MY INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR SOPHIA SINCLAIR

 

 

 

 

What’s your name and what genre would you consider your books to be?

I’m Sophia Sinclair, and I write contemporary romance novels. (Note: My real name is Michelle Teheux, but I’m using a pseudonym just in case I need to get another corporate job — my name is so unique, and I don’t want some judgy HR person doing a Google search and freaking out about a blowjob description!)

 

Tell me about your book. How did you come up with that (story, angle, idea)?

I knew I wanted to write a series, but I knew I couldn’t use the same protagonist for more than one book. Obviously, the lady has just found True Love, so it’s one and done! I began to think about the idea of making the locale the same for every book, so that after you’ve read one, you’ll already know some of the characters and you’ll know the local places. Molly is the town librarian who is featured in the first book. The second book, which I’m just about to publish, focuses on her friend Lori, a nurse. I realize librarians and nurses are old standbys in romance, so I really go nuts with the third book, which features a woman of Romany descent named Catarina, who runs an upholstery shop! Catarina is unnamed in the first book, but does some work for one of the characters. It’s barely mentioned. In the second book, Lori buys a house that is so outrageous it’s almost a character in its own right: It has not been redecorated since the ‘70s, and was owned by a man who fancied himself the Hugh Hefner of Fairview. Lori decides to keep the vintage look and needs an upholsterer to restore the sofa that fits inside the conversation pit and Catarina is recommended. So, naturally, Catarina is the main character in the third book. You know, librarians, nurses, upholsterers … just your standard romance heroines. 

 

 

 

How did you get interested in writing this particular genre (historical novels, mysteries, sci-fi, children’s books, etc.)?

I read romances voraciously as a teen. I tended to read the old “bodice busters” with plots having to do with beautiful girls being forced into some situation, like being held captive by a pirate or something like that. I wanted to write about women we all know. Ordinary women — of course, there is no such thing! We are all extraordinary. Isn’t it awesome to know you do not have to be an outrageous beauty or wealthy or anything like that to have a wonderful love? The funny thing about Molly is that her friend Lori loves reading romances that feature hot pirates. Molly’s love interest walks into the library to do research just as Lori has shown up to get a week’s worth of new romance novels to read, and she notices the new guy looks somewhat like the hot pirate on the cover of one of her books. This leads to them referring to him as the Pirate Man before they learn his name is David, and it allowed me to have a lot of fun making references to those books. Not to give anything away, but Molly and David joke around and pretend to be characters in a pirate-themed romance novel when they first go to bed. (Spoiler alert: They do actually have sex!)

 

What kind of research did you do for this book?

I wanted this to reflect real life. Some of the things I had to research included plumbing problems, Carnegie libraries, engine repair and home repair. A broken toilet in the library actually helps bring Molly and David together. Now how’s that for going off-script in a romance novel? Their first kiss takes place in the janitor’s closet of the library after they clean up a flooded bathroom. Not kidding. You’ll have to judge whether I made that sufficiently romantic!

The other books have proven to take much more research. I literally took notes when I was in the ER after cutting myself because I wanted to get it right when Lori sees patients. No, I didn’t cut myself on purpose, truly! And I’m consulting with a Romany lady in Europe to get Catarina’s story right. I want to be respectful of their traditions. She’s asked me to name a character after her grandmother, Veda, and I’m very happy to do so. I had to learn how to reupholster furniture. Catarina’s love interest is opening an ice cream shop in Fairview’s quaint downtown, so I ended up watching videos on how to operate commercial ice cream equipment. Fortunately, as a former newspaper reporter, I know how to research. And as somebody who grew up in a town that is now down to 170 people, I get the small town thing. My parents ALWAYS knew what I was up to. My dad used to say he had spies everywhere. And he did! The town where I live now is not nearly as small as that, but it does have the small town vibe, and it has a quaint little downtown that struggles. There’s a lot of that place in Fairview.

 

Can you tell me about your Series?

