“Didn’t you get my message? I said I’d stop by around six.”
Kassie couldn’t catch his answer; he was babbling again. She let go of Annie and stepped next to Chris, coming face-to-face with a lovely, leggy, chesty woman, wearing a body-hugging jumpsuit similar to the outfit Mimi wore the week before in Paris. Her long blonde curly hair was to die for.
Chris’s face drooped. “Um. Kassie, this is my friend Lexi. Lexi, this is Kassie, my fiancée. Oh, excuse me, and her friends Annie and Vicki. And you’ve met Amelia. Her mother, Teresa.”
Kassie shook Lexi’s hand, urging Bad Kassie to stifle what she was really thinking.
“Now that we’ve been sufficiently branded by Chris, why don’t we go into the family room where there’s space for everyone?” Kassie suggested. “I think things are getting back to normal . . . in there, at least.”
As she turned to head that way, a door slammed upstairs. Everyone that was supposed to be in the house walked toward the family room. They looked at one another.
“Just the wind,” Kassie said, suspecting her mother’s spirit wouldn’t let the events of that day conclude without making her presence felt.
Kassie offered Lexi wine, though she figured she’d refuse it. Chris left the room briefly, returning with a scotch. It looked like a double. Amelia got comfortable in Mike’s Pleasure Chair. The rest of the crew pulled up a seat, as if they were settling in for a feature-length movie. Maybe a thriller? A mystery? A love story? All they needed was popcorn to complete the scene.
No one spoke. Most eyes were on Lexi. Kassie eyed Chris, half of her expecting him to jumpstart the conversation, the other half knowing he would leave it to her. So she started by asking what every woman asks a pregnant woman when they first meet.
“When are you due?”
“January.”
Kassie calculated in her head. She knew the formula by heart. She looked at Chris, who stared into his scotch as if he wished it could swallow him up instead of the other way around.
“I know what you’re all thinking. That I’m here to lay claim to Chris. Far from it.” Lovely, lusty Lexi waved her hand, as if to brush away the obvious. “This . . . was an accident. I just wanted to tell Chris in person, not over the phone. I’m a traditionalist, I guess. And a big girl. I’m prepared to do this alone. No strings attached.”
Annie leaned into Chris and in a stage whisper said, “Looks like you got caught with your pants down.” He grimaced and bowed his head again. As he did, Kassie noticed his cheeks flushed. Embarrassment or fear? Didn’t matter. She knew only she could ease what ailed him. What happened next would be up to her.
Kassie got up and walked around the family room, clinging to the gondola and Eiffel Tower charms hanging from her necklace. Adopting one of Mike’s habits, she twisted the nail ring until her mother’s voice in her head subsided.
She stopped in front of Chris and lifted his chin. “Have I told you today how much I love you?” She kissed him sweetly and then turned her attention to the woman who carried her fiancé’s child.
Kassie pulled a yellow rose out of the bouquet on the coffee table, wrapped a tissue around the stem, and handed it to Lexi. “Welcome to the family.”
Amelia clapped. A roar went up. Teresa blessed herself. Vicki and Amelia high-fived. Annie rolled her eyes as if to say, “Here we go again.”
Chris swiped his forehead with the back of his hand and emitted a quiet “Phew.”
Candles flickered. One blew out completely.
Kassie embraced Lexi and the future. “Just call me Stepmom.”
What’s Not True Playlist
On Spotify.com
https://spoti.fi/37ZKBJb
Access songs depicting the story on the What’s Not True Playlist on Spotify.com, which is free*!
La vie en rose, Louis Armstrong
I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Marvin Gaye
Mia & Sebastian’s Theme, Justin Hurwitz
Don’t Stop Believin’, Journey
Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe, Barry White
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Paul Simon
West Side Story: Act 1: Something’s Coming, Leonard Bernstein
Your Cheating Heart, Fats Domino
All of Me, John Legend
It’s All In The Game, Nat King Cole
I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston
We Can Work It Out, The Beatles
*Best browsers for Spotify’s Web Player are Google Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.
Book Club Discussion Guide
1. When the story opens, Kassie and Chris unite after a year apart. Should Kassie have gone to Paris with Chris, or should they have stayed in Venice?
2. At that point, how honest should Chris have been with her about how he’d spent that year?
3. Has Kassie really replaced her motherhood obsession with a stepmother obsession?
4. Kassie assumed Chris would support her Paris assignment. Discuss how she handled it versus how she could have approached it.
5. Mike died thinking Chris was his son. Was that a good or bad thing?
6. Kassie waited until dinner with Annie before she divulged what she knew about Karen and Charlie. Is she a coward? Would you have handled it differently?
7. Discuss the role ambition played in the story from Kassie’s and Chris’s differing viewpoints.
8. Even at middle age, Kassie has a jealous streak. Does that ever go away as we age?
9. Did the “forgiveness” scene between Kassie and Mike in the hospital provide sufficient closure?
10. Do you think the stipend Mike left for Karen in his will was enough? Or maybe too much?
11. Would you ever shred Red Sox tickets?
12. What do you think the future holds for Kassie and Chris?
13. Was Kassie sincere when she welcomed Lexi into the family?
Acknowledgments
Conventional wisdom often labels authors as introverts. I, for one, can attest to that moniker. When I write, it’s me and my cast of characters on a journey, having our own private conversations. However, after the writing is done, I put aside some of my introverted ways, because, after all, publishing is a team sport.
And the team starts with readers.
