The Renaissance Club The Time Gatherer time travel time travel fiction time travel romance novel women who time travel women's fiction women's fiction novel

Sample of Undoing Time, new in Timegathering Series

COVER OF UNDOING TIMEUNDOING TIME IS OUT!
The Timegathering Series #3

Read sample chapters of the newest book in the Timegathering Series below. 

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Chapter 1. May Gold’s Phone Call

May Gold stepped outside of the museum. The afternoon sunshine in Florence dazzled her, and she fished in her pocket for sunglasses. The baking heat was welcome after hours in her air-conditioned office. The warmth loosened joints creaking after hours of sitting, and the sunlight put a smile on her face. She looked up at the sky, a pale blue with a scallop of clouds at the horizon, promising the relief of a summer rain.
         But May had no time for enjoying the outdoors. She had to make a call. She opened her phone and clicked on the often-used number. Luckily, her mentor answered quickly.
         “Hi, George.”
         “Hello, May. How are you?”
         The timing to call him felt so right. And George’s voice always warmed her. “I’m excited! And also worried.”
         “Worried?”
         “My young cousin Olivia arrives tomorrow from California. She’s staying the summer and help me raise funds for my project. And as far as I can tell, she’s in danger. You need to help her.”
         “It’s wonderful that you’ll have help with the project. And why is Olivia in danger?”
         “I’m almost certain she’s a timegatherer. I’ve seen her do it.”
         May’s mentor was ever sympathetic, though his lecturer voice could be impressive and even intimidating. But with May, he was always kind. “And what makes you think that’s what she was doing?”
         “I was having dinner with her and her fiancé, and she was checking the roast. She was there, and then she wasn’t. And then she was back. You tell me how someone does that while you’re staring at them?”
         George’s chuckle was warm and deep. “I was once caught myself in that way. Yes, she’s probably timegathering. Have you talked to her about it? Does she know about the Optimalists?”
         “No, we’re not really close. She’s much younger, about thirty. And she’s never been here. I’ve only seen her a few times and talked on the phone. I don’t know if she even realizes what she’s doing.”
         “And how do you want me to help?”
         May cleared her throat. She knew she could ask, but she hesitated for such a big favor. “You’re so good at taking young people under your wing. Putting people safely into history. And back again.”
         George laughed, his voice rumbling from low to higher tones. “Is that what I do? I like the way you describe it. I could use that as my tag line, if I ever advertise my time tours as a business.”
         May laughed. “Feel free to use it. Olivia needs help in lots of ways. Her father called to tell me she’s had a big setback in life, of the romantic kind. He said she needs to be distracted in order to recover, and he asked if Liv—that’s what she goes by—could come to Florence and visit me for a month or two.”
        “What happened?”
        “Liv was jilted a week before her wedding. Her self-centered ass of a fiancé ran off with her best friend, so she lost two important people. She’s heartbroken. And I need funding for my art restoration. That’s what Liv does raises money. Most of all, I worry about her safety. If they find out she has the timegathering gene …”
         George’s voice was deep and warm. “Since you’re asking, I’ll do whatever I can. We’ll take care of young Olivia.”
         May held her phone away for a quick little happy dance. Then she put it back to her cheek. “Thanks so much! There’s one more thing.”
         “Yes?”
         “I suspect she doesn’t know much about her timegathering gift. She needs training.”
         George laughed again and May savored that buttery rumble.
         “Like you,” he said. “An undiscovered time genius. When we first met, you had no idea you about your talent. Let me know when I can meet your young cousin. I may be able to help and perhaps Tom Royland can as well.”
         May took a slow breath. “I wonder about having anyone but you work with her… “
         “Don’t worry about Tom. He’s on a tight leash. His own. He’s so wrapped up in his projects that if she were the Queen of Sheba and walked into our dinner, he’d barely notice.”
         That got a chuckle from May.
         George went on. “If she’s really in need of fine-tuning, we’ll take her to Brother Bernardo.”
         “But let’s go slow! It could take her time to adjust to time travel. It took me time to figure out what was going on. Let alone join your team, Let alone consider seeing myself as a savior of humanity.” May said it in italics to tweak George.
         His laugh in her ear was so loud she held the phone away for a second. It made her smile to crack him up.
         “I’ll go slow,” he said. “Slower than I did with you?”
         “About that slow would be fine.”
         “Three weeks it is, then.”
         George had saved May when her young life had crumbled, all those years ago. And he’d shown her how to use her timegathering gift. May knew he could help Olivia.
         She leaned against the wall of the museum, savoring both the sun and George’s kindness. She asked, “Are you here in Florence?”
         “Yes, for another few days. Then I’m off for another week. Let me know when and where you want to meet.”
         “Will do.”
         George was always off somewhere. When she’d first met him, May wondered if he was running two simultaneous tour groups. Every time she needed to talk to him, he seemed to have disappeared.
         But now he was reassuring. “Call me and I’ll come to the museum when she gets here.”
         “Will do. Ciao!”
         “Ciao.”

