A little bit of country. A lot of chaos. And a beautiful reminder of what matters most.

Cheryl was a city girl; her husband Steve was raised in the country. When they bought their country home, she knew she was in for an adventure. What she didn’t expect was that her best life lessons would come from the colorful characters sharing her “little piece of dirt.”

Coffee at the Bridge opens the gates to Cheryl and Steve’s home, introducing you to an unforgettable family of misfits:

• Bandit, the “solar-powered pup” Yorkie who waged war alongside a vacuum cleaner, stole ribs from the garbage, and left an endless trail of unstuffed green frogs in his wake.

• Queenie (aka The Bean), the majestic, patient Heeler who could take down a charging ram but had a soul soft enough to lick away puppy troubles.

• Miss Kitty, feline royalty who rules the ranch on her own terms and insists on eating “dinner” first thing in the morning.

• Oreo, the incredibly loud sheep who stands in a lush, green pasture but baas at the fence because she’s certain the grass is always sweeter on the other side.

Told with Cheryl’s signature self-deprecating wit, snappy comedic timing, and rich storytelling voice, this memoir is a hilarious look at country living. It is also told from the imagined perspective of her four legged friends. But at its heart, it is something much deeper. Begun in the quiet, grieving stillness after the loss of her beloved 24-year-old stepdaughter, Kendra, these stories became Cheryl’s way of holding onto the fleeting, precious fragments of life.

Coffee at the Bridge is a warm, deeply comforting embrace of a book. It is a celebration of the messy “before the after” and a beautiful promise that we will meet our dearest friends at the bridge again someday—with a warm cup of coffee waiting.