You will love Fairview. You will get to know the library, the hospital, the downtown area and some of the area restaurants. You will get to know The Clipper, which is a local dive bar with a nautical decor. Everybody goes there for a drink at some point. The bartender is a young lady named Ashley. I think she will eventually get a book of her own. Talk about your small-town secrets — Ash knows them all. I’ve barely mentioned the local beautician, but I think she’s going to get a book of her own eventually, too. Another thing I’ve done is include some “bonus” relationships. I don’t want to give anything away, but I’ve made it a habit to have secondary love stories as subplots. A much older couple reunites in Lori’s book, and I just LOVE that their passionate relationship starts up again decades after they met. Gray-haired older ladies can still have plenty of passion! There’s a side story in the Catarina book, too, but I don’t want to give that away.

 

Do you have a favorite book out of this series?

Molly was my first. I think she will always be my favorite. I loved giving some of her back story as a high school girl, explaining how she got together with her first husband. It didn’t work out, but they still managed to care about each other and successfully co-parent. When Molly is in real trouble, her ex, Hank, and her boyfriend, David, don’t waste time on jealousy. They band together, even though they are two extremely different men.

 

Where did you get the inspiration/idea for your series?

My own small-town background, and my own love affairs. The way I met my own husband ought to be in a romance novel! He’s a Dutch citizen who was in the U.S. visiting relatives, including a friend of mine with whom I used to work. Her grandmother is my husband’s aunt, so they’re … cousins? He came here on vacation to see them. She brought him to my house. I had been divorced for a couple of years at that point and I had a casual boyfriend who was there, too. But the minute I met the Dutchman, I knew I would marry him. I called my dad that night and informed him I’d met my future husband. He returned to Holland without my having said a single word about my intentions. We didn’t so much as kiss! But we started talking online, and about seven months later, I flew to Amsterdam. Two years later, we were married. That was in 2006. We ended up purchasing a Victorian fixer-upper, and I’ve used some of that experience in writing about Molly’s guy fixing up his ancestral family home and Lori doing some renovation to her funkadelic ‘70s bacherlorette pad. (Incidentally, a former owner of my house installed a stained glass window that I’m told came from my town’s Carnegie library when it was torn down and replaced with a newer building).

 

Was it always meant to become a series?

Yes. I knew I wanted people to be able to envision their lives in a small town. A lot of people fantasize about living in a big city or some exotic locale. I wanted to show that small-town life is rich with potential.

 

What’s a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?

I had a day job in advertising/marketing until recently. I used to write every night after work. I’m currently not working at a day job, so now I can write at any time of the day. I have a little writing nook set up in a small room off my bedroom. I’m still trying to figure out how to organize my days. Get up and write in my bathrobe? Get dressed and take care of chores first? Work on marketing and such? I’m not at all an organized person! There’s a lot of Lori in me — Lori is terribly disorganized at the beginning of the book. After a pretty traumatic experience in the ER, Lori decides to change her life. It was MUCH easier to organize hers than mine! I organized a junk drawer today, though, reflecting that I ought to do some of the things Lori did.

 

Do you have a new book in the making and if so, what’s the name of your upcoming book?

“Molly’s Surprise Ending” is out and “Lori’s Love Life Cure” is very close. I’m still writing the Catarina book, and I don’t have a title yet. But it will follow the pattern, like “Catarina’s Something Something.”

 

 

How important are character names to you in your books? Is there a special meaning to any of the names?

I look at a lot of baby name lists. I want to pick a name that sounds plausible for the age and background of the character. Because of this, Google believes I am perpetually pregnant and pushes a lot of baby-related advertising my way.

 

Where do your ideas come from?

I very often feel that I’m not actually in control of these stories. I sit down and type and the characters do as they will. Sometimes I can’t wait to sit down and type and see what’s going to happen next!

 

Is there a genre that you’ve been wanting to experiment with?

