Everyday people with ordinary lives fill the pages in a Matlock novel but the tension, emotion, humor, and frustration come through loud and clear. And she shows us in each story how love is a treasure, sometimes throwing in just a touch of magic to remind us of the serendipity in everyday life. ~Amazon review

Mollie and Tommie Lee have been married for twenty-five years. They grew up in Valentine, Oklahoma, and were sweethearts from the get-go. But something is missing in their marriage, and Mollie can’t bear to stay where she doesn’t feel loved. Tommy Lee is confused and hurt and angry when she leaves for the refuge of Aunt Hestie’s empty cottage, but he has complaints of his own. In her unique voice, Curtiss Ann Matlock uncovers the heart of their story—their passion and promise, their hopes and dreams.

Excerpt from Love in a Small Town:

With resignation she began rinsing the dishes in the sink and putting them into the dishwasher. A dark line on one of the plates caught her eye, and she paused, gazing at it. The plate was one of the set her mother had bought for them up at the old TG&Y store in Oklahoma City, when she and Tommy Lee had gotten married. The plates were cream colored, with a black and yellow line and a single spray of yellow daisies around the rim of each plate and cup. There were only three of them left, and the dark line on this one was where it had been broken and glued back together. Staring at that line, Molly counted back the years and thought maybe she should send a letter of testimony to the makers of Super Glue.

She thought, too, how the plate was a reflection of her marriage.

The next instant, she lifted that plate and smacked it on the divider of the white enamel sink.

Sounded like a ball going through a window. Molly scrunched he eyes as tiny pieces of china peppered her face and flew into the air and out across the counter and down on the floor. The bigger pieces clattered into the sink.

Molly was shocked. She stared at the shards.

Goodness! What had she done?

Mortification crept in. It simply wasn’t done, breaking an innocent plate, no matter that it had a glue line. It certainly wasn’t done by Molly Jean Hayes, mother of three grown children, certified public accountant, and upstanding member of both the chamber of commerce and Methodist church. The action was destructive, wasteful…and possibly a little deranged.

But by golly the reckless act felt so darn good that she did it twice more with the two yellow daisy plates remaining in the sink. Lifted the plate and brought it down, felt the impact and the disintegration, and heard all the shattering, then did it again.

There. She supposed she could break a few dishes in her lifetime if she wanted to.

I don’t know how you responded to that passage, but I read it and began to chuckle. Molly and Tommy Lee’s story is one millions of couples have experienced. It is about about learning that love is a choice, one you have to make every day. And that we manage to do it so often is the magic of living.

There is much about my own life in the story of Molly and Tommy Lee, but let me be clear: I have no sisters, only one son, and my mother never gets up for breakfast.

Take a break from the world and enjoy a little Love in a Small Town! 

Blessings
CurtissAnn