You Can't Make This Stuff Up!
Grab Those Characters Wherever You Find Them

by Sunny Hogg

It had been a wonderful day of skiing under the cloudless blue of a Colorado sky. Ready for a great meal and a bottle of chilled wine, my husband and I set out for one of our favorite restaurants for a romantic evening alone.

The Blue Creek Grill was a little busier and a lot noisier than usual when we arrived. We were seated next to a raucous group having a high old time.

My first clue that the evening was not headed in the direction I had planned, was the sight of my husband's eyebrows shooting up at the same moment his mouth was falling open. Seated across from him and next to me was a blonde about 25 years old, wearing a pink bikini top, boots, very short shorts and a NASTAR patch on a bare and painfully sunburned arm. Across from her, and directly opposite me, was a handsome hunk in blue denim, who was celebrating his 30th birthday.

About three minutes passed before Mary, as I soon came to know her, became my new best friend. She filled me in on all the details of her short but exciting life: She was from California, was an international art appraiser, owned a 1300-acre ranch which sported three stocked trout ponds, alpacas and llamas. She had met Jason, the birthday boy, after a major break-up with her former boyfriend.

I had to restrain myself from whipping out my notebook and interviewing her in depth.

Jason, I learned, was from Los Angeles, the "love child" of a Jewish mother and an African-American father. He was raised in the L.A. ghetto, where all of his friends had been killed before he was 14. He served time in jail and vowed never to return. When he was released from prison, he walked away from his former lifestyle with only the clothes on his back and a few dollars in his pocket.

By this time I was sitting on my hands, desperately trying to keep from taking all this down. I committed to memory all the details of their unfolding story.

The evening ended and, as Mary put on her jacket -- which barely covered her shorts -- I debated whether to follow them home or call the paramedics for my husband who seemed to be having trouble breathing (and not because of Colorados' altitude!). Mary strode out into the frigid winter night with Jason in tow, gaily waving and extending a warm welcome to come and stay with them.

Well, I guess you could say that my romantic dinner plans were ruined.

But what are the odds that a book about a blonde, ranch-owning, international art appraiser in love with an ex-con will make a great romance

Sunny Hogg is currently working on a contemporary romance. She is a member of the Hudson Valley RWA. This article originally appeared in the May 1997 issue of A Word About Romance. GDRWA thanks the Hudson Valley chapter for allowing us to reprint it.

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