Elizabeth Alan
A year after Katie Mariano’s husband, Jack, died suddenly Katie finds herself thinking back to her college days. With a pang of guilt she fondly recalls her first love, Neil Hoffman. Over the years Neil has always held a special place in Katie’s heart.
Their relationship ended badly and Katie can’t help but wonder what ever became of him. She also wonders if Neil still thinks of her.
A mutual friend from college, Mike Schaefer, suddenly steps back into Katie’s life and the lives of the three old friends are forever changed.
When closure on past hurt is found, old friendships are renewed and a new love is born. Morning Coffee is about the journey to finding the right person, that special someone, with whom you want to share life’s little moments.
Karen Elizabeth Luethke and Chester Alan Blum are the two authors who are Elizabeth Alan.
Karen and Chet met on an Internet message board based on a popular reality television show. An unlikely friendship was formed when they discovered they shared a passion for various arts. This shared creative interest soon developed into writing what began as a short story and later became this book.
Karen’s creative passion has always been channeled towards drawing and painting. Karen, using a combination of pastels and pencils, created the cover artwork for Morning Coffee.
Chet has always been a prolific song lyricist with hundreds of titles to his name. The title of the book is based on one of Chet’s songs, “Morning Coffee in Bed”. Two other songs’ lyrics written by Chet can be found in the book as well.
Karen was born and raised in California and still resides there with her family.
Chet was born and raised in New York and still resides there with his family.
Karen and Chet wrote Morning Coffee entirely via emails back and forth between California and New York.
Katie looked into her closet and sighed. She had no idea what had possessed her to agree to attend Mike’s get together tonight. Katie was not sure she felt emotionally ready to get dressed up and try to socialize with strangers. Beyond that, she had nothing to wear. That was the real issue of the moment, her lacking wardrobe. When had she become so boring and predictable she wondered as she pushed past the jeans and khakis in search of a dress, any dress. She really should have thought to go shopping for something new, she now realized. No, she amended that idea, she should have thought to say no to Mike.
Her fingers finally landed on an old standby, a slim fitting black dress that she could dress up with a little jewelry and the right shoes. Why she was putting herself through this torture she couldn’t understand. She should just call Mike and cancel. And why was she feeling so nervous about the whole thing? She was really starting to get annoyed with herself. Katie wasn’t used to feeling insecure and going to a party alone should not be a big deal. The time to go out without Jack had probably come and gone long ago, so she just needed to take a deep breath and do it.
She rummaged around on the floor of her closet for some shoes to wear with the dress but came up empty handed. So she headed down the hall to her daughter’s room and knocked softly on the door and waited until she heard Sarah tell her to come in. Sarah was home for the weekend and Katie figured she should have some sound fashion advice, or at the very least, a pair of shoes Katie could borrow. Sarah looked up at her mother as she entered her room and her eyes got wide as she stifled a giggle.
“Oh my God, nice hair Mom,” Sarah said.
Giving her daughter a playful glare, Katie said, “Thanks. I’ve been in the trenches of my closet and as it turns out, I have very little to wear and no shoes to match it. Help.”
Sarah smiled at her mom as she uncrossed her legs and got off the bed and walked to her closet. She was secretly relieved that her mother had plans for the night. Sarah missed her father terribly but her concern had turned to her mother. Having already lost one parent, she wanted the remaining one to be happy. Sarah longed for life to start feeling more normal again.
As Sarah turned away from the closet, she handed Katie a pair of high heeled, black, strappy shoes.
“These will go perfectly with that little black dress,” she said. "We need to make the look a little sexier.”
“I really don’t think that’s what we need but thanks Sarah, these will work,” Katie said as she hugged her daughter and glanced around the room. “How on earth do you find anything in this mess?” she asked.
“It’s my system. I call it organized chaos. Don’t ask,” she answered as she led her mother back out of her room. As Katie started walking down the hall back towards her room, she heard Sarah call her name. Katie turned around to look at her daughter as she heard Sarah add, “Just have fun. Please.”
“I know, Sarah. I’ll try,” Katie told her daughter as she struggled to blink back the tears that threatened.
Meanwhile, Lynette sat at her small vanity looking at her reflection as she put on her deep red ruby and diamond earrings. She had struggled with what to wear for what seemed like hours. Lynette had debated back and forth until finally settling on a low cut, dark red dress that Neil had said looked good on her the last time she wore it. Her thoughts kept returning to Katie and the one time she had seen her those many years ago. Katie had looked tall, thin and impossibly pretty to Lynette back then and that ridiculous schoolgirl insecurity refused to budge. Lynette picked up her lipstick and started to put it on as she mentally scolded herself for her petty insecurities. Get a grip, she thought, stop being ridiculous. With the lipstick perfectly in place, Lynette ran her fingers through her soft brown curls. She slipped her favorite shoes on and stood up straight to take one last look in the mirror.
She heard Neil coming down the hall before he asked, “You ready yet? I don’t want us to be late.”
“Yes I’m ready,” Lynette said to her own reflection.
She then turned, picked up her wrap from the back of the chair and headed out of their bedroom with Neil by her side. She was ready as she would ever be to face the love of her husband’s life.
As Lynette slipped her arm into Neil’s, she asked, “How about you? You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Neil said echoing her thoughts.