I have written nearly every kind of writing it’s possible to write. I started off in journalism, and I won plenty of awards for feature, news and opinion writing. Then I moved on to writing all kinds of advertising and marketing copy, including TV and radio commercials and technical and financial writing. I have written a couple of children’s books under a different name, and I have a completely different novel that doesn’t fit into any particular genre that I intend to publish someday. I also have an unrelated website I’m working on, and am doing a bit of writing for a friend’s new website called Curvicality.com. Writing is a happy drug for me, and I don’t have just one drug of choice. I can get a fix from writing about insurance regulations if need be.

 

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

I am not disciplined. I will sit down intending to write one thing, and before you know it I’m enthusiastically writing something else. I recently read in a writing group that there are probably a billion unfinished manuscripts out there, and I said, “Yeah, and half of them are on my hard drive.”

 

What do you think of book trailers? Do you have a trailer or do you intend to create one for your own book?

I need to learn more about that.

 

What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?

Raising two fantastic kids. I agree with the Jackie Kennedy quote: “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” At the same time, I think it’s important to note that parents aren’t infallible, and lots of things are out of our control. We all have to do the best we can, and I’m very proud to say I’ve done that.

 

What’s the best thing about being an author?

I’ve always loved to tell good stories. I have a granddaughter who is 5. She is always begging me to tell her stories. She wants one right after another! I joke that she’s better than any creativity workshop. She calls me Oma, which is the Dutch word for grandmother, because I wanted to honor my husband’s traditions. (He is Opa). Once, after pulling about five stories out of my head in a row, she said, “That’s a terrible story, Oma. Tell me a better one!” As an author, I get to tell as many stories as I want.

 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I’ll be writing. I hope it will be novels, but I’m not a fortune-teller. I’ll have to ask Veda, just as soon as I write her into being.

 

Have you always liked to write?

Yes, always. I was known for it even as a child.

 

What writing advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Write and rewrite. There’s no shortcut. Just read and write and rewrite.

 

If you didn’t like writing books, or weren’t any good at it, what would you like to do for a living?

Journalism is nearly dead, so going back to that is out. I gave very serious thought at one time to becoming a midwife. I have a little love affair with all things related to babies, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Lori decides to go back and get master’s degree in nursing, and considers a few different programs. Ultimately she decides she wants to become a Certified Nurse Midwife. I have a feeling she’ll be delivering a few Fairview babies born from future love affairs. I like bringing every past main character into every book, so that works out.

 

Do you read reviews of your book(s)? Do you respond to them, good or bad? How do you deal with the bad?

I have a thick skin. You can’t run a newsroom otherwise. Everyone has a right to his or her opinion.

 

 

What is your least favourite part of the writing / publishing process?

Writing the first draft is like falling in love and starting a new relationship! Everything is perfect! You want to tell every single person you know every detail! Then, you get bogged down with editing it. You discover there are flaws. Some are probably not going to be fixable. Things aren’t as perfect as you thought. But if you stick with it, you may find you have something solid. Yeah, editing the book and trying to smooth out the problem areas is a lot like being in a long-term marriage. Still quite good, and maybe even better — but not quite as exhilarating as the first stage.

 

Can you give us a few tasty morsels from your work-in-progress?
See below! 

 

Why did you choose to write in your genre? If you write in more than one, how do you balance them?

I do intend to write other kinds of books eventually, but just now I’m really enjoying the contemporary romance.

 

Where did your love of books come from?

I have always been a reader. I began devouring books as a kid and never stopped.

 

Do you have any favorite authors or favorite books?

I love Joan Didion (her fiction and her journalism) and Cormac McCarthy and Sinclair Lewis (he really understood how humans work!). I absolutely love to sink into the Outlander novels. Diana Gabaldon is amazing. Now, that lady knows how to write about a man.

 

Of all the characters you have created, which is your favourite and why?

