His Second Chance Read online

  His Second Chance

  The Sumner Brothers, Book 6

  Lori Ryan

  Kay Manis

  Contents

  Other Books By Lori and Kay

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Epilogue

  About the Authors

  (The Sumner Brothers, Book 6)

  Copyright 2018, Lori Ryan and Kay Manis.

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

  Other Books By Lori and Kay

  To find all of the Sumner Brothers Series, visit Lori and Kay at www.loriandkay.com! We’ve got a lot more coming in this world. Stay tuned at the end of the book for a sneak peak of the next book.

  Lori’s Series can be found at www.loriryanromance.com and include:

  * * *

  The Sutton Capital Series

  The Heroes of Evers, TX Series

  The On the Line Series

  * * *

  Kay’s Series can be found at http://kaymanis.com and include:

  * * *

  The X-Treme Love Series

  The Miracle Short Story Series

  Chapter One

  “Come on, Mommy,” the little boy called over his shoulder, gripping her hand tighter. “Run with us.” He tugged on her arm, urging her on, his smile wide like his father’s, his laughter light and carefree. The scene should have filled her with joy but something was wrong. Somehow his laughter only made her sad.

  Slowly the boy faded away and darkness rolled in, suffocating her.

  Sophie Day sat up from her bed with a start, her breathing labored, heart racing. She blinked several times, taking in the small space. She’d had another dream, a nightmare.

  “Finally decide to wake up, sleepy head?” She glanced up and saw her sister Jackie standing in the doorway.

  “Hey,” Sophie said groggily, trying to shake off the dregs of the dream.

  She and her estranged husband had been walking on the beach, kicking up the water, a small boy between them and another boy on top of Grant’s shoulders. It was the one between them who had been laughing in the dream. They swung him high in the air, his giggles echoing through the evening sky as the sun set behind them.

  Her heart squeezed tight at the image. It was one she’d always thought would come true when she married Grant Sumner. She thought they shared the same passions, the same values…the same dreams. She was wrong.

  Now, separated for almost a year, she was left with nothing but the memories of their time together, promises they both made and broke.

  She tugged at one of the shades to glance out the windows. Beautiful mountains littered the horizon. “We still in Colorado?” Sophie asked.

  “Yep.” Jackie nodded. “I thought the luncheon went really well. The crowd loved your speech.”

  Sophie nodded, but was still struggling to come out of the dream. She would have to give up napping if these dreams didn’t stop. It wasn’t worth the little bit of rest when she was waking up to hopes she would rather forget.

  “Your speech was great,” Jackie prompted again.

  Sophie nodded. They’d come from a luncheon in Denver where she’d given a keynote speech at LILY, Ladies in Leadership for Youth. It was an organization created to spotlight issues faced by girls in their search for equality.

  They were honoring her for the work she and her foundation, Bridging the Gap, had done over the past six months. It had taken a long time to get the non-profit off the ground and she remembered how insightful and supportive Grant had been when she’d shared the idea with them on the first night they met.

  Somedays it felt like a lifetime ago. Others, like today when she dreamed of him, it seemed like just yesterday they were sharing their lives together. Although “sharing” was a generous interpretation. They’d barely spent a month together their first year of marriage. Between Grant filming and her grueling schedule on her world tour, their schedules hadn’t matched much.

  “What did you think?” Her sister stared at her.

  “Yeah, it was a good luncheon.” Sophie smiled, this time putting more enthusiasm into it.

  Her sister swept her dark brown hair over her shoulder and sat on the bed. The two looked like night and day, Sophie blonde to Jackie’s darker looks. Jackie was okay with that. She always said she had no desire to look like her well-known, much-sought-after baby sister.

  Somedays, Sophie felt the same way. As a successful pop star, her days out in public had to be carefully scheduled, and choreographed with security and disguises. She fantasized sometimes, about letting it all go. Walking away from the fame and her career.

  But, what if she stepped off the merry-go-round and it spun away from her, out of her grasp forever? Could she get back on if she changed her mind?

  Her dad had been telling her to slow down for a long time. When she’d broached the subject with Grant, suggesting they take some time off, he balked at the idea, saying they were both at the top of their game and couldn’t afford to rest now, not if they wanted to stay on top.

  The funny thing was, Sophie didn’t think she did anymore. She was tired of the grueling schedule she kept. She’d been recording and touring since she was discovered at seventeen. Now at twenty-seven—a pretty old age, for the recording industry—she was ready to settle down and have kids, a life outside of the limelight. Unfortunately, Grant hadn’t shared that desire. Hence the reason she sat on her bed, in a tour bus headed God knew where. She was surrounded by people, but she always felt alone, except for her sister.

