“My first review!” I shouted at them forgetting about the happy reason they were here.
“What?” was the collective response from them.
I held the paper up so they could see. “I’m a force to be reckoned with!”
Throwing myself into Vann’s arms, I felt lucky he was ready to catch me. He took the paper from me and quickly read the article. “New chef in town indeed,” he laughed, squeezing me in a tight hug.
He passed the paper on to his sister, who had to read it over the sweetest, tiniest, most adorable newborn swaddled in her arms. Cecily Violet, or Cece for short, was the most precious baby that had ever been. We were all in love and taking turns doting on her.
Vann had turned out to be an incredible uncle that loved to buy her presents and ingeniously passed her off whenever there was a threat of a dirty diaper.
And Vera and Killian were an inspiration as far as busy parents went. Vera was still on maternity leave from their now busy restaurant. She was exhausted and alone a lot as Killian carried the burden by himself. But they were making it work and still working hard for their dreams. And their marriage.
They gave me hope that there could be kids in my future as well. Even with a crazy, intense job. Even with Vann working as much as I did.
He wrapped his arms around me as my friends passed the newspaper around. “Is this the real reason we’re here?” Wyatt asked. “The engagement lunch was just a front, wasn’t it?”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Blaze just brought me the article. I had no idea.”
“Uh, I’m not surprised,” Kaya gloated. “I told you, babe.”
“Congratulations!” Molly squealed when she finally got the paper. “Oh, my gosh, how exciting!”
“I can’t take all the credit,” I told her. “I do have a pretty kick ass PR squad.”
She smiled at me. “I can only get them here. It’s your food that makes them stay and write amazing articles about you.”
“Proud of you, sis,” Ezra announced, one of his rare smiles big on his face as well. “I hate to say I told you so, but…”
I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Come on, we were all right,” Killian added. “We all knew you’d flip this place around. I mean, Ezra seriously did his best to run it into the ground, but you handled it like a pro.”
Ezra’s smile died and he glared at Killian.
“It feels good, doesn’t it?” Vera asked. “There’s nothing like a good review to solidify your purpose.”
I nodded. She was right.
“It’s not the reason we do this,” she added. “But damn, it feels good.”
“As if there was any question,” Vann whispered in my ear. Then planted a sweet kiss on my cheek.
“This all feels right,” I said to the group, admiring my friends as they sat with the ones they loved. I’d grown up alone and lonely. When Ezra first showed up in my life I could never have anticipated how big my family would become.
But now, here they were, surrounding me, supporting me, loving me.
Most of all, this man by my side. He’d saved me countless times. And then the most important time. And he was walking with me as I healed. He’d encouraged me to go to the police and give a statement, which I had. With him by my side of course.
They had been kind and understanding, but were honest when they said there probably wasn’t anything they could do now. Vann had even reached out to Justin a few weeks back and asked him questions about my attacker.
It hadn’t gotten us anywhere, but we were working on closure without all the facts and hard truths anyway.
I was learning to let the past go as my present became more beautiful. And I’d started group therapy with other victims of sexual assault. I hadn’t shared my story yet, but I’d cried with everyone who had each week I’d been.
My confidence was growing as my heart and soul were healing. I wasn’t ready to share with other people just yet, but I knew one day I would be. And when that day came, I would use my story to help others get through the worst of theirs.
This world was so ugly, so very broken. And there were victims everywhere. My group was showing me that. Women I would never have suspected. Women in jobs of every kind or stay at home moms. Women of every age and color and income. Women attacked by people they knew and thought they loved, by family members, by total strangers.
So many stories, all in varying degrees of sick and awful. My heart broke and would always break for women that had to suffer like I did. Women who had to carry their attack with them for the rest of their life.
But if anything beautiful could come out of such tragedy and devastation, it was the sisterhood I was finding among the victims. We had each other. We were learning to lean on and trust each other. And we would always, always stand up and fight for each other.
This group of people would do the same for me too. Especially the man at my side.
He helped me serve lunch while my staff prepared for dinner service. And then we sat down with our closest friends and laughed and toasted to love and life and this beautiful joy we’d found in each other.
Wyatt and Kaya shared details of the engagement and even though it was the second time I’d heard the story, since Kaya had called me late last night to fill me in, I enjoyed every word all over again.
