Last week I enjoyed a one-on-one interview with JAXTON CARTER, the hero from my upcoming release, DUPLICITY, a psychological romantic suspense. This week, I’m happy to meet with his leading lady, CASSANDRA HALL. A nurse with an exceptionally tender heart, Cass is not just a caregiver but a solid shoulder, a trustworthy confidant and a warm hand to hold.
The Character Interview – Cass
Cass originally asked if we could meet somewhere upstate where she said she ‘has a place’, but then she changed her mind suggesting we meet in one of NYC’s five boroughs, her borough of Staten Island. Her house is adorable, cottage-esque with a manicured lawn and one dwarf tree off to the side. The house is a soft yet cheerful blue with white shutters, door and window boxes. The window boxes are filled with vibrantly colored flowers and cascading greenery that make the small house look like a happy place. Alive and inviting.
I make my way up the narrow brick walk, my eye on the shade of the porch by the front door, but Cass had asked me to use the side door instead. The brick path branches off and I follow it as she had requested.
I use the rainbow-shaped knocker to let her know I’ve arrived. Only a moment passes before she opens the door and invites me in. She has a most contagious and genuine smile, and a confident voice that’s both engaging and conversational.
Welcome to my home. Please sit wherever you’d like, here in the kitchen, in the living room…wherever you’d be most comfortable.
She hesitates a second, her eye contact relaxed and friendly, then she turns toward the sudden whistle of a kettle on the stove.
Would you like tea? I have an assortment. Or would you prefer coffee? Or something more refreshing, like lemonade?
I insist I’ll have whatever she’s having, then take a seat at the tiniest little table for two set against the wall in her kitchen. It smells warm and slightly sweet in her home. Like she may have recently baked something with vanilla, but I don’t see cookies anywhere.
She moves naturally yet methodically, with a very feminine energy that seems to say she can just as easily reposition a man’s dislocated shoulder as heal a child’s boo-boo with a kiss and a hug.
I hope you found me without too much trouble. I know the Island can be difficult to navigate sometimes, traffic-wise. City planners didn’t count on the population explosion we’ve seen here over the years.
The tea smells heavenly as she sets it on the table in delicate cups and saucers. It’s at the same time lightly floral and heady, like maybe a lavender bergamot. Tiny finger sandwiches and spreads come next, and once she sets them in the middle of the table, there’s barely room for my notepad. But Cass is so gracious, and she is clearly trying to make me feel comfortable, so I don’t mention the lack of space to her. In fact, I make a note about how she has, somehow, made me want to make her feel comfortable.
I thank her for the tea, saying I found the house easily, and that she didn’t need to go through so much trouble with the tea and assortment of snack sandwiches. She waves her hand in the air like it’s no big deal. At all.
I click my pen and give her a smile. She smiles back, and leans slightly forward with her hands clasped on the table in front her.
Tell me something about yourself.
She sits back. Looks curious for a moment, and I find myself wondering if she’s surprised I asked her about herself during our interview.
I’m a nurse. Years ago, I worked on the geriatric floor. Soon, I supplemented my income with some private nursing jobs so I could pay off my student loans. I enjoyed the one-on-one with my patients and their families so much that I chose to do that full time. My patients primarily require hospice care, so it can be difficult, emotionally, because we know good-byes are coming. But we’ll all be there at some point, right?
I can see a range of emotion meander behind her eyes. She seems wistful, hopeful, sad, and, perhaps, somewhat resigned.
I doubt I’d want to navigate that time all on my own for myself, and so I do what I can to help others move through it. I want to be that friendly face they can count on. Someone constant they can trust during that most unpredictable time in their lives. A stranger, but not. Often, when it’s approaching their time… many patients feel more comfortable expressing their fears to someone other than their family. With family, they put up a brave front, hoping to spare their loved ones the pain of knowing how frightened they are. So… I listen. I’m their ear. In the end, I’m often their voice.
Her sweet smile quivers a bit and I hesitate, unsure if it’s the right time for my first real question. I ask anyway, hoping to get the most difficult one out of the way.
