejandra and Nacho have gotten off too,” Maria said, giving me a wink as she passed by, her hand on Noel’s collar, escorting him out of the kitchen.
That left me alone with the Italian Stallion.
“Ah, alone at last,” Dominick said, moving in for a kiss.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, holding him at bay with my hand on his chest.
“Didn’t Maria tell you? I live here now,” he said, giving me one of those smiles that could make any girl’s insides turn into hot tomato sauce. He reached for me again.
“Where?” I asked, taking a step back. “Where do you live?”
“Why I live here, with Maria and Antonio. That is until I find my own place, unless …” he said, letting his words drift on a cloud of suggestion.
“What?!” I replied. Maria and I were going to have to have a serious talk about her not telling me things.