I have to go back to Molly. She’s just a single working mom, doing her best in this world under difficult circumstances. She has learned to be happy in spite of so many things in her life not working out. David Conrad walks into her library one day while she’s putting away a book on the top shelf and gets a glimpse of the sexy garter belt she is wearing under her plain dress. It’s a bit of a metaphor for her hidden passions. But if he had never walked into the Fairview Public Library, she’d still have had a good life. She wasn’t waiting for someone like him to show up. But she sure is happy when it happens. (Side note: I also wear a lot of plain black dresses and I do often wear a garter belt, and I GUARANTEE you nobody who knows me would EVER guess what I’ve got going on under there!)

  

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

First I’m energized, and then I’m exhausted.

 

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Facebook! It is evil! I waste so much time on there.

 

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

It isn’t up to me. There’s a side plot of a murder mystery in Molly’s book. I didn’t plan that. David Conrad walked in and wanted help finding books on local history. He announced he was interested in solving an old murder case. I had absolutely no idea he was going to do that. Yet, after I figured out the motive, I thought I better go back and add a certain detail to foreshadow, and when I scrolled up, the clue was already written in. I must have known on some level, but I didn’t know it consciously. I also didn’t plan for something heartbreaking to happen to Lori. I already knew Lori from Molly’s book, and that she was a nurse, but I absolutely didn’t plan for the sad thing to happen. I cry every time I read it. It ended up changing Lori’s life. I didn’t see it coming any more than Lori did.

 

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

I am new to this, and am just getting to know a few people. Serendipitously, I met Sarah Puckett, who lives near me and narrates romances! Her voice is SO good. I met her because my husband put a recording studio in our attic. They started talking about voice recordings. It was just an amazing coincidence that I was working on these books when he met her. She’s come over and sampled a few of my husband’s different microphones and other equipment. She’s been so very helpful in introducing me around and offering advice, and I hope to get to know more ladies. So far everyone has been absolutely amazing. Hit me up, fellow writers!

 

If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?

Complicated Lady.

 

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

Q: What’s so great about reading books, anyway?

A: When people started reading novels, the world changed for the better. People began being able to see things from another person’s point of view. You could read from the perspective of people living very different lives. We need more of that. I don’t like the tendency of people to live in a bubble. Get to know lots of different people from all different socio-economic groups and from all different backgrounds and cultures. Travel if you can. But regardless, read some damned  books!

 

 

Where can your fans find you and follow??

I’m on Facebook, Youtube and Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/sophiasinclairauthor/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/sophia.sinclair.507

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTXUU8TmtJUGqeRObEBlZRg/featured

 

Thank you for taking your time to do this interview ❤️

 

 

 

 

A Tasty Morsel:

 

From Catarina:

She began carefully removing the old fabric, taking care not to rip it so she could use the old pieces as patterns on the new fabric. She would have to re-do the old springs and replace the padding, and in the end it would look like an entirely new piece — but would still look ugly, she thought. The woman who had arranged the sofa repair had seemed nice enough but had abysmal taste.

She was still taking it apart when the bell on her front door jingled. She seldom had an unexpected customer walk in her front door. Usually, people called and made an appointment before stopping in, so she looked up in surprise.

He was tall, with thick, dark hair that was a bit too long, a few curls nearly brushing his shoulders. He was dressed casually, in jeans and a white button-down shirt. He wore sunglasses, but took them off as he walked in, revealing eyes as dark as Catarina’s own.

“Hi, what can I do for you?” she asked, putting down the flat-head screwdriver she’d been using to remove some old staples. She reflexively touched her hair, noting it was still wet but well in place.

“I see you’re working on my mother’s sofa,” he said. “My sister arranged to have it recovered.” Catarina was a bit surprised that Serena was his sister. Serena was, she’d guess, around 20 years older than this man.

“Yes, I’m just starting it,” she said. “Is there any problem?”

“Not at all,” he said. “She told me today she had decided to have it recovered, and I just wanted to see what your plans for it are. Can you show me the new fabric?”

