This week I’m hosting Belle Calhoune with Reunited with the Sheriff, Fay Lamb with Stalking Willow, and Carla Laureano with Five Days in Skye (U.S. only). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (June 9th) evening.
Interview with the hero from Stalking Willow by Fay Lamb:
1. Quentin McPheron, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I hate to admit this, but I think everyone around me knows, even if they haven’t teased me about it. My whole life has been spent waiting for one girl to say she loves me, but Willow Thomas, is a hard one. Even before she scurried away when the paparazzi maggots showed up at her door demanding to know what she thought of her Hollywood superstar parents’ abandonment, she’d distanced herself from me. She left the mountain where we both grew up without so much as a good-bye and ran off to New York. I hadn’t heard from her in ten years, but I kept up her granny’s house next door to mine—even hand carved some willow trees into some shutters for the old home Granny Thomas left behind for her.
And Willow came home. She called me by the old nickname she used to pull out just to annoy me. So, I know there’s still hope for us yet.
2. What do you do for fun?
I’m living out my dream as a high school teacher and coach. My fun is helping young men realize their full potential, whether it’s in leadership, academics, or sports. I love mentoring those boys. I feel that God has placed me where I can use my talents the best.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
I try not to put off anything. It’s the jock in me, I guess. My dad—my coach in life and on the team—always said “Get the job done, and don’t stop until it’s completed.” I live life that way. Sometimes though, especially where Willow is concerned, that attitude causes us a little friction. I just plunder ahead doing what I think best, and well, one thing Willow hates is being told what to do. Still, I love the times when we go toe-to-toe, matching wits with one another. Except I hate it that Willow can best me just about every time.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
Losing the ones I love. That happened to me in high school. I lost Willow, yeah, and I felt that lost greatly, but it wasn’t a permanent loss—not like the night Tabitha Cowart died because I didn’t keep her from doing something stupid. Not like my stupidity that caused the death of one of my players at the hand of his own father. Those are losses that will haunt me forever, but I trust in God, that He has a reasons, and I go on. I don’t want to lose anyone else though—not to tragedies like that. And with this stalker on Willow’s trail, I plan to do everything I can to keep her safe from harm.
5. What do you want out of life?
(Laughing). I want Willow Thomas to be my bride. (Laughter fades) Seriously, I want Willow Thomas to be my happy bride, at peace in her surroundings, and free of the bitterness she’s carried for so long.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
Family and friends. Plain and simple, even though the relationships may be complex, the fact that God has put us together should be simple to understand, and we should be willing to help each other in any situation and love each other no matter what has come between us.
7. Do you read books? If so, what is your favorite type of book?
Heck yeah. Biographies of Vince Lombardo and Coach Woodson—those guys knew how to lead and to promote enthusiasm in a team. They influenced the lives of their players in positive ways. Oh, and the Bible. Jesus was a great leader. He promoted such enthusiasm from his followers that they were willing to die to spread the Gospel, and no one can say He wasn’t the greatest leader of all time, and He has definitely influenced my life in a positive way.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I have a tendency to jump into the fray, to help others even when they don’t want my help. Yeah, sometimes that’s a good thing, but my momma used to tell me, “Son, not everyone wants your help. Back off until they ask.” I need to do that a little more. But there’s give and take. I didn’t help Tabitha. I left her to her own devices, and she died. And my quarterback, Denton Goodyear—if I’d only stepped back and let the law handle things, Dent would still be alive.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Not anymore. I used to have an old hound dog. His name was Blue. He lumbered around the mountain and settled down by my bed each night. He was a good and faithful dog. Taught me a lot about being faithful, too. You ever wonder why a dog will still try to make you his friend, even if you yell at them or treat them mean once in a while? They usually just keep their distance for a bit then saddle up beside you.
Yeah, (laughing again), that old hound dog taught me how to deal with Willow. Every time she bites my hand, I just keep saddling up beside her until I win a smile out of those gorgeous lips and a twinkle from those chocolate brown eyes.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I’d go back to eleventh grade, and I’d make sure that Laurel and Tabitha stopped making Willow’s life miserable. I’d include Willow in everything we did, and I wouldn’t allow her to sulk by herself. Maybe then, I could have prevented Tabitha’s death, I could have helped two cousins who needed each other desperately to become friends, and maybe Willow wouldn’t have felt she needed to run away when trouble came to the mountain and Granny had died.
