Avery takes a moment to consider Melanie’s proposal. The idea isn’t a bad one really; it’s actually something she had been tossing back and forth in her own mind for quite some time.
"You really think I should do it?"
"Max and I don't think you have anything to lose. And I really think you could be happy there. We all want you to be happy, Avery."
Absorbing her words, Avery asks if she can let her know by the end of the day. She wants to make sure she has taken adequate time to decide if this is what she really wants – no, needs to do.
This new idea is so distracting that during her daily workload of patients, Avery is admittedly surprised when she reaches the end of the day without severely harming anyone.
When at last Avery finds Max and Melanie standing by the water dispenser at the end of the shift, she tugs Melanie into her arms before saying, "How soon can I move?"
Continue Reading Coming Alive
Stolen Nights
The Stolen Series Book One
By: RENEE HARLESS
Prologue
The pounding increases behind my eyes as I watch my soon to be ex-husband smile wickedly across from me. We’ve been going through these proceedings for about six weeks, a constant back and forth that has increased my number of migraines exponentially. We make it one step forward and then two steps back.
My ex, Dan, is contesting everything. Nothing is making him happy.
Silently inside the maelstrom of my mind I keep asking, “What does he want?”
But, I know what he wants. What his endgame is. He wants everything of mine but without me. He wants an upgrade. An upgrade that comes in the form of my best friend.
She’s five years younger than us at the ripe old age of twenty-five. I met her at the gym I frequented when she became a personal trainer. She and I built a great friendship and spent many evenings sitting at my home drinking wine and watching reality television. I had no idea that I wasn’t the only one she was giving special attention to. Apparently riding my husband’s cock was part of her personal training skills as well.
I just couldn’t have a normal divorce. Nope. I had to have a whammy of a love tryst thrown in my path as well and it wasn’t until I was handed the divorce papers that I learned my friend was a total of eight weeks pregnant with my husband’s baby.
I rub my temples as another stack of papers is tossed in front of me which my lawyer angrily grasps.
We’ve been in this particular meeting for six hours already. Six fucking hours of my life gone. Poof! My ex is already getting the 3500-square foot house, which I put the down payment on, his vehicle, which I cosigned, and our dog. He didn’t even put up a fight for our kids, which really set me off after our first meeting. He plans on having a new perfect family with Sky once she settles into my old home.
Right now he’s fighting for the restored 1964 Mustang that was passed down to me by my grandfather. He knows that it cost a pretty penny and he has the bargaining chip to get what he wants. Every time I shoot him down, he threatens to take the kids.
Dan is an investment banker with a steady job. He also has a gambling problem that I am certain Sky has yet to discover. He knows that he can pull his weight around, which is why we’re using a mediator instead of a judge. My kids would be taken from me faster than Superman stopping a bullet if I used a judge.
Me? I’m just a baker that gets jobs based on online orders and word of mouth. It’s not steady or a typical nine to five job, but I do well for myself, and I’m lucky that I have a trust left from my mother’s parents to fall back on in an emergency. A trust that includes the car my ex is trying to get his grubby hands on.
Thankfully for me, I have one of the best divorce lawyers working on my team. She also happens to be my college roommate and about the only good thing working in my favor at the moment.
From her poised position at the head of the table Sara, my lawyer, boasts, “You can’t ask for a vehicle that is part of my client’s trust left by a family member. Nor can you continue to threaten my client by appealing to withdraw your signing over of the children. That paperwork has already been filed and approved by the judge. At this point, Mr. Sanderson, I suggest that you and your girlfriend take what has been graciously gifted to you and finalize this divorce. My client has given you practically everything you have requested and has asked for nothing in return but to get these proceedings over with. You continue to dawdle with the paperwork, and frankly, it’s starting to irritate me. If you don’t finalize these today, then I am going to have my client begin to request her own share of your property.”
Dan shifts in his chair while his own lawyer tugs at the tie around his neck. He knows if I begin to fight, the house will be the first hurdle because it was essentially my office and I claimed the addition as such on our taxes. I’m still thankful that Sara had the expertise to take care of the child custody situation first when the proceedings began.
“Fine,” Dan huffs as he leans over the table, Sky’s poised hand resting on his forearm. The forearms I used to admire when he would help me roll out dough when we first got married. I loved the way they would flex as he pushed the rolling pin outward. Now as I stare at them, I want to throw up in my mouth a little.
Sara nudges my shoulder as she hands me a stack of papers to sign. As I finish each one, she places them in a manila folder then hands the pile to the mediator to make copies.
