Hello from Belgium,

As I promised, here's another chapter of The Songs of You and Me. If you missed a previous chapter, go back to your inbox and search for the missing email.

If you're new to my newsletter, here's a little recap. Every week, I've been sending out one chapter of my book The Songs of You and Me. If you would like to read it from the beginning, it's available on Amazon and free in kindle unlimited.

Also, my whole family has been down with the flu, so I have not been able to pick the lucky winners for the paperback giveway, but I will do that this weekend. I'll send out an extra NL and post on my Insta, FB and TikTok. So be sure to keep an eye out. Do you follow me on social media? If you don't, maybe you should check out my pages and follow. I put my links up at the bottom of the email. I don't post as much as I should, but I love to interact with anyone really there. Except weird stalkers. Funny story. This week my 10-year old told a man off on TikTok for trying to connect with her mom. So yeah, I don't like those kind of comments and messages, and my kids especially don't - LOL, but any other kind ones are much appreciated.

An another fun little tidbit, I got invited to speak at my eldest daughter's school about the life of an author. I'm excited about that. It's in a month, so I have some time to prepare, but still 😊 I'll send you some pics of that once I've been and done that.

Anyway, enough of my chitchat, and here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

Happy Reading!

Fifteen years earlier...

JACKSON

I’d been in the library for the last two hours, trying to write this stupid essay on Jane Eyre. I was supposed to highlight the main character’s moral struggle to stay true to herself, regardless of her harsh circumstances.

Sadly, I hadn’t made a whole lot of progress. Literature wasn’t really my thing, definitely not the old English chick kind. I was more of a numbers and equations kind of a guy. I wasn’t too psyched about this assignment.

I slammed another book on the meaning of Jane Eyre closed and huffed a huge sigh as I tugged on the ends of my hair. As I lowered my head, I heard giggling in the distance and peeked up to check out what was so funny.

Clearly, I was the center of attention, because as I looked to the group of girls laughing and whispering, they noticed me stare and laughed even louder and turned away. I recognized these girls as friends of Sarah’s, but I didn’t know their names.

I looked closer, as they were more focused on whispering amongst themselves then staring at me. And that was when I noticed Jane. This made me sit up taller and run my fingers through my hair. It was probably a mess after tugging at it endlessly in frustration. Since Jane showed up at my house after her failed study date, I tried to get closer to her many times without making it seem too obvious, but somehow something always seemed to get in the way. If it wasn’t Sarah walking in at the wrong moment, it was a basketball slamming into my head, or my own doubts reminding me of all of the reasons why I shouldn’t take a shot at dating her. But there was something about Jane.

More giggling erupted, and soon the group left the library. At least that was what it looked like, but then I noticed Jane return. She disappeared behind one of the shelves, and soon reappeared with a book that looked nothing like light reading.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey,” I returned. She peeked at the title on the book lying in front of me and grinned.

“I never took you for a fan of the Brontë sisters.” Her smile lit up her whole face, and my palms became sweaty.

“Yeah.” I swallowed. “I have a paper due tomorrow on Jane Eyre, and I think my mind isn’t wired right to understand all of these thoughts and feelings.”

Jane glared at me, trying to decide what to make of my predicament. After a moment, she took the seat opposite me and placed my notebook in between us so she could look at the page I’d been staring at for the last half hour.

“What are you supposed to write about?” Her brow scrunched up in concentration, distracting me for a minute. She looked so hot when she focused. When she glanced up, my mind kicked in again.

“I need to discuss the moral struggle Jane faces throughout the book.” I stared at my notes to remember all of what I was working on before she showed up and distracted me. “How she deals with that despite her hard struggles and how this compares to us now. What lessons can we learn from Jane’s growth throughout the book, and all that kind of stuff.”

“What have you got so far?”

I turned the page to show her my rough copy that was blank except for the title scribbled on it, not even very neatly written. I reluctantly waited for her to judge me. She surprised me with her next comment.

“I guess we have a lot of work to do.”

“We?” I questioned.