  Jackie was her attorney, manager, and her best friend. She’d been the person to keep Sophie from going totally off the rails when she and Grant separated.

  “So, where are we headed next?” she asked.

  Jackie was a machine when it came to taking care of details, and Sophie was grateful for it every day.

  Jackie laughed at Sophie’s question. She loved her job almost as much as Sophie loved writing songs. Even though there wasn’t much time for that now with touring.

  “We’re headed to Canyon Creek,” Jackie said, as if it were just another town on the map.

  “What!” Sophie jumped to her feet but was knocked down when the bus took a curve. Damn bus. She put a hand out to brace herself and settled back onto the bed. “It’s not time for the festival already, is it?”

  Her sister gave her a strange look. “Uh, yeah it is.”

  “No,” Sophie said, more out of a ridiculous notion that she could wish it away than any actual belief her sister was wrong about the
date. She had known the trip to Canyon Creek, Colorado—Grant’s home town—was coming up, but she hadn’t realized the month had flown by so quickly.

  Jackie raised a brow and held up her cell phone, showing the date. “Sorry. It’s that time.”

  “Oh, shiitake mushrooms,” Sophie said under her breath.

  Jackie laughed. “Seriously, Sophie? You’re twenty-seven. You still can’t cuss?”

  Sophie shook her head. When she’d been seven she’d said the word bastard and her mother had washed her mouth out with soap. It was one of the nastiest things she’d ever tasted but it had done its job. Coming from the Bible Belt of Oklahoma, her mother didn’t put up with swearing. She had no idea where her sister had gotten her potty mouth.

  Sophie’s father claimed it was because Jackie was gay, which was ridiculous. Your sexual preference didn’t make you more prone to cursing. Thankfully their parents had come around in less than a day, more shocked than anything. Sophie loved her sister no matter who she was attracted to, and she adored her parents. She would have died if they had forced her to choose between Jackie and them.

  Jackie now looked at her phone screen, scrolling through as though reading off a checklist. “You’re the opening act for the festival. It’s a concert benefiting their local volunteer fire station. Grant’s sister-in-law is selling a Hot Men with Hoses calendar as part of the event and all of the proceeds from that will go to the fire station, too.”

  “Hot men with hoses?”

  Jackie shook her head and laughed. “Don’t ask me, I know nothing about men and their hoses.”

  Sophie snorted.

  “So, get to it, we’ll be in Canyon Creek soon.”

  Sophie groaned. “You seriously can’t get me out of this? I know I said yes, but that was when it was more theoretical than reality.”

  Sophie’s record label had asked her to write the title song to a new movie the year before. She adored the script so she jumped at the chance. Unfortunately she’d also signed on to do promo and marketing for the movie as well, which now meant going to Canyon Creek for their first annual film festival.

  Sophie knew if Jackie really wanted to get her out of this gig, she could. She narrowed her eyes at her sister. “Why are we doing this, Jackie?”

  Jackie surprised her. “Honestly?”

  Sophie nodded.

  “Because you need to decide, Sophie, one way or the other, you need to decide if you’re going to divorce Grant Sumner and move on with your life or not. It’s been a year since you left him.”

  She didn’t need Jackie’s reminder. She was aware of what was missing from her life every day that she’d been apart from Grant and often wondered if she’d done the right thing. Especially after she heard he’d gone off the rails and attacked his manager and lost almost everything he owned after their separation. That wasn’t the Grant she knew and that was part of what had kept her from going back.

  The bus pulled to a stop and Sophie glanced out of the window. They were in a large parking lot with a small building that looked like a motel standing next to them. She sucked in a breath at the sight of Canyon Creek Mountain in the background.

  “We’re here,” Jackie announced, heading down the hall toward the door of the bus.

  “Where are we?” Sophie asked, following her sister and trying to catch sight of any other landmarks outside the windows as she moved.

  “Canyon Creek,” Jackie said as if Sophie was the dumbest person on the planet.

  “I know that, but what is this?” She pointed to the building outside the bus.

  “It’s a small apartment complex.”

  “It looks like a motel. Please tell me we’re not staying there.” God, when had she become such a diva?

  “Okay, I won’t.” Jackie glanced back at her. “But we are, just so you know.”

  Sophie groaned. “Why can’t we stay on the bus?” she asked.

  “J.J.’s taking it back to Denver as soon as we unload. They’ve got,” her sister paused, “uh, maintenance to do.”

  Sophie cocked a brow. “Why don’t I believe you?”

