Now You Love Me

Her father is gone for good—not on a business trip like her mother said—and Annie knows it. Her little brother, Gus, might believe that he’ll come back, but Annie is too sharp, too observant, to believe this comforting lie. In their little house by the shore of Lake Michigan, where everything is the same and yet not, Annie, Gus, and their dreamy, beautiful mother, Paige, are on their own. Then, to add to Annie’s confusion, her mother starts to date Shepherd, a well-meaning and steadfast man who isn’t deterred by Paige’s frequent refusals of his affections. His devotion to her mother and kindhearted interest in her and Gus aside, Annie can’t tell if letting this man into their small, odd family will be the solution to their problems or the start of new ones.

Revealing the intricacies of the adult world through the simple eyes of a child, Now You Love Me is a heartbreaking yet genuinely funny story about the joys and pitfalls of growing up and growing older.

Liesel Litzenburger’s writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Quarterly Review, Poets & Writers, and various other publications and anthologies. She lives in Michigan. Visit her at www.LieselOnline.com.