Ellwood, Illinois – The Present

While attending her best friend’s wedding reception in Chicago, Marcee Robbens had a one-night stand with another wedding guest. Somehow, that night with Sam McKelvey changed her. Sam was a Chicago policeman and widower. He admitted to Marcee his job had been more important to him than his wife or daughter, but now he wanted to reestablish a relationship with his teenaged daughter. He never took her phone number, so Marcee knew he wasn't interested in her. She later heard he moved to a small town. A few months later Marcee was fired from her job as a CPA and decided to return to her hometown, a place she hadn't been since her stepfather kicked her out of the house while she was in high school. She left town with a terrible reputation. Shirleen (Marcee refused to call her mother) remarried for a fifth time and moved away. Camden Smith, Marcee’s half brother, wanted to remain in Ellwood to graduate high school, so Marcee reluctantly returned to chaperon Camden.

Upon her return to Ellwood, Marcee stops at the Grateful Bread and Café to see her high school best friend, Iris, whom she hasn’t seen since leaving town. While they enjoy their coffee, who should enter but Sam McKelvey, now the sheriff of Ellwood. When Marcee enters her old home, she finds Camden a tall young man with spiked hair and a ring piercing his brow. She soon determines that, despite his outward appearance, there is nothing wrong with his inner moral compass. He is on the school honor role and a member of the youth orchestra. His best friend Fern lives next door. That’s when Marcee learns Sam and his daughter live right next door. Matter of fact, her Marcee's bedroom window faces Sam’s bedroom window.

ONE NIGHT STAND is an exploration of first impressions and relationships that, along with a tantalizing romance, keeps you hooked on the story. I had a few misgivings about Marcee’s moral character and whether or not I liked her as I began reading this story, but author Cindy Kirk deftly handled Marcee’s cavalier attitude about her one-night stand. Marcee, it turns out, carried a lot of baggage from her upbringing that taught her about right and wrong. There are many roadblocks in this romance capable of leaving love stranded, including the relationship between Camden and Fern and Sam’s opinion of Camden. These situations help create a tense plot. While the two main characters are worthy as hero and heroine and drive the story, the secondary characters create the town of Ellwood. They do it so convincingly that you believe you are right there in that small town. So, I recommend you leave your bed lamp on for a night or two and enjoy ONE NIGHT STAND.

Robin Lee