I didn’t know it was possible to be this happy. Or this complete. Or this hopeful for the future.
I didn’t know it was possible to love this much or laugh this much.
I didn’t know it was possible to heal.
Vann had come into my life at the perfect time and he’d swept me away in grumpy helpfulness. He was the thing I didn’t know I needed. He was the man I didn’t know existed.
And he was the love I’d hoped for my entire life.
When our friends had left and it was just the two of us in the dining room, he wrapped me up in his arms and kissed me until my lips were swollen and my heartbeat thrummed beneath my fragile breastbone.
“I hate that we have jobs,” he groaned.
I laughed, because before there was an us, we only had our jobs. “I know,” I sympathized. “I do too.”
Only we didn’t hate our jobs. We loved our jobs. We’d just recently found something to love more.
“Come over tonight after?” he asked, his lips trailing sweet kisses along my throat.
“You’ll be asleep,” I reminded him.
He sunk his teeth into my collarbone. “Wake me up.”
I shivered. It was my favorite thing to do. “Okay.”
Satisfied that we would see each other soon, he took a step back and hit me with those warm, bright gray eyes. “I love you, Dillon Baptiste.”
I smiled and it felt as though it came from my very soul. “I love you, too, Vann Delane.”
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Thank you so very much for reading The Something about Her! The entire Opposites Attract series has been one of my most favorite things to write ever. I have loved weaving romance and some comedy and all the delicious food with real issues women face every day.
Dillon and Vann have been a joy to write. They’ve also been extremely difficult as I tackled some heavy issues with Dillon’s past. Even with incredible movements like #metoo, and women gaining more and more courage to speak out against their attackers, I want to acknowledge those women that have not yet found their voice. If you have been attacked and have held it tightly to your chest, unable to find the words to verbalize what happened, I just want to encourage you. What happened to you is horrific and not acceptable. But the guilt is not yours to bear. You are innocent, dear friend. You are the victim.
But you are also a survivor.
Seek help if you are ready and speak out when your trauma finds its voice. And please know, that even in your silence, you have support. You have a tribe of women that stand with you and stand up for you. You are seen. And you are loved.
And to those that read simply to be entertained, thank you for spending your time
with Dillon and Vann and all the other foodie couples of Durham! I have adored taking this journey with you.
Stay tuned for an upcoming series featuring Will English and his adventures at Craft coming this fall! And look out for my next second chance romance, Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar, coming June 25th, 2019!
Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar blurb
Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar, 2019!
My name is Clover Calloway and I’ve lived two separate lives.
The first, I like to call “my past.” I never talk about it. I try not to think about it. My rockstar days of playing in one of the hottest bands on the planet are over. Along with the most volatile, beautiful, tragic love story of all time.
Over the past five years, I’ve settled into my second life. My “normal life.” The one where I work a normal job, hang out with normal people and fall in love with a normal, but wonderful guy. The life where I’m admittedly a little bored, but also safe.
My past wasn’t boring. But my past broke my heart into a million, unfixable pieces. So, I’m determined to keep it where it belongs—behind me.
And the man responsible for the shattering of me? Malachi Porter, lead singer and mastermind of Bright Tragedy, should stay there too. Far away from me and this idyllic life I’ve carved out for myself.
But what happens when my two lives collide?
When Malachi comes crashing into my perfectly normal world, he threatens to destroy it, promises to annihilate everything I’ve replaced him with.
He upends everything I thought I wanted and forces me to question the reasons I left Bright Tragedy all those years ago.
But I didn’t walk away five years ago, I ran. As fast as I could go. And while my heart is whispering that it’s different this time—that he’s different—my brain is screaming for me to run again.
Malachi Porter isn’t a normal guy. And he doesn’t belong in my “normal life.” But, nevertheless, he’s bound and determined to make a place for himself here.
I just hope my heart can survive him, that we don’t burn into another bright tragedy.
Keep reading for an excerpt of Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar!