When the early readers of What’s Not Said asked “What happens next?”, I was stunned. I’d accomplished my goal of writing a story I’d carried around in my head for a decade. Could there really be more? But, of course, there was!
And thus, What’s Not True was born. Fortunately, in the process of creating this second book in the series, I was able to rely on an exceptionally skilled team that stretches across the country.
“Best friends forever” doesn’t begin to describe my gratitude to Ayse McCarthy, Lyn Englehartson, and Vicki Crumpacker. What’s Not True would have never happened without your encouragement and your willingness to invest your valuable personal time reading and critiquing my drafts.
Let it be said, there’s no better publishing team than the professionals at She Writes Press.
I am deeply indebted to all of you—Brooke Warner, Shannon Green, Krissa Lagos, and Mimi Bark—who believed in me, agreeing to go through all of this all over again. As always, I depended on your expert advice, creativity, and knowledge of the industry, especially as its landscape continues to change.
Moreover, it’s community that motivates me to rise each day, especially during the pandemic, to tackle all things I call “author-y stuff.” The vast She Writes Press community of international authors is unparalleled as a writing resource and source of friendship and kindness.
I am beholden especially to Eileen Sanchez and Meryl Ain, who adopted me early on and brought me into the fold. You opened doors and my eyes to opportunities I, as an introvert, would’ve never found or ventured into on my own. Thank you for listening and for your patience and advice, even during an occasional late-night meltdown.
During 2020 as I launched What’s Not Said, my publicity and market
ing team guided me through the unprecedented challenges of launching a book during a global pandemic. I’m excited to have these professionals join me again as we roll out What’s Not True: Jim Alkon and the entire Meryl Moss Media and BookTrib.com team, Christopher Locke and the industry experts at the Independent Book Publishers Association, digital gurus Suzy Leopold and Lauren Carr, and all the authors, bloggers, and bookstagrammers who read and boost my books.
Suffice it to say, the pandemic took a shocking and immediate toll on brick and mortar bookstores, both major chains and independent bookstores. I owe much of my sanity to Pia Ledina, owner of Turning the Page, a most charming independent bookseller in Monroe, CT, who not only promotes my books, but also provides invaluable insight into the industry from an insider’s perspective. Essential worker? You bet!
To my family—William; Lindsay, Allen, and Cecilia; and Jeanne and Ed—thank you for not asking me to explain what I mean by “I’m doing author-y stuff,” and for always giving me the time to do whatever it is I do.
All in all, my team starts and ends with you, dear readers. No matter how you’ve managed to get your hands on my books, please know how grateful I am that you choose to spend your precious time with my quirky and flawed characters in the world I created for them. To be sure, I do all this author-y stuff for you.
With What’s Not Said and What’s Not True in the can, is a three-peat in the offing? What can I say? Yes, indeed, it’s true.
About the Author
© Lifetouch, Seattle, WA
Valerie Taylor was born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. She earned a BS in marketing and an MBA from Sacred Heart University, as well as a graduate certificate in health care administration from Simmons University (formerly Simmons College). She had a thirty-year career in the financial services industry as a marketer and writer. After her divorce, she spread her wings and relocated her career to Boston and then to Seattle. When she retired, she resettled in her home state to be near her two grown children and granddaughter. She’s a member of the Westport Writers’ Workshop, the Independent Book Publishers Association, and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She’s a published book reviewer with BookTrib.com. She enjoys practicing tai chi and being an expert sports spectator. What’s Not True is the sequel to What’s Not Said, published September 2020 (She Writes Press). The third book in the series is in the works.
WWW.VALERIETAYLORAUTHOR.COM
valerietaylorauthor @valerieemtaylor ValerieETaylor
SELECTED TITLES FROM SHE WRITES PRESS
She Writes Press is an independent publishing company founded to serve women writers everywhere. Visit us at www.shewritespress.com.
What’s Not Said by Valerie Taylor. $16.95, 978-1-63152-745-6
When a middle-aged woman’s husband is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, their secret lives collide head-on, revealing a tangled web of sex, lies, and DNA and forcing her to decide whose life to save—her husband’s or her own.
The Lockhart Women by Mary Camarillo. $16.95, 978-1-64742-100-7
After Brenda Lockhart’s husband announces he’s leaving her for an older, less attractive woman, she—devastated and lonely—becomes addicted to the media frenzy surrounding the murder of Nicole Brown, which took place the same night her husband dropped his bombshell. In the ensuing months, her whole family falls apart—but ultimately comes together again in unexpected ways.
Play for Me by Céline Keating. $16.95, 978-1-63152-972-6
Middle-aged Lily impulsively joins a touring folk-rock band, leaving her job and marriage behind in an attempt to find a second chance at life, passion, and art.
Again and Again by Ellen Bravo. $16.95, 978-1-63152-939-9
When the man who raped her roommate in college becomes a Senate candidate, women’s rights leader Deborah Borenstein must make a choice—one that could determine control of the Senate, the course of a friendship, and the fate of a marriage.
Shelter Us by Laura Diamond. $16.95, 978-1-63152-970-2
Lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mom Sarah Shaw is still struggling to find a steady happiness after the death of her infant daughter when she meets a young homeless mother and toddler she can’t get out of her mind—and becomes determined to rescue them.
Center Ring by Nicole Waggoner. $17.95, 978-1-63152-034-1
When a startling confession rattles a group of tightly knit women to its core, the friends are left analyzing their own roads not taken and the vastly different choices they’ve made in life and love.
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