Now that was odd, Catarina thought. What was his interest in his mother’s ugly old sofa? But she just smiled.

“Of course,” she said. “I have it here.” She indicated another work table just behind her. On it was a bolt of ugly green fabric, very similar to the old fabric she was removing. She had started placing pieces of the old covering in a stack at the end of the table, ready for use in making new patterns.

The man walked over to the table and ran his hand over the bolt of material.

“Serena was right. This is just as ugly as the old stuff. Mom is going to love it,” he said, and laughed, causing Catarina to laugh along with him.

“It might not be the most beautiful material I’ve ever used,”she said. “But the customer —  your sister Serena, you say? — seemed very happy with it. We did look through quite a few sample books before she settled on this one.”

“You must be wondering why anybody would want to keep this horrible sofa,” he said.

“Well … something like that might have crossed my mind.”

“I wouldn’t be here if not for this sofa, you might say.”

“Now that sounds like a story,” Catarina said. She looked into the man’s dark brown eyes. They were so dark as to be nearly black. She wondered if he had Romany blood, as she did. If he added a couple of gold earrings and tied a diklo around his head, he would look just like the head of a Romany family, she thought. Matchka had awakened from her nap and was regarding the man with curiosity, meowing and repeatedly walking between his legs.

“I’m Catarina,” she said, extending her hand

“Remy,” he said, returning the handshake. Then he reached down and picked up Matchka, cuddling her until she settled in and purred. “And who is this?”

“That is Matchka,” Catarina said. “She seems to like you.”

“Matchka,” Remy said. “Does that have a meaning?”

“It does. It means ‘cat,’ actually.”

Remy laughed. “That sounds like a story.” His eyes crinkled in the most attractive way when he laughed, she noticed. Maybe that was what made her throw caution to the wind.

“Would you like a cup of tea? And then you can tell me everything I need to know about the history of this sofa.” Although she couldn’t imagine how knowing the history could possibly change how she worked on it, she thought.

Remy looked surprised, but then smiled. “I’d love a cup of tea,” he said.

“I’ll be right back,” she said. “Matchka will keep you company for a bit.” She quickly ran upstairs and put on a pot of water to boil. She looked at her reflection, wondered if she could rearrange her hair without looking like she cared too much about what this customer thought of her. No, she decided. But she added a tiny bit of lip gloss and powdered her nose. Then she loaded up a small lacquered tray with her grandmother’s tea set, jam and orange slices. She included the sugar bowl and a bit of cream, since she didn’t know how he took his tea. By the time she’d assembled all the ingredients, the water was boiling, and she started the tea leaves steeping.

She walked slowly down the stairs, careful not to spill anything or drop her grandmother’s tea set.

“That’s a beautiful tea set,” he said. It was, indeed. It was clearly an antique, beautifully detailed with swirls of color and gold edging. Catarina treasured it.

“Thanks,” she said. “It belonged to my grandmother. I think of her whenever I use it.” She put the tray down at the far side of the work table, away from the fabric. “How do you take your tea? I have my own tradition, but you might prefer just sugar and cream, or plain.”

“Usually plain, but I’m curious to see how you do it,” he said.

“This is how my grandmother made it,” she said. “With jam and orange slices.”

“Interesting,” he said. “I’ll try it. Was that her own invention?”

“My Romany grandmother taught me to make it this way,” she said, watching him closely to see if he reacted to word of her heritage. But he just smiled and watched her preparations.

“Now we let it steep for just a bit,” she said. “So you owe your existence to this oh-so-beautiful sofa?” She hopped up on the edge of the work table and crossed her legs, settling in for a story. He followed her lead.

“Well, I may have stretched things a bit,” he said. “But my parents married against their families’ wishes. Neither of their parents were thrilled by the marriage. She was from a strict and somewhat well-off family, and my father was a poor Italian whose parents didn’t even speak much English. They had hoped for him to marry a Catholic Italian girl.”