“These will be filed today, and you’ll receive your copies in the mail in the next week or so. We will send your copies to your lawyer, Mrs. Sanderson,” the mediator explains as he stands from the table. The look on his face shows how grateful he is that the meeting has adjourned.
I hang back in the room with Sara as Dan and Sky file out behind his lawyer without a backward glance. He got everything he wanted and more. The big house, the expensive car, the young pregnant wife – all of the things he once wanted with me.
The truth doesn’t hurt as much as the intensifying burn knowing that at the age of thirty, I’m now divorced with two young children to take care of.
Turning toward Sara, I wince at the forceful gaze in her eyes instead of sympathy.
Her attitude toward me is like a Queen addressing her subjects. Strong, powerful, confident. “We need to discuss two other issues at hand now that the divorce is finalized.”
A headache that was already forming turns itself into full blast at her words. We had been in talks about my biological father’s home for the last couple of weeks, since his death. I didn’t know him well, but he left me his home in his will, and it was his only possession. It is the perfect solution for me since I now have nowhere to live and the kids and I are tired of staying in an extended-stay hotel. We want a home.
“Okay. What’s up?”
“Do you want the good news or bad news first?”
“Bad?” I ask hesitantly, because really, how much worse can my day get?
“So, while I’ve been working with a real estate lawyer to get the house switched to your name, we’ve come across an issue with the property.”
The fear surges up inside me and I have to force myself to push it down. I blink at Sara in bewilderment and then ask, “What kind of issue?”
“There is a lien on the house due to a home equity loan used to pay off debt. It had been taken out with a bank outside of our area, that’s why it wasn’t listed on the paperwork. Being that the house was willed to you, it looks like you now have the burden of the lien unless you want the bank to take it over. And unfortunately, I think they may fight you on it. It’s a good piece of property in a growing neighborhood, and I think you may be able to work with the amount.”
“How much?”
She squirms in her seat as she flips through some paperwork. “It’s, uh, significant. Almost as much as the house is worth.”
“What am I going to do, Sara? I just gave Dan almost everything I have,” I groan as stars dance behind my eyes. My clothes suddenly feel too tight, too constrictive.
I need air.
She reaches out and grasps my hand on the table; her friendly hold is my lifeline.
“You’re going to use some of the trust that you have left to pay it off. That will still leave you some money in the bank for a rainy day. You’re going to try to sell the car if you want to put even more in your pocket, but I don’t think that’s necessary. And you’re going to continue baking to your heart’s content because you’re amazing at what you do and your business is starting to take off.”
Her words fuel me, and I feel the strength in each sentence. She’s right. I’m not through. I’m not six feet in the ground yet. I’ve made it this far and I can do the rest on my own.
I smile over at her in thanks for the confidence she has in me and then she asks if I want to hear the good news.
“I’ll take anything right about now.”
“Well, I just need your signature here,” she says, shuffling a piece a paper over to me. “Then I can file this for you with the social security administration. You will then have the pleasure of returning your last name to Knight.”
“That’s the best news I’ve had in weeks.”
Continue Reading Stolen Nights
More Books by Renee Harless
The Welcome to Carson
Coming Alive
Coming Together
Coming Consumed
Coming Altered
Coming Innocent
Coming Unraveled
Coming Unplugged
Coming Home
The Stolen Series
Stolen Nights
Stolen Kisses
Stolen Hearts
Standalones
Screw You
Between the Lines
The Scene Stealer
Home in Carson
Behind the Lens (coming soon)
The Stone Trilogy
Make Me Yours
Make You Mine
Make Us More
Acknowledgements
This book took me on a journey – a very long and trying journey where the characters talked to me constantly for years until I had the chance to write them. I want to thank each and every beta reader that took the time to help me narrow down the details and give Devyn and Larsen the story they deserve.
Battling pain and brokenness is different for everyone and I hope that by reading this story you can get a glimpse of how each character fought their own battles, ultimately learning that by loving themselves they could learn to love another. We all have scars, some visible, some buried deep within our souls. Some of us fight every day to gather enough strength to battle another day, others of us hide the pain that we bear.
Remember that you’re beautiful and worthy of love.
So much thanks to Stephanie, Crystal, Sally, Renee, Amanda, Brittney, Harloe, Virginia, and Desiree; I couldn’t have done this without you.
"scene stealer." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2019.
Web. 12 June 2019.
The Scene Stealer: A Hollywood Romance Page 22