Liv Pomeroy in sunny FlorenceChapter 2. Liv Is Florence Bound.

Olivia considered jumping back in time to the day she had met Joel. She might have frowned instead of smiling when he asked if the seat next to her was vacant. She wished heartily that she’d said, “Get lost, dude.”
         But she’d never been that girl. She had never jumped backward in time, only forward. So his betrayal was now a done deal.
         As Liv entertained these futile wishes, her head began to ache. The steady noise in the boarding area at San Francisco Airport was as clangorous as New Year’s in Chinatown, with the constant calls to board flights, the susurrus of chatter and the chimes and text alerts. Her chest ached with self-doubt, making her head throb more.
         Rummaging through her carryon, Liv looked for a sweater. She was sure she’d put one in, and it was cold in here, cold as only San Francisco summer could be. Why did they have to chill the airport further? Pulling off the elastic holding her long hair in a ponytail, she hoped that the shawl of light brown hair falling over her shoulders would warm her up. But no deal.
         She found her pocket mirror and comb at the bottom of the bag. The mirror told her the tangle of hair needed attention, as well as her chapped lips. A swipe of tinted lip balm and three swipes with her mini brush put her back together. Back to looking more like well-groomed Liv Pomeroy. But it was a façade. Nothing inside her was well-groomed or tamed.
         She’d made a rash decision, having quit her job at the museum, she’d pledged the summer to Cousin May Gold. But the alchemical combination of Joel’s … perfidy was a good word … and May’s surprise offer almost seemed like destiny. Rash adventures weren’t her usual, but then her usual had taken a dive off a high platform when she’d flung her engagement ring at Joel.
         Florence, Italy. This wasn’t a place for usual Olivia, as her mother had kindly pointed out when Liv revealed her plans. Usual was gone, ancient history never to return.
         Instead of offering sympathy, her mother had lectured. “No matter what Joel has done, you owe it to your family to stay. We started this foundation and it will be yours one day. You have a responsibility to us and to your community to stay here and help with it.”
         Liv was over thirty, but she tried a teenage style evasion. “Mother, I’m going to help Cousin May’s foundation. It will give me good experience for running ours, don’t you think?”
        “You don’t have to go to Italy to get experience. Just quit that little museum job and stay here. Work with us. Or is that so terrible.” It wasn’t a question. It was the standard demand.
         At that moment, the last thing Liv was going to do was tell her mother she’d already quit the museum fundraising job. Her family, especially her mother, had always acted as if she owed them all of her future. Sure, they’d given her a good home and education. Sure, they tried to give her a big wedding. But she didn’t owe them forever.
         “You’re a Pomeroy,” Mom had said. “One day, you might consider living up to that name. About what it means to San Francisco.”
         She cared about what it meant to her city. She even cared about their foundation. But what she didn’t care about was for one more day trying to please her unpleasable mother.
         Liv had dropped a copy of her flight reservations on the marble hall table under the gilt mirror at the family home in Pacific Heights. She wasn’t going to live up to the Pomeroy name. She was going to live up to her own name. Perhaps even change her name. Whenever she introduced herself in the future, it would be as Liv, not Olivia.
         In her pocket, her phone buzzed. Liv picked it out, twisting the opening in her jeans with difficulty. Seeing who it was, Liv nearly clicked it off. With a sigh, she swiped it open.
         “You don’t have to do this, Olivia.“
         “But I do, Mother. You and Dad told me family is everything. And then Joel said he was my family. Now I have nothing. It’s simple math.“
         “Think this through. Flying off to another country isn’t going to bring Joel back to you.“
         “Why would I want that asshole back!”
         “Language, Olivia.”
         But Liv was beyond parsing her words. “If Joel came back, I’d be arrested for murder. Because I’d kill him.”

***

Read Books 1 and 2 in the Timegathering Series — buy on Amazon or read on Kindle Unlimited

The Renaissance Club

The Time Gatherer

 

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