So that’s where all that beautiful dark hair came from, Catarina thought to herself. But she said only, “My parents married against their families’ wishes as well.” But Remy didn’t respond. He was deep into a story he had obviously told with relish many times before.

“They decided to elope as soon as he got off work on a Friday afternoon. They had it all arranged, but that day, he broke his leg at work. So there they were, all their stuff already packed up in the back of his truck and him with a broken leg. She couldn’t go back home, and neither could he. But they couldn’t drive off together, either. She wouldn’t think of going off with him unmarried. So they ended up calling his best friend, who took them back to his house. The best friend’s mother called in her own priest, who barely spoke English. They were married with my father lying down on the old woman’s sofa, and my mother had to be told when to say ‘I do,’ because she didn’t understand Italian at all. And then they went to the hospital and he got his leg set. My mother learned how to drive that very day. There was no way my father could drive a stick shift with a broken leg. They say they drove pretty much the whole way to the hospital in first gear because she was terrified of shifting. Then she drove to the place he’d rented, about an hour away under normal conditions, all in first gear. People were honking at them the whole way, but they didn’t care. Dad was in a lot of pain but kept telling her she was doing fine. Can you imagine?”

“I guess that wasn’t the honeymoon they planned.”

“I would guess not. But my sister came along pretty much nine months later on the dot, so there you go. And later on, my dad bought this sofa from his friend’s mother. Whatever he paid was more than the thing was worth, I’m sure. But they kept it in their house my entire life, even after they could have well afforded something different.”

“And now?”

“Dad is gone, and Mom had a hip replacement recently. She’s having a little trouble so she’s in a nursing home, hopefully just temporarily until she’s healed. They do some intensive physical therapy there. We’re hoping she can come home soon. So Serena thought it would be a good time to recover the sofa, which, as you can see, badly needed it.” He chuckled. “It badly needed it about 30 years ago, actually.”

“So that’s why your sister was particular that the job be done quickly.”

“Yes. We want to surprise Mom when she comes home.”

“That’s a very sweet story,” Catarina said. She picked up her cup and motioned to Remy. “This is ready now.”

“You drink it with the leaves in?”

“Yes. Back in the day, we’d read the tea leaves afterward. My grandmother knew how.”

Remy took a cautious sip. “Hey, this is pretty good. I’ve heard of lemon in tea, but I’ve never had it with an orange slice.”

“I actually grew that orange in my apartment upstairs. The big plate glass window lets in enough light to keep my lime tree and orange tree happy, believe it or not.” While he was peering into his cup, she took the opportunity to study his face. It was remarkable how he looked so masculine and yet so beautiful at the same time. Usually, a man who could be described as beautiful had something of an effeminate look to him, but that was not the case with Remy. At all. His face was chiseled, but the longish hair and the very long, dark eyelashes and expressive eyes softened his appearance just enough.

“So, do you believe there’s anything to telling fortunes with tea leaves?”

“Well, I am of two minds. On one hand, no, of course not. It’s very unscientific. On the other hand, that doesn’t stop me from reading them anyway.”

“Would you read mine? Just for fun?”

“Of course.” She glanced at his cup. “Take out the orange slice, and drink the rest, leaving just a little tea behind. Like this,” she said, demonstrating with her own cup. He did.

“How’s this?”

“That’s fine. Now hold it in your left hand and swirl, like so. You want to turn it three times,” she said, and reached out her hand to guide his. She felt an electric shock as she did, and he jumped, making her think he must have felt it, too.

“Now set your cup upside down in its saucer.”

His eyes were glued to hers. She decided to lighten the mood. “I see many pieces of reupholstered furniture in your future. Many, many pieces. The complicated ones that are very expensive to have done,” she said, and they both laughed. “No, seriously, you read from the rim and work your way down. You look for patterns in the leaves, or for clumps that resemble certain symbols, which have meanings. This little bit here looks a bit like the letter L, do you see? So at this point, if I were doing a serious reading, I’d ask you if there is anything significant with that letter. Perhaps a lover or a business name.”

