A Small Bite of... Donna Gallager

When the idea of writing a story with a food theme was bandied about I didn't hesitate to put my hand up.

It's not that I am overly interested in food or cooking - Just ask my family.

The reason behind my interest was I immediately thought of my mother.

Mum loved eating mangos. She lived for the summer months, swimming in the surf and sunbaking until she went a golden brown - a past time that is frowned upon these days, I know!

She also loved summer fruit. In particular the mango but she always complained how messy you became indulging in the juicy treat. On more than one occasion she decided that it would be easier to just sit in a bath while she ate so she didn't need to worry about the juice dripping everywhere.

It was an interesting sight to behold! So I took that idea and the story just about wrote itself. I know if Mum was still with me she would approve, so Mum this one's for you.

Blurb:

Love, marriage and starting a family, is the dream for many couples. But when responsibility and life get in the way, what happens to their relationship? Can a second honeymoon really help Beth and Ben bridge that growing divide between them? And bring back the fire and passion that has slowly, through years of neglect, ebbed away.

 

An excerpt from A Fruitful Intimacy

Beth hadn’t had a chance to check the time, but she knew Ben was late—again.

The twins had been exceptionally hyper since arriving home from school, joining forces to annoy their brother who in return had spent the afternoon moaning at her. All three little devils had all tested her patience to the limit. Beth had wanted the house to be tidier, in some sort of order before Ben got home from work, but as usual what she wanted and what happened where two different things entirely.

By the time Ben walked through the front door the house was mayhem. She had bits of pasta sauce splashed over her face, on her clothes and spaghetti in her hair.

“Hello-o-o! Any one home?”

“Perfect!” she mumbled as she heard Ben shout a welcome to them.

“Stop right there, you lot. I’m not finished with you,” she yelled as the kids scrambled from the table, squashing and spreading food even further as they continued to completely ignore her protests over their bad behaviour at the dinner table. Beth still couldn’t believe they had participated in a food fight, right there in front of her. She raced after her brood, trying to catch them before Ben had to listen to all three clamouring at once, trying to get their version of the preceding chaos heard, hopefully bringing a reprieve from their father.

“Boys…I…said, stop!” she roared at the top of her lungs.

Judging by the shocked look on all four faces turned her way, Beth realized she had shouted very loudly.

“Whoa there everyone, let’s all take a breather.” Beth heard Ben say as she stormed toward them. “Beth, are you okay?”

Great. Now, not only did she look like some crazed reality chef gone wrong, but she was screaming like a shrew. No wonder the man wants nothing to do with me!

“Your sons thought it acceptable behaviour to have a food fight at the table. You arrived just as I was trying to discipline them. If you had been home when you promised, this probably wouldn’t have happened at all.” Beth really hadn’t meant to add that last bit. The words had just flown from her mouth before she could stop them. This was not about her and Ben’s problems, this was about the kids.

“Don’t start Beth. I know, time just got away from me—” Ben’s cell phone came to life in his pocket, the familiar ringtone stealing his attention.

Beth watched him take the intrusive device from his pocket and glance at the screen. Do not answer that call Ben. She noticed the change in his facial features. The way he went from looking weary at the scene playing out in front of him, to being excited, happy about whoever it was calling him.

 “Sorry, I need to get this, it’s important.”

About Donna Gallagher

Sydney-born Donna Gallagher decided at an early age that life needed be tackled head on. Leaving home at 15 she supported herself through her teen years.

In her twenties she married a professional sportsman, her love of sport -- especially rugby league -- probably overriding her good sense.

The seven-year marriage was an adventure. There were the emotional ups and downs of having a husband with a public profile in a sometimes glamorous but always high-pressure field.

There were always interesting characters to meet and observe and even the opportunity to live for a time in the UK.

Eventually Donna returned home a single woman, but she never lost her passion for watching sport, as well as the people in and around it.

Now happily re-married and with three sons Donna loves coffee mornings with her female friends, sorting through problems from the personal to the international. But she's on even footing with the keenest man when it comes to watching and talking rugby league.

Donna considers herself something of a black sheep in a family of high achievers. Her brother has a doctorate in mathematics and her sister is a well-known sports journalist.

An avid reader, especially of romance, Donna finally found she couldn't stop the characters residing in her imagination from spilling onto paper. Naturally rugby league is the backdrop to her spicy 'League Of Love'
(Available from Total-E-Bound) tales of hunky heroes and spunky heroines overcoming adversity to eventually find true love.

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