“We,” she agreed. “Jackson.” She paused a moment. Her beautiful green stare made me gulp. I coughed to hide the effect she had on me. “Look how far you’ve come on your own in all of this time.” She fought a smile on those luscious lips, and my mouth went dry. “I think it’s time I helped you out. Unless you want to keep going at this pace?”

“No, I don’t. But,” I stumbled over my words, “are you sure? No other plans?”

“I’m sure. I was going to spend some time here anyway.” She indicated the huge book in front of her. “Catch up on my reading. No problem.”

JANE

“Okay, where do we start?” Jackson asked.

“You read the book, right? Please don’t tell me you haven’t read the book.” I fought a smile. He looked so tempting when he was flustered. English wasn’t his thing.

“That I have.” He returned my smile, and my face heated up. How was it this guy could have me feeling so cold one moment after brushing me off and then all hot and hyperaware of him when he awarded me with one of his killer smiles the next moment?

“Good. I don’t know what we could have come up with if you hadn’t.” Best to address the task, and not my fluttering stomach. “Let’s start by making a list of all of Jane’s struggles throughout the book. Here.” I took Jackson’s notebook and divided it into three columns. In the first I scribbled PHYSICAL STRUGGLES in big, bold capitals. In the second column, I wrote down MORAL STRUGGLES, also in capitals, and in the third column I put PRESENT COMPARISON.

“This should help to make an overview of what we can write about.” I handed the notebook back. When my fingers brushed his, my skin tingled, making me even more aware of how close he was sitting to me.

“Okay. I think I can do that.”

“Good.” I leaned back, forcing some distance between us. I needed air to focus on the task at hand. I waited a minute for Jackson to start, but he didn’t pick up his pencil. “You do know you need to fill that in, in order to get started on this paper, right?”

My comment triggered Jackson into action. He hunched over his page, his hand moving back and forth as he wrote the struggles in the columns. I sat there and waited. His tongue peeking out between his lips betrayed the effort he was putting into this. The look was hot and adorable. He gazed up and totally caught me staring. My cheeks burned even hotter when he winked at me. Help me, Lord, the butterflies were going bat crazy in my tummy.

I could sit here and watch him all day, but that would probably be awkward. Time to pay attention.

I leaned over to check his answers and was surprised to find them spot on, despite his earlier joke.

“What was so funny back there?” He asked as his pen stalled.

“Huh?” I pretended not to know what he was talking about as I paged through the book in front of me.

“You know what I mean.” He pushed the subject a little harder.

“Oh, you know the effect you have on the female student body, Jackson. You don’t need me to spell it out for you.”

“Do I now?” He wagged his brows.

“Seriously, you know you’re the popular jock and you actually have half a brain. It’s a rare phenomenon as opposed to the others on the team that only have the looks but are so lacking in other areas.”

“Half a brain?” He looked genuinely insulted. Poor guy. I was sure he got enough of girls stroking his ego, he didn’t need me to help in that department.

“Yes, half a brain. Need I remind you, I’m a freshman helping out a senior with his English paper?”

His smug smile faltered, and his left eyebrow scrunched up. I guess I just took this guy down a notch or two. “I didn’t think so,” I continued. “You’re going to attract fans anywhere you go.”

“Are you a fan, Jane?”

I felt the color rise in my cheeks. His comment hit a little too close to home.

“You’re feeling pretty good about yourself right now, aren’t you? Do you want me to bring you a mirror and give you a moment alone?” I managed to divert the attention from me and set him straight.

“Never mind, I’m good. Let’s get to work.”

“Let me see what you’ve got.” I yanked the paper from his hands and skimmed the content. “You’re going to need to work on your arguments for your present comparison. The rest looks pretty good.”

“Thanks.” The smug look was back as he gave me another one of his smoldering smiles.

My lips formed a smile of their own. I knew I should be more guarded around him after he shot me down last time, but I couldn’t help myself. Jackson had the power to make me lightheaded and completely forget my promise to stay away by giving me that look. The mixed signals he kept sending me left me hoping and despairing faster than my mind had time to process. I knew I should stay clear, but the pull toward him was too strong.

Stay tuned for the next Chapter next week...

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