Preorder HERE
Acknowledgments
In the busiest season of life thus far, we decided to buy a house, move, launch Pierce and Ivy’s spring line and release a book. These last few months have been nothing but madness. So first and foremost, I want to thank my God, who is a God of miracles, who always puts me in this posture of needing Him so that He can do miraculous things right in front of me. Thank you, Zach, for thriving on this chaos, for getting the details right when I forget them all and for cheerleading me through every day when I just want to panic. Thank you to my kiddos who are so understanding when I abandon life to shut myself away and write. Thank you to my mom and mother-in-law who have gone above and beyond with sleepovers and babysitting hours. To Amy Bartol, who is waiting on the next chapter of our super exciting project while I get my life together. To my friends and Bible study who have gotten the worst of me lately and still love me. To my editor, Amy Donnelly, who works so hard around my never-on-time deadlines and to Lenore, my beta reader, who puts up with all of my chaos. Especially when I got the flu in those last few hours and put all of us behind schedule! Thank you to my assistant, Holly, who has learned to just do what needs to be done and manages my mess. Thank you especially to the entire OPTS team at my bank, who fell in love with my stories while asking for every last financial document on the planet and made buying a house in the middle of releasing a book so very worth it. Seriously, you all are the very best. And thank you to my bloggers and readers, who continually and consistently show up for me. I could not do this without you. You give this job joy. And you somehow manage to top every single release. Thank you for your support and your time and for falling in love with these love stories as much as I have.
About the Author
Rachel Higginson was born and raised in Nebraska but spent her college years traveling the world. She fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka, but came back home to marry her high school sweetheart. Now she spends her days raising their growing family. She is obsessed with reruns of The Office and Cherry Coke.
Rachel’s next second chance romance, Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar is coming June 25th, 2019!
Other Books Out Now by Rachel Higginson:
Love and Decay, Season One
Volume One
Volume Two
Love and Decay, Season Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Love and Decay, Season Three
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Love and Decay: Revolution, Season One
Volume One
Volume Two
The Star-Crossed Series
Reckless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 1)
Hopeless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 2)
Fearless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 3)
Endless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 4)
The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 5)
The Relentless Warrior (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6)
Breathless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6.5)
Fateful Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6.75)
The Redeemable Prince (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 7)
The Starbright Series
Heir of Skies (The Starbright Series, Book 1)
Heir of Darkness (The Starbright Series, Book 2)
Heir of Secrets (The Starbright Series, Book 3)
The Siren Series
The Rush (The Siren Series, Book 1)
The Fall (The Siren Series, Book 2)
The Heart (The Siren Series, Book 3)
Bet on Love Series
Bet on Us (An NA Contemporary Romance)
Bet on Me (An NA Contemporary Romance)
Every Wrong Reason
The Five Stages of Falling in Love
Trailer Park Heart
The Opposite of You (Opposites Attract Series)
The Difference Between Us (Opposites Attract Series)
The Problem with Him (Opposites Attract Series)
The Something about Her (Opposites Attract Series)
Constant (The Confidence Game Duet)
Consequence (The Confidence Game Duet)
Connect with Rachel on her blog at:
http://www.rachelhigginson.com/
Or on Twitter:
@mywritesdntbite
Or on her Facebook page:
Rachel Higginson
Keep reading for an excerpt from one of Rachel’s upcoming second chance love story, Never Fall in Love with a Rockstary, coming June 25th, 2019
Preorder HERE Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar
Never Fall in Love with a Rockstar Chapter one
My fingers flew over the keys. Up and down. Black and white. Sharp and natural and sharp, sharp, sharp. The damper pedal lifted with my momentum. I pressed down again, elongating the notes, pulling the best of the melody out of the song and letting it hang in the air, notes dancing and twirling and singing in the emotional symphony. Beethoven had never sounded so good.
I took a breath. Closing my eyes at the final, heart-stopping crescendo, I lifted my fingers and let the last notes resonate through the vaulted ceilings in perfect harmony.
When the sound died and the song drifted from the building, I couldn’t help but wait for applause. It was ingrained in my nature. My entire life I’d played to crowds much bigger than this one. And so, I sat there, my breath trapped inside my chest, my eyes closed in anticipation and… nothing.
There was no eruption of cheering and wild clapping. There was no demand for an encore. There was no stadium filled with rabid fans, blissed out at the end of the best show of their lives.
Only one person was clapping fo
r this performance