Play It Again, Sam

by Maryann Miller

Overview

Life as she knows it ceases to exist for Samantha Rutgers when her husband of twenty-plus years decides he no longer loves her. The challenges are myriad. Can she build a life without him? Will her daughter always blame her? Can she ever trust a man again? And what is she going to do about sex? Cover design by Dany Russell. "PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM turns the standard "The End" of a marriage into the "Once upon a time" of a genuine grown-up love story. A life- and love-affirming look into the real life events of divorce, children, exes, memories, regrets, beginnings, and the courage to love again." Laura Castoro author of A New Lu, Icing on The Cake, and Crossing the Line "This is a poignant story of human frailties, emotions, turmoil, confusion and the sometimes, inescapable fear of the unknown. Samantha is encouraged to turn-off the familiar road of 'what use to be' and forge a new path of 'what could be.' Miller develops her characters well in this enjoyable story, giving them qualities that we would all relate to. A sensitive portrayal of romance, not of the sweet first time love, but a realistic viewpoint of life and love, and the curve ball it can throw." Review by J.B. Scott

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468076356
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	01/15/2012
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Maryann Miller is an award-winning author of numerous books, screenplays and stage plays. Her mystery, Open Season, is the first book in a new series that features two women homicide detectives in Dallas. Think "Lethal Weapon" set in Dallas with female leads. It has received rave reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal. The second book in the series, Stalking Season, was released in 2012. In addition to the mystery, Miller has a suspense novel, One Small Victory, published as an e-book and in paperback. It was originally published in hardback in 2008. Her young adult novel, Friends Forever, is also available as an e-book and paperback. Play it Again, Sam, a contemporary romance is available as an e-book and paperback, and a short story collection, The Wisdom of Ages, is also available as an e-book and paperback.
Miller is the Theatre Director at the Winnsboro Center for the Arts, where she had the privilege of directing one of her original plays several years ago. She enjoys directing, especially working with young performers. When not directing, Miller likes to be onstage and has appeared in "Squabbles" as Mildred at the Main Street Theatre in Sulphur Springs, Texas, where she also appeared as Mama Wheelis in "Daddy's Dying, Whose Got the Will?" and Martha Brewster in "Arsenic and Old Lace."
Among the awards she has received for her writing are the Page Edwards Short Story Award, the New York Library Best Books for Teens Award, first place in the screenwriting competition at the Houston Writer's Conference, placing as a semi-finalist at Sundance, and placing as a semi-finalist in the Chesterfield Screenwriting Competition. She was named The Trails Country Treasure in 2011 by the Winnsboro Center for the Arts.
Her website is http://www.maryannwrites.com
Blog: http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/

Facebook and Twitter @maryannwrites

Read an Excerpt

Driving home, Sam had her second misgiving. How was she ever going to get the box into the house? That problem loomed even larger as she looked at the front walk that ascended in three tiers from the street. Second guessing yourself isn't going help. Think. You can't lift the box, so what's the alternative?

She eased the box out of her trunk and grabbed the edges to slide it onto the sidewalk, dropping it at the last minute as her hands slipped. Dragging it up the walk seemed like the only option, but she had to figure out a better way to hang on to it. Cut holes in the cardboard so she could slip her hands in? No. There would still be too much weight for her to try to hold up, and the cardboard could tear. She had to find a way to keep most of the weight close to the ground.

I know. Sam went back to the trunk and pulled out an old blanket. She opened it on the sidewalk, then lifted one end of the box and laid it across the width of the blanket near the top, folding the rest of the fabric back over the box. There was just enough of the blanket left for her to roll the two ends together as a handle. Aha! Who needs a dolly when they've got ingenuity?

Easing her burden through the doorway into the library, Sam felt incredibly proud. She had faced the mountain, and the mountain had not defeated her.

She opened the box and assembled the pieces of the table on the floor. Then she went in search of Margaret's tool box. If she remembered correctly, it was in a cabinet in the laundry room.

Back in the library, Sam sat cross-legged on the floor and read the assembly directions. This'll be a piece of cake compared to getting the damn thing inhere.

Later, she nursed a scraped knuckle, happy that that was all she had suffered for her efforts. A sound in the doorway startled her and she turned to see her daughter leaning against the frame.

"What're you doing?" Melissa asked, running her fingers through disheveled hair.

"Was I making too much noise?"

"No. I didn't hear a thing." Melissa moved into the room to get a better view of the table. "It was just time to get up."

"Nice isn't it?" Sam knelt beside the tool box and started putting the wrenches and screwdrivers away, finding an odd sense of pleasure in the solidness of the tools in her hand and the clank of metal against metal as she dropped them in.

"What's the table for?" Melissa asked.

Sam shot a quick look at her daughter. Could she really be that obtuse? Or had she just conveniently blocked any thought of her mother's life different from what it used to be? "It's for my work." Sam kept her voice carefully neutral.

"Oh. Right." The young woman walked around the table, trailing her fingers across the smooth, white Formica. "Guess it's just hard for me to think of you as working."

Sam leaned back against her heels and sighed.

Melissa stopped at the corner of the table and looked over, her bottom lip clutched in her teeth.

She looked so forlorn; Sam feared her heart would burst with the pain of it all. "This isn't what I wanted for any of us," she said, softly.