“I’m having a sofa upholstered by Loveridge’s,” he said.

“That clears up that!” she said. “Now, quite close here, this looks a bit like a flower. Do you see it?”

“Maybe? Is a flower good?”

“It can mean true love is coming. That’s what I would tell you if I were making a living as a fortune-teller. But it can also mean that happiness of other kinds is coming. Actually, there’s lots of interpretation to it. A good fortune-teller reads the customer more than the tea leaves. If you were a young single girl, I’d certainly tell you you were about to find true love. If you were an older married person, I’d probably tell you something you’ve been hoping for was about to bring you happiness.”

“What would you say about that little blob on the bottom?”

“Well, what would you say it looks like?”

“Maybe a pencil? Or a snake?”

“I probably wouldn’t say snake. Snakes might mean there is someone who does not deserve your trust. I’d probably call it a cigar, and would tell you to expect a new friend. Now, my grandmother would weave all this into a cohesive story that would convince you that love, happiness and prosperity were coming your way. Or, someone else might interpret everything quite differently, and then try to sell you a love potion or to offer to remove a curse from your money to change your fortune. A lot would ride on whether the fortune-teller was honest or just trying to drum up some business from you. It’s like reading your astrology in the newspaper. Many people, no matter if you read them something from the wrong sign, would be quick to agree that the description fit them to a T. If you deal in vague generalities, you can always be right.”

“Interesting. I had no idea there was so much to it. Did your grandmother believe in it?”

“She did. She was also a shrewd judge of character, however. If you had her tell your fortune, you’d get from the experience much of what you might get from visiting a therapist for help finding your life path. Just having someone pay close attention to you and offer an encouraging view of your life can do wonders for motivating someone look on the positive side of life.”

“How did you end up doing upholstery rather than telling fortunes?”

“Well, for one thing, I’m a modern Romany girl, and my parents were fairly modern, for that matter. At least, my father was. He started this shop decades ago, and my parents sent me off to college to study art. I probably would have made more money reading palms and tea leaves than I would have as an artist, though. So when my father retired, I decided to take over the business. It’s not a bad way to make a living, and it satisfies some of my artistic impulses. And, it allows me to stay independent. I’m not sure I’d do well working for anyone else.” She paused. “So that’s my story. What’s yours?”

“Well, it’s pretty bland in comparison. My dad went back to school and became an accountant. I lived a boring middle class suburban life. I majored in accounting but found it dull and a few weeks ago I bought a little place down the block. Used to be a barber shop? Jim’s?””

“Oh, yes, that place has been closed for years. My father went there, back in the day.”

“I’m remodeling it and plan to open a little ice cream shop.”

“Oh, that’s great! This downtown needs new life. An ice cream shop would be wonderful, but it seems a terrible risk, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely. I’d definitely advise anyone against such a move. But nevertheless, I’m doing it. I’ll probably lose my ass and have to redouble my efforts in accounting. I’m keeping one hand in that, for now, anyway, just to be safe. But there you go. I’m a bit of a dreamer, I’m afraid.”

“I would never advise anyone to ignore their dreams,” Catarina said. She stood. “My dream of finishing your mother’s sofa this week will not come true if I don’t get back to it, though. But I’ve enjoyed talking to you. Stop in anytime. You can check my progress on your sofa.”

Remy also slid off the work table and stood up. “I’ll do that. I’m just at the end of the block. If you need to take a break, stop in. You can give me your opinion on the design of the place.”

“I will definitely do that,” Catarina said.

He reached out his hand and she took it, feeling again an electric shock as they touched.

“Sorry! I think I picked up some static electricity,” he said. She quickly agreed that must be it, but she knew her grandmother would have a different explanation, and she thought again of the flower in his tea cup. Close to the rim. Her grandmother, she knew, would have told him he was about to fall in love.