Patrice pleases. She always has. At forty, Patrice has never been kissed by a man let alone known one intimately. After years of being the stalwart daughter, loyal sister, and Girl Friday, Patrice is done, exhausted and overwrought from everyone pulling at her. Highest on the parasitic list is her twin sister, Danielle. The girls’ birth order had been established in the womb: Danielle makes the mess and Patrice cleans it up... morePatrice pleases. She always has. At forty, Patrice has never been kissed by a man let alone known one intimately. After years of being the stalwart daughter, loyal sister, and Girl Friday, Patrice is done, exhausted and overwrought from everyone pulling at her. Highest on the parasitic list is her twin sister, Danielle. The girls’ birth order had been established in the womb: Danielle makes the mess and Patrice cleans it up. When Danielle drinks poison on a whim while Patrice is sitting next to her, Patrice takes responsibility for that, too, and as penance, relegates herself to a life of servitude. Yet inside Patrice’s librarian exterior beats the heart of a woman destined to be in a passionate love affair. All she has to do is shake her asphyxiating familial obligations long enough to date someone. Chance intervenes when Patrice meets Bruce, an intense, gorgeous ex-firefighter, whose instincts are honed for rescue. Patrice’s longing is like a tidal pull, compelling Bruce to respond. Smitten and scared, does Patrice have the strength of will to trade her longest-standing, wholly dysfunctional family ties for a shot at love, or will duty, like gravity, pull Patrice back down into the lonely abyss? A Gathering of One traces one woman’s riveting trajectory against all odds on her path to independence. less
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