Jessica Strawser: Authors Interviewing Characters

CATCH YOU LATER

If Lark and Mikki didn’t have each other, they’d have nothing in this miserable town. So the lifelong best friends stick together, working night shift at the highway travel stop, going nowhere fast. Until the ordinary Wednesday that a good-looking stranger stops in on his all-night drive to a destination beach wedding, and Mikki impulsively accepts his invite to be his plus-one, takes off her apron, and gets in his car right then … never to be seen again. 

Eight years later, Lark is finally getting her life back together for the sake of her young daughter and Mikki’s lovably prickly grandma, who can no longer care for herself. People have almost stopped blaming Lark for Mikki’s disappearance, and she’s engaged to the nicest guy on state highway patrol. But when the stranger who left with Mikki reappears, impossibly claiming to be looking for her, nobody knows what to believe.

As the search reignites, Lark fights to find out whether Mikki is really missing or doesn’t want to be found. But piecing together the chain of events set into motion that fateful night could threaten everything—and everyone—Lark has left.

Jessica Strawser’s novels tend to be favorites among book clubs: They are suspenseful, empowering stories that put ordinary women to the test and prove we’re all stronger than we know. In the process, they introduce readers to characters who feel like old friends … and leave them with a LOT to talk about! 

In Catch You Later, one impulsive decision changes the lives of two lifelong friends forever. Jessica caught up with one of them to get to the bottom of things.

Mikki, didn’t anyone ever teach you not to accept rides from strangers?

Honestly? No. My parents grew up hitchhiking all the time—it used to be a lot more common than it is now. Especially around here in No Man’s Land. If you want to get to a concert or a ballgame or any city big enough to have anything remotely interesting going on, you need a reliable car, not to mention gas money … neither of which are easy to come by. You might not realize what a privilege it is not to have to worry about that stuff.

Besides, my parents never cared much what I did anyway.

If you hate it here so much, why don’t you just move?

Gee, why didn’t I think of that? I bet it would be easy for me to get a job someplace nicer, given my extensive career experience working at this luxurious interstate travel stop. I mean, this barely even counts as a town—we have two stop signs—but the cost of living is probably comparable in a nicer city with more employment opportunities, right? I bet they’re eager to pay relocation costs for a girl like me with so much to offer. Let me go pack. I just need to find a clean trash bag to put my stuff in. Maybe I can swipe one from work.

I’m sorry. That was a stupid, insensitive question.

That’s okay. Everybody asks it, unless they live here. Didn’t mean to sound so bitter. Believe it or not, I’m actually kind of fun. You know that friend who you can talk into just about anything? That’s me.

You’re not much of a rule follower, huh?

I’m actually a big believer in rules. But I only have two. My best friend Lark and I made them after high school, when it was clear we’d be stuck here for a while. They’re kind of our survival tips for maintaining our sanity.

Now I’m curious. What are your rules?

Rule Number One: Say yes as much as possible. To anything. And Rule Number Two: Keep your eyes open for a ride out of here.

So when you got in that stranger’s car, you weren’t actually breaking a rule? You were following one?

Actually, I was following them both. 

Also? This wasn’t just any car. It was the nicest, shiniest BMW I’ve ever seen outside of a TV commercial. And the guy driving it was no slouch either. At least, he didn’t seem like it.

Almost reminds me of Pretty Wom—

Do I look like a hooker to you? 

Um. No. Sorry. Again. I’m starting to understand your point of view. So many people have been wondering what could have been going through your head … I bet they have you all wrong, don’t they?

You have no idea. People have been underestimating me my entire life. 

Get your copy of Catch You Later now.

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Jessica Strawser is the USA Today bestselling author of The Last Caretaker, The Next Thing You Know (a People magazine pick), A Million Reasons Why, Forget You Know Me, Not That I Could Tell (a Book of the Month selection), and Almost Missed You. She was editorial director at Writer’s Digest for nearly a decade before becoming a novelist. Her essays and articles have appeared in the New York Times Modern Love, Publishers Weekly, and other fine venues. She lives with her husband and two children in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she recently received a 2024 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. For more information, visit www.jessicastrawser.com or find her on Facebook and Instagram @jessicastrawserauthor.

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing