As some of you lovely readers are aware, many of the characters in my books are inspired by people in my life. We know Josephine represents the daughter my husband and I lost, Punk is modeled after my best friend from college, Simone’s character mirrors my actual sister, and Stella and Jim are inspired by my parents. I write what I know, I guess.
But the character I want to talk about today is Gauge. Who does he represent in my life?
My husband—Matthew.
I used Matt throughout my books in a lot of ways—won’t get into specifics (wink, wink), but there are some subtle ways. I named Maceo after my husband, Maceo meaning Matthew in Spanish, as my little shout-out to him. Another way is how tight the biker brotherhood is. Matt puts family above everything else, treating his closest friends as family, and I wanted to emulate that with the Mercy Ravens MC.
It was as I was writing about Gauge in book one that I saw him mimicking my husband’s demeanor. He’s levelheaded and focused on others, but can be hard on himself, essentially being his own worst critic. He loves with his whole heart, which sometimes impedes his judgment. Like Gauge, my husband doesn’t see what a catch he is and has never viewed himself above anyone else. He is humble, thankful for what he has, and takes nothing for granted. He finds joy in the small things, preferring simplicity over complexity. Faithful, loyal, trusting—just a gem of a man. And like Gauge, he can be headstrong and think he knows best.
Physically, there are similarities as well. Gauge is six-foot, so is Matt (he’ll try to argue he’s taller). Gauge has vibrant green eyes, which he shares with my husband, along with a broad chest and shoulders and brawny arms that wrap you up in a crushing hug.
Another way to connect my hubby to Gauge’s character was by giving Gauge the legal name Clint Roberts. The last name Roberts was my husband’s grandmother’s maiden name, a woman who he admired dearly. It was my little shout-out to him, letting him know which character I portrayed after him.
How Gauge loves Opal is like how my husband loves me—100% all in, making each day a little more precious than the last.
Gauge and Opal’s instalove romance is something my husband and I can relate to. We met in college in a chemistry class. It was the first day of class and, and like the dork I am, I sat near the front (not exactly the front row since I’m not that big of a kiss-ass, but close enough). I remember feeling the hairs on my neck standing on end during the lecture, like someone was watching me, but I brushed it off as nothing. When I got up to leave, I turned around and came face to face with a handsome stranger with the most vivid green eyes. My heart tripped in my chest, and I made a beeline for the exit.
This was the conversation going on in my love-deprived Gemini brain.
What the hell was that? Did you feel that?
It’s called attraction, genius. He’s hot, like really hot. We should talk to him.
Nu-uh. Don’t even think about it. We’ve sworn off boys—boys bad.
That fine specimen was no boy. That was a MAN. And what? I was only looking. It doesn’t hurt to admire the view, sniff the air, lick his face… Do you think he tastes like coffee or mint gum?
We are so screwed.
At that time, I was six months out of a heartbreaking relationship and uninterested in having a boyfriend. But fate had different plans. Turns out Matt was in nearly all my science classes that semester, and he always sat behind me, whether it was a lecture or lab (found out later he sat behind me to get glimpses of my underwear—LOL). He was so close, yet so far. It was hard to steal peeks at him without whipping my head around. He caught me a time or two, but he would only smile back.
And that smile…swoon-worthy.
Then came the day our chemistry teacher assigned us as partners in lab. You’d think this is where things would take off, but oooooh nooooo, you’d be wrong. Hard WRONG! We were awful partners. Turns out when you put two opinionated people together in a lab where you had to figure out how to run the experiments without a recipe to follow bad things happen.
We fought all the time, disagreed on how to handle everything. I was more of the by-the-book type of brat, and he was a more wing-it-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type of dude. Basically, oil and vinegar, which sucked major hairy balls because he was so damn cute and I was crushing hard.
Needless to say, our instructor separated us—pretty sure our professor was afraid I would launch an Erlenmeyer flask at his head one day if she didn’t. Honestly, I probably would have too.
Sigh. I had to return to ogling him over my shoulder, but I could have sworn he was checking me out too.
A couple of labs later and we come to the concrete experiment/competition. Now, I’m a VERY competitive person by nature. Boardgame nights get kind of cut-throat in my family. Matt is the same. But for this experiment, Matt had the upper hand. He worked with concrete—had for many years. He was talking a big game and how he had this competition in the bag, blah, blah, blah.
Well, he made the mistake of challenging me—ME. Oh, yes, I accepted. And I would make him eat his words.
Turns out my concrete was stronger, harder, all-around better. LOL, I know Matt is screaming right now, “It wasn’t a valid test. She didn’t apply equal pressure when hitting it with a hammer!” Doesn’t matter because bragging rights went to me.
Matt ate some humble pie and asked me to join him for coffee as a way of congratulating me for winning—and here is where things took off. Five months later, he got on one knee and proposed. We’ve been together for over 19 years and going strong. Do we still fight? It’s rare since we know how to communicate effectively with each other, but when we do, the makeup is always so much sweeter.
Before you even ask, the answer is no; I am not Opal—far from it. Opal is too sweet to confuse with me. Like Maceo was for Josephine, Opal is who I imagined fitting for Gauge’s character. I wanted to give Gauge a woman who is precious as a way of making it up to my husband for having to put up with my sassy ass. Opal’s identity will be revealed in a different blog post.
I can’t wait for you to get better acquainted with Gauge, and fall in love with him the way Opal and I have. Here are some images to show you what Gauge looks like in my head, along with the real Gauge in my life. Enjoy!
Model pics courtesy of Pinterest.
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