What is your greatest fear?
That I won’t fully grasp the meaning of what my patients tell me in their last moments. That I will somehow flub the message they want me to share with their loved ones. It’s a fear that’s made me consider recording what they say near the end, but… I suppose I’m more fearful that recording them would be a breach of their trust, so I give them my complete attention and just listen. And hope.
Have you told anyone about this fear?
Her smile is back and for the briefest moment, it seems thoroughly amused.
I doubt I’ve said the words, but I believe the people who know me best, my friends who I’ve had since my youth – like David and his wife, Leslie – already know it. And I think they know it well…because they know me well.
Tell me about one person who made a positive difference in your life?
Oh, that’s easy. My dad. After my mom left us, way back when I was just a child, he and I became a team. We talked about ourdreams, our fears. We’d discuss the news, music, pop culture. Everything and nothing. He taught me that listening is as important as talking, likely more so, and that talk mattered most when it came honestly and from the heart.
Where do you go when you need time to yourself?
She laughs, and it’s a full honest sound. Not a giggle or a guffaw, just a soft, amused chuckle that makes me chuckle too. As I do, she plucks a sandwich from the tray – it looks like chicken salad, maybe, with cucumber slices. She noshes and points to the platter inviting me to take one as well. I choose a square with roast beef and lettuce.
I never have time to myself, I mean besides sleeping and showering. I’m almost always working, and when I’m not, I’m with David and his family. They’re like my family, too, and I enjoy being with them. So…well…maybe that’s where I go. To spend time with my extended family. It’s nice being with them and the kids. Like home away from home.
Do you have a secret? If so, why do you feel the need to keep it secret?
I have no secrets. I don’t believe in secrets. I’d rather share all my deepest thoughts in the here and now, than worry on my last breath that I didn’t say something I should have said when I’d had the chance.
She plucks another sandwich from the tray, this one looks like some type of mushroom something. After her first bite, she looks so enamored with the taste that I feel the need to taste one myself. She breathes a laugh when I do taste one, and I can only assume I made the same lustful expression when I bit into mine as she did with hers.
I should say, that while I don’t keep secrets of my own, I do keep the secrets of others. It’s a vow I take as seriously as my vow to heal not harm.
I finish that delectable little bit of mushroom ambrosia, sip my tea then thank her, saying I have just one more question. With a quick nod, she leaves the table, peers into the fridge then comes back with a bowl of the most aromatic and glorious looking strawberries. The sandwich tray is transferred to a small shelf on the wall beside the table and the fruit takes its place. With a strawberry delicately held between her thumb and forefinger she invites me to ask my question. I do, and then take my own strawberry from the bowl, feeling comfortable enough now to do so without an invitation from her.
If you could ask for one thing, what would it be?
That people say what they mean in the moment they think it, tempering it as necessary of course, but still keeping it real and from the heart. I think we’d all have fewer regrets if we were more open and honest with ourselves and others.
She’s been easy to talk to, more forthcoming than Jax, and much less intimidating, though I can see how she’d hold her own with him. I thank her for her time and as I set my notebook aside, she tops off my tea and sets a second little mushroom sandwich on my napkin. With a wink, she takes another for herself before sitting across from me again. She leans in, gives me a warm smile then, unexpectedly, asks her own question.
Now…why don’t you tell me a little something about yourself?
It’s unusual for an interviewee to interview me with questions of their own, though I should note, with Cass, it’s not a complete surprise. What is a surprise is how I suddenly find myself compelled to answer her.
Cass is a pleasure to spend time with. She has a quiet vulnerability that sits right beneath her compassion. But surrounding it is a quiet wisdom powered by patience and supported by experience. Yes. I can see how her gentle nature can severely challenge the stoic and guarded Jaxton Carter. But oh how compelling that challenge might be.
I hope you found Jax and Cass compelling as well, and once your read their story, I’d love to hear your thoughts… about them, their story, and whatever else you might like to share.
Until next time, happy reading!
Coming November 17, 2026