  “Because you’re a known cynic.” Jackie laughed.

  “Seriously, Jackie? Here?”

  “Sorry, sourpuss, all the other places are booked solid because of the festival. This was the only thing available.”

  Sophie narrowed her eyes. She’d seen Jackie talk the pants off hotel managers around the world. This was planned and she knew it. She was just too tired to argue.

  Sophie’s abdomen clenched in an all too familiar way. She rubbed at the cramping. She’d been afraid of that when she laid down for her nap earlier. “Oh, sugar biscuits,” She muttered.

  Jackie turned back. “What?”

  “Nothing.” She didn’t want to tell Jackie. She hated the look of sympathy she would get if she mentioned she was getting her period. It was bad enough when she had to deal with her own emotions around the whole event. She didn’t need to factor other peoples’ feelings in as well.

  Her sister’s gaze swept over her from top to bottom and back. In Jackie’s brown eyes, Sophie saw pity staring back, which made her want to cry even more.

  “Let me get you something.” Jackie walked into the bathroom and dug around in the cabinet before reappearing with ibuprofen in her hand. “We need to make a pit stop for tampons.”

  “We can’t drive a tour bus up to Piggly Wiggly for tampons, Jackie.”

  “I rented us an SUV.”

  Okay, now she knew for sure that Jackie had something more than the one-day appearance planned. “How long are we staying, oh sister of mine?”

  “Just through the weekend.” Jackie cleared her throat, an obvious tell. Her sister was so transparent Sophie could almost see through her.

  “Fine,” Sophie said with a huff. She knew talking Jackie out of her master plan—whatever that was—was pointless. “Let’s go to the store.” She grabbed her purse from the table and walked toward the door, taking two steps before stopping and turning to face her sister.

  Jackie stopped in her tracks, having the good sense to look guilty.

  She stared at her sister for a long moment. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but promise me one thing.”

  Jackie nodded. “Okay.”

  “Whatever decision I make about Grant, you won’t interfere. I know you don’t like him and I don’t need your opinions getting in the way here. This needs to be about me and Grant.”

  “That’s not true,” Jackie argued.

  Sophie laughed sarcastically. “Weren’t you the one who called the Las Vegas courthouse to find out about getting the marriage annulled?”

  Jackie popped one hand on her hip. “Okay, yeah, but come on Soph. You knew the guy like what, two hours before you married him?”

  “Two months,” she corrected.

  Her sister raised a brow. “And how’d that turn out for you, baby sister?”

  Sophie’s gaze fell to her feet. Not good, she thought. Not good at all.

  Jackie’s hand was on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Sophie. That was mean.”

  Sophie glanced up, tears pricking her eyes. “Mean but true, right?”

  Jackie held her gaze. “I just hate seeing you so unhappy all the time.”

  Sophie thought about her sister’s words. She’d thought she’d hidden her melancholy this past year as they’d toured around the world. She always put on a bright face but she realized it was for the public. Her sister knew the real Sophie, the one behind the Sophie Day persona.

  “How did you know Bethany was the one for you?”

  Jackie had been in a committed relationship with Bethany Hoover for almost five years now. Neither had had the desire to marry, even though they legally had the right to at this point.

  Jackie leaned against the booth of the dining room table. Her expression shifted to that dreamy, faraway look she always got when thinking of her long-time girlfriend.

  “We’d been dating a couple of months before we had a huge
fight. We both said some not-so-nice things. I don’t even remember what the argument was about but even in the middle of it, I knew I was wrong. I was just too stubborn to admit it, you know?”

  Sophie snorted. Yeah, she knew.

  “Whatever,” Jackie waved her off. “Anyway, I walked away, pouting, all pissed off. Bethany came into the room about thirty minutes later and said, ‘I’m sorry.’”

  Sophie stared at her sister.

  “Do you know how much courage it takes to say, ‘I’m sorry’ first, Sophie?” Jackie asked.

  She did. She and Grant had both been particularly bad at it.

  “I knew. I just knew, if this chick could apologize first, I had to keep her. Or rather, I had to make her keep me.” Jackie stood silently for a few heartbeats.

  “So why don’t you marry her?” Sophie asked.

  Jackie smiled. “Maybe I will.” She paused for a long moment, staring at Sophie.

  “What?” Sophie asked.

  “Just give him a weekend, Sophie, and see if you want to try to make this work or walk away and move on. Either way, I think you need to give him a chance.”

  “To what, say he’s sorry?”

  “No,” Jackie shook her head. “For you to say you’re sorry.”

  Without another word, Jackie pushed past her and down the steps.

  Chapter Two