Cara Matthews first appears in A Taste of Honey. We don't exactly see her, but we hear the other characters talk about her--not flatteringly. Cara is Seth's cheating, drug-addicted ex, at this point. She sees a little more action in Touch of a Vanished Hand, but that does nothing to endear her to us either:
Seth tossed his empty beer can into the bushes, lay back on the picnic table and stared up at the sky. It wasn’t enough. One six pack, split between the two of them, had done nothing to dull the craving. “Shit. That was pitiful. Couldn’t you have gotten more? Or maybe something stronger?”
Cara’s face appeared above him, surrounded by stars. She waved a vial in his face and smiled. “I told you, you could always add some of this to it.”
Seth batted the vial away and sat up. “And I told YOU. No drugs. Why the fuck don’t you get this? I’m trying to stay off that shit.”
“Right,” Cara drawled, as she slipped the vial back into her pocket. “Like booze and pot aren’t drugs now? You’re such a poser, Seth. Get over yourself, huh?”
“They’re not,” Seth insisted. At least, well, he supposed they were, at that. But it wasn’t the same. And Cara damn well ought to know it. He could handle getting drunk, or lighting up now and then. It was the other stuff that was ruining his life. Stuff he hadn’t even wanted to take. Stuff he didn’t dare tell anyone he’d been given, either--other than Cara. And she was the only person he knew who had an even bigger problem than he did.
She gets one more (very short) mention in that book, and then disappears until book seven (Visions Before Midnight) when she doubles down on her trouble-making really makes up for her previous absence and causes all sorts of difficulties for several of the main characters. People die--or almost die--due to her desire for revenge. But by the end of that book she's somehow managed to redeem herself.
Toward the end of the book, she and Seth achieved closure in what I thought would be their last scene together. There was no way they were getting back together. They had too much history and he was madly in love with someone else. So I figured it was time to close the door on that relationship. They both needed to move on, to get a life and (in Cara's case) to disappear.
Oh, how wrong I was!
See, there were several villains at work in Visions Before Midnight. And I let one of them get away with murder. I thought I was wrapping up a loose thread that had stretched all the way back to book one. I thought my villain, finding himself on the loose (and completely unsupervised--my bad!) would take the opportunity to go away. But what I SHOULD have foreseen was that OF COURSE he'd find Cara, instead.
In hindsight, it was. So. Freaking. Obvious.
He finds her. He abducts her. The story ends on a ridiculous cliff-hanger that I NEVER saw coming. And next thing I know, I was stuck writing her as the under-age heroine of book eight (Dreams Under the Hill).
Turns out Cara had had a much harder life overall and a much rougher HOME LIFE than anyone in Oberon had ever appreciated. Turns out, she was an AMAZING heroine. Loyal, brave, determined, resourceful, wounded--Oy! So wounded!--and resilient.
Which was a damned good thing because she doesn't get a true HEA in book eight--due in part to her age, because, c'mon! Which meant she had to return AGAIN in book nine (And Shadows Have Their Ending). Which in turn meant she deals with People Trying to Kill Her repeatedly for three consecutive books!
She does, however, get my absolutely FAVORITE kiss scene at the end of book nine (which wasn't even her book!) and, after that, I certainly thought her HEA was implied.
Wouldn't you think so?
"...Here.” He pointed to his chest. “Put your hand right there and tell me if you feel my heart beating.”
She did as he asked. Her own heart was racing, but his was beating pretty hard, too. She nodded. “Yes.”
“Well, it’s just ‘cause you’re here that it does that. I swear to God, when you’re not around my whole chest feels empty.”
She knew he didn’t mean it––not literally, anyway. But, it was still just about the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. It was the kind of thing she used to wish Seth would say, not that he ever would. Her breath came out on a shaky little sigh. “Oh. th-that was really nice.”
He smiled softly. “So, you never told me. Did you like your flowers?”
Cara felt herself stiffen. “F-flowers? Wh-what flowers?”
“And the balloons? For your birthday?”
“Th-those were from you?”
He nodded. “Didn’t Seth tell you? I had a card too, but then he answered the door and I thought you were with him so– I sent you some for your graduation, too, you know. And, then, when you were in the hospital I–” He broke off. “Cara? Sweetie, what’s wrong?”
She was shaking from head to toe, too frightened to hope he was telling the truth. She’d wanted them to be from him. She’d hoped they might be. But, “Oh, please, you’re not making this up are you? Because it would really, really...hurt...if you were just saying stuff.”
“I’m not,” he answered quickly. “I swear I’m not. I swear I mean every word I say.” He stared at her for a moment, as though he were trying to make up his mind, trying to decide what to do next. And then he kissed her, leaning across the gap that separated them, touching her with nothing but his lips. And it was the softest, sweetest kiss she’d ever imagined.
When she was a little girl she’d dreamed of being kissed like this, then she’d grown up and learned that every kiss was different. Some were nice and some were not and most were somewhere in between. She’d been kissed by a lot of different guys, in a lot of different ways. Even Liam had kissed her before. But, not like this. Never like this.
When it ended he put his hands on her shoulders and eased her close. He held her gently against his chest––no pressure, no force. She rubbed her cheek against the front of his shirt and wished she could melt right into him. It didn’t even matter that it was a uniform shirt, that he was a cop––and she’d always gotten along so well with them––because it was also Liam. Her Liam. And, it really didn’t matter what else he was.
HOWEVER, as I said, there were still readers who felt Cara needed MORE (newsflash: Cara will ALWAYS need more!) but I do like to keep my readers happy, so I penned a short sequel novella to FINALLY put Cara and her hero to bed. Literally. That's Sea Change, by the way, and it will return late next year.
This Halloween story? Is DEFINITELY not her happy ending. Not in any sense of the word, other than the fact that she's not dead yet.
Hungry Heart is Cara's first-person depiction of some of the events that take place in book seven. It details what she did and why she did it. And, once again for anyone who's still not clear: It. Is. NOT. A Romance. But it's spooky and suspenseful, it was a lot of fun to write (there's a cursed, semi-sentient journal, ffs!) and it ends just as more bad things are about to happen...making it perfect for a Halloween read!
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