Publication Date: March 7, 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Brian and Marcie were supposed to live happily ever after–they repeated vows that stated that very sentence. So no one, especially Brian, could have predicted that Marcie would file for divorce. It was difficult to fight the situation, finding that all his possessions were packed and waiting by the door when he came home from work that Thursday evening.
Kate Moore sat in a stupor for a month. Unlike any other breakup she had experienced, this felt more like a drive by shooting, with her ex holding the smoking gun as he sped away. What happened, she asked herself, knee-deep in peanut butter cups and bags of cheese doodles. Oliver was the man she was going to marry…she’d already pinned a secret board of wedding dresses and honeymoon destinations.
1247 Sycamore Street, Apartment A and B respectively, is where Kate and Brian find themselves after their tumultuous breakups. An unlikely relationship would soon ensue between these shattered souls, and ‘what ifs’ would slowly rise to the surface of their attraction for one another. But, what would happen to their budding relationship when their ex’s want a second chance?
Excerpt
Kate ran into her apartment, searching for her ringing phone. She couldn’t remember where she was when she checked her Facebook on it an hour ago. Ah, the bathroom! She dashed to the small room down the hall and grabbed it off the sink. “Hello.”
“Hey girl. I’ve been calling you. Where have you been?”
It was her only friend from the city, Carlee. “I was helping a new guy into the building.”
“Oh, do tell. Is he cute? Tall? Have money? Can he take you off to Paris to paint the Eiffel Tower?”
“Um, he, sort of, I’m not sure, and I’m content to stay in the States, thank you very much.”
“Sure you are. That’s why…never mind. So tell me about him. What’s he like? Single, I hope. You need someone single, Kate. Married men are nothing but trouble. Trust me, I just dumped one.”
“Carlee! You are incorrigible. And I do not need a single man! Technically, he’s not single, anyway. He and his wife are taking a break.”
“Say no more,” Carlee interrupted. “He’s single. He just doesn’t know it yet. ‘Break’ is code for ‘getting divorced.’ That also makes him complicated. Stay away from that one. Does he have kids? You never want to date someone with kids. Trust me.”
“I have no idea if he has kids. And don’t get me started with complicated. I lived with someone who was complicated. Trusted my gut on complicated. I know to run from complicated.”
“You did that profile, didn’t you? I can’t tell you how many guys I meet on Mingle.com. It’s just out there, waiting for you to sink that line into. Trust me.”
“Even the name of the site scares me.”
“Why? That’s all we want to do, right? Mingle? Screw the commitment crap. Guys don’t know how to.”
“That’s the truth.”
“Have you broken the news to your mom yet?”
“Um, no. Why would I do that? I don’t want her to start worrying again. When I moved here, she had two anxiety attacks. Of course, she packed my bags and said this was the only way out of Buckingham County to realize my dream. But it gave her nightmares to think I’d get mugged or murdered. I don’t want her to worry. At least when I was with Oliver, she said she was more at ease knowing someone was taking care of me. Ha! Someone taking care of me, all right.” Kate threw a sock at the wall.
Liliana Rhodes is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Contemporary and Paranormal Romance. Blessed with an overactive imagination, she is always writing and plotting her next stories. She enjoys movies, reading, photography, and listening to music. After growing up on the east coast, Liliana now lives in California with her husband, son, two dogs who are treated better than some people, and two parrots who plan to take over the world.
