Excerpt from A TIME FOR TEARS

Sarah Michaels was just about to pour her first cup of coffee of the day when her phone rang.  She ran into her bedroom to retrieve the phone from her nightstand.  The name on the screen was Dave Stevens, her former boss.  Her first instinct was to ignore the call until after she had had her coffee.  But she knew that the persistent bastard would keep dialing until she gave up and answered.  So she hit the Talk button.  “Morning, Dave.  I haven’t had my coffee yet so this had better be good.”

“Hello, Sarah.  I need you to come down to the museum ASAP.”

“Dave, in case you have forgotten, I don’t work for you anymore.  Plus you know that I don’t do ‘ASAP.’  And you know how irritable I can be before I’ve had my coffee.”

“Okay.  Please come down to the museum right after you’ve had your coffee.  It’s an emergency.”

“Dave, I’m retired.  I’m sure that you don’t have any emergency that you can’t handle without me.”

“Sarah, I wouldn’t have bothered you if I thought anyone else could handle this.  Please, Sarah.”