Mr. Hunt, a.k.a. Special Agent Ian Taylor

"A single act of kindness throws roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees." --Amelia Earhart

In my book Desperate Measures, coming out in July 2014, you'll meet Special Agent Ian Taylor, based loosely on a special guy who came into my life when I really needed him. I didn't have a lot of good male role models in my childhood that I could talk with on a regular basis (even though I have many wonderful male family members, most of whom I rarely saw growing up), which is probably why I struggled so much in the beginning of my marriage with trying to understand my husband. Maybe men and women never really understand one another completely, but I think my Salty Bones man and I have managed to come pretty close after so many years of screwing up. The man Agent Taylor is based on is partially responsible for that.

In 2004, my husband did a remote tour to Osan Air Force Base, Korea. He was gone a total of 14 months. Remotes are frequently known for their "make or break a marriage" characteristics. For us, by that point we were merely the paperwork away from divorce. I agreed to put the formalities on hold until his return. Just before he left, I met Mr. Hunt online (*name changed to protect his identity), and we struck up a friendship. He and his wife were married in the same year as my husband and me, and that commonality is how our friendship began. They, too, had hit a major relationship snag. For a year Mr. Hunt and I talked almost every day via Instant Message, video chat, or phone. We shared our frustrations and often picked each others' brains for insight. He encouraged me to just "lay all your cards on the table". He told me to tell my husband ALL of the things I was feeling because by that point there was nothing left to lose. My husband agreed to try this and over the course of his tour we had the most meaningful conversations in our entire relationship. We managed to work through a lot of old wounds, we learned more about each other than I believed was possible, and we found solid ground to begin building a much deeper love between us.

Having a male friend I could trust implicitly to ask ANY question, voice any fear, or just work through some serious anger and resentment issues was such a blessing. Not once did Mr. Hunt try to take advantage of my vulnerability, nor did he ever use anything I told him to hurt either me or my husband. I am always amazed at how often the Universe brings people into our lives exactly when we need them. When my husband returned, Mr. Hunt told me he was going to "back off" and let us work it out without him being in the way. He also made me promise I'd give my husband an honest and complete chance at having a future together. I'm not good with goodbyes under any circumstances, but saying goodbye to him was very difficult even though I know it was the right thing to do. Some people have a way of leaving their fingerprints on you long after they are gone. He is one of those people for me. And should he ever find his way to my blog, I want to say...thank you for being a true friend to me and my husband. You are a very good man and I will always love you and cherish the precious time you gave to me, so that I could end up in this wonderful space I am in today. I hope you, too, are living a life full of joy. And if you read my books, I hope you enjoy the character I created in honor of you!

--Sketch of Mr. Hunt done by me on 9/21/2004

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