Alyssa picked up her fork and swirled it in her pasta, her appetite gone.
“I keep thinking about my mother. She was horrible to me the whole time I took care of her. Cranky. Demanding. Ungrateful. And I kept telling myself it was because she was sick. She had so much pain. She was only fifty-seven. She wasn’t ready to die. And I put up with it because I’d always put up with it. And it was my job to help her with her transition, right?”
Reeve reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “You did an amazing job with her, honey. So loving. You were a much better daughter than she ever deserved. I hope you know that.”
Alyssa couldn’t stop a wry smile.
“That’s the thing. When she died, I remembered that she was always horrible to me. It was always about my father and Adam with her. Always about my father’s career as a judge. Always about her little cocktail parties and schmoozing with people who could help his career. And then he died when we were teenagers, and it became all about Adam. Adam’s football games and basketball games. Adam’s car, Adam’s grades. What Adam wanted for dinner or dessert. But I got good grades. I got scholarships. I went to good schools. I was a nice person. But nothing was ever about me unless it was time to talk about whose room wasn’t neat enough, or whose skin wasn’t light enough or whose hair wasn’t straight enough.”
Reeve grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
Alyssa tried for another wry smile, but she just couldn’t generate the energy. It hurt too much. “And then you and I started hanging out, and she was horrible to you because, I don’t know, your family wasn’t rich enough. Then you had the nerve to start dating Adam and her head damn near exploded off her shoulders. And when Adam got killed overseas, she really had a reason to be miserable to everyone, didn’t she?”
“Yep,” Reeve said, not bothering to hide her bitterness.
“I don’t know. Maybe we both should’ve been born with penises.” Alyssa took a deep breath and geared up to express the painful idea for the first time in her life. “Or maybe my mother was just a horrible person.”
“Watch it,” Reeve said with a glimmer of amusement. “You’re coming dangerously close to speaking ill of the dead.”
“Yeah. And maybe the dead was a horrible person. Maybe I gave my best to a horrible person who made me feel bad about myself every day of my life.” Alyssa blinked back the burning tears, sheer stubbornness requiring that she not shed another one for her mother. When had her mother ever shed a tear over her? When had she ever spent one moment wondering about her forgotten daughter’s needs? “Maybe I gave up my career and came back here and let myself go for a horrible person.” She swept a hand down her body, encompassing her bushy and overgrown hair, which she’d swept back in her perma-ponytail, her overgrown unibrow and her weight loss, which was highlighted by her baggy server’s uniform of a white oxford and black dress pants. “Maybe I hoped, right up to the very last second, that the horrible person would say one nice thing to me before she died. Maybe I hoped that a horrible person would, I don’t know, hug me or pat my face or squeeze my hand.” She shook her head, disgusted with herself. “So I guess that means that my mother was a horrible person, but I’m a stupid person.”
“Needing your mother doesn’t make you stupid, honey,” Reeve said with a quick swipe of her eyes. “It just makes you human.”
“Maybe it makes me a stupid human.”
“Stop saying that,” Reeve said. They both laughed, dissipating some of the gloom that had settled over the table. “I’m not going to sit here and let you bash yourself.”
“Isn’t it sad, though?” Alyssa said as their laughter died off. “My mother spent most of her life being horrible, and now she’s dead. Mrs. Harper was pretty much her only friend. Church was her only activity once she retired. Seems like a big waste of a life to me.”
“Agreed. So what are you going to do with yourself now to make sure you don’t repeat her pattern? Your mom’s been dead for a few months, so you’ve had a little time to regroup. You can sell the house, grab the life insurance money and your inheritance and go wherever you want to go to do whatever you want to do. Do you want to teach? Publish?”
“Actually, I had another idea. Don’t laugh. I’m making a bucket list.” She gestured to her legal pad, which she’d put on the table before she grabbed her dinner. The top page contained only one bucket-able item thus far. With her inheritance now in hand, no responsibilities, no career and unlimited free time, at least until the money ran out, she’d had vague ideas about fulfilling a few of her lifelong dreams. Like, say, scuba diving off the Australian coast, visiting Machu Picchu and sky diving. But now that the moment had come to make her wishes tangible and therefore official by writing them down, she’d discovered that her innate wallflower tendencies only allowed her to commit to one item. “I want to write fiction. I’ve already written a contemporary romance novel, as a matter of fact. When my mother was sick and I spent so much time sitting around with nothing else to do. I’ve queried a bunch of agents, so we’ll see.”
Reeve’s face lit up. “That sounds amazing. That’s perfect for you!”
“From your lips to God’s ears–oh, hi, Raymond. How are you?”
They looked around in time to see Raymond Martin’s final approach to their table. As always, the fair-skinned silver fox looked quite handsome in his Brooks Brothers-esque suit.
“Hello, ladies,” he said, distributing kisses on both sides of the table. “I’m on my way out, but I just wanted to stop by and say hi.”
“Can’t you stay for a quick drink?” Alyssa asked. If recent history was any guide, Reeve would also leave soon, compelled by her complete inability to spend more than two hours away from Edward these days. And the last thing that Alyssa wanted was to go home at—she took a quick peek at her watch—eight o’clock to spend a full night wandering around that lonely house by herself.
“I wish I could, but Fisher will be looking for me. He said something about making chili tonight. That’s going to be a nightmare. You mark my words. He never follows a recipe from beginning to end. He likes to get fancy and doctor things up. He’ll probably put something like raisins or almonds in it,” he concluded darkly. “I just wanted a quick word with you about listing your house, Alyssa.”
Sure enough, Reeve took this as her cue to hop up and grab her purse. “Time for me to go, too, kids.”
“Go on home to your man.” Alyssa sighed, resigned. “I guess I’m lucky you came out at all.”
“You are indeed.” Reeve waved goodbye. “See you soon, Lyss. Bye, Raymond.”
“Bye, Reeve,” they said.
“I really do wish I could stay. I feel like I need an additional libation after the meeting I just had,” Raymond said in a dire undertone, dropping into the seat Reeve had just vacated. “You know how I always complain about my dog Bobsy being a nightmare? Well, let me tell you. I’ll take a Jack Russell terrier who knows how to open drawers with his paw any day over another meeting with Isaiah Harper. He’s a nightmare.”
“Oh yeah?” Alyssa’s ears perked up at the Isaiah bashing, although she felt she did an admirable job with her nonchalant act. “What happened?”
“Well, I just showed him most of the houses for sale in the area and he didn’t like any of them,” he said, hunkering over the table and keeping his voice down. “He’s full of questions about asbestos and geothermal energy and solar panels and architectural design and you name it. I know my stuff, but I feel like I need to take a Percocet and lie down after that.”
“So does he want to see any of the houses?” Alyssa asked, unwillingly intrigued.
“Yeah, actually. He asked about your house.”
“Oh, he did, did he?” Alyssa asked, her mood soured by the way this information made her heart rate speed up as much as by the fact that the devil’s brother seemed determined to run roughshod over her feelings. “Well, too bad it’s not on the market yet. And I don’t think it’s the right house for him, anyway.”
&n
bsp; Raymond’s lower jaw hit the table. “Not the right house for him? It’s the right house for any multimillionaire who’s willing to make a cash offer, isn’t it? We can make it the right house, as far as I’m concerned. He said he passes it all the time. Seems to like it.”
“You and I both know that the efforts of us mere mortals will never make him happy. The best thing would probably be if he built his own damn house.”
“Truer words were never—uh-oh. Let’s bookmark this discussion for later,” Raymond said, distracted by his buzzing phone. He pulled it out of his back pocket and frowned down at it. “Oh, Lord. Fisher wants me to come home. Bobsy’s driving him crazy making a racket. He discovered that he can hop up on the stool and play the piano. He does it whenever he gets bored. He seems to be partial to the black keys, but I can’t prove it. He can also use his paw to lift the cover to the keys when Fisher tries to shut him up. It’s a nightmare. Let’s plan on touching base next week. We need to talk about staging the house.”
“You got it.”
He walked off, leaving her alone with her cold pasta. Sighing, she started to get up and make a quick run for the microwave back in the kitchen.
Until she noticed the shadow looming over her table.
She looked up, her heart jackhammering with a disconcerting combination of dread and anticipation, to discover a stony-faced Isaiah watching her with a cryptic gleam in his dark eyes.
Alyssa froze and mentally prepared herself for Round 3 as she waited to see what he wanted…
If you enjoyed this excerpt, buy your copy of ALL OF ME now!
Also by Ann Christopher
JOURNEY’S END Small-Town Contemporary Romance Series
“Book” 1: A JOURNEY’S END Novella
Book 2: LET’S DO IT
Book 3: ON FIRE
“Book” 4: LET’S STAY TOGETHER Novella
Book 5: UNFORGETTABLE
Book 6: ALL OF ME
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Billionaires of Journey’s End Contemporary Romance Series
Book 1: NO ORDINARY LOVE
Book 2: BEYOND ORDINARY LOVE
Book 3: EVERYTHING I HOPED FOR
Book 4: EVERYTHING I NEED
Click here for more titles in this series!
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DEADLY Romantic Suspense Series
Book 1: DEADLY PURSUIT
Book 2: DEADLY DESIRES
Book 3: DEADLY SECRETS
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IT’S COMPLICATED Contemporary Romance Series
TROUBLE
RISK
JUST ABOUT SEX
SWEETER THAN REVENGE
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The Davies Family Contemporary Romance Series
Book 1: SINFUL SEDUCTION
Book 2: SINFUL TEMPTATION
Book 3: SINFUL ATTRACTION
Book 4: SINFUL PARADISE
* * *
The Warner Family Contemporary Romance Series
Book 1: TENDER SECRETS
Book 2: ROAD TO SEDUCTION
Book 3: CAMPAIGN FOR SEDUCTION
Book 4: REDEMPTION’S KISS
Book 5: REDEMPTION’S TOUCH
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Boxed Sets
DEADLY Series
IT’S COMPLICATED
SWEET LOVE
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Single Titles
CASE FOR SEDUCTION
THE SURGEON’S SECRET BABY
SEDUCED ON THE RED CARPET
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Novellas
TAILS OF LOVE
GIFT OF LOVE
To Richard
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Su at Earthly Charms for the lovely cover and Journey’s End map, Martha Trachtenberg, whose hilariously snarky running commentary takes almost all of the hard work out of the time I spend editing manuscripts, and to my writer friends, Caroline Linden and Eve Silver, whose epic brainstorming session with me in Florida raised the bar pretty high in terms of plotting my future books.
© Copyright 2017 by Sally Young Moore
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is a work of fiction. All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone, living or dead, bearing the same name or names. All incidents are pure invention from the author’s imagination. All names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information or retrieval system, is forbidden without the prior written permission of both publisher and Author copyright owner of this book.
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For information, contact:
Blue Iris Press LLC
7350 Montgomery Road #36476
Cincinnati, OH 45236
www.BlueIrisPress.com
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ISBN-13: 978-0-9982072-2-3
* * *
Excerpt from All of Me © 2019 by Sally Young Moore
About the Author
A recovering lawyer, Ann Christopher has been published since 2006 and writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense.
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When she’s not writing, Ann likes to do the following, in no particular order: read; cook; eat; hang out at Target looking for new stuff she doesn’t need; play with her 2 rescue dogs and 2 rescue cats; and travel the world with her family. She lives in Ohio with her husband and over-scheduled teenagers.
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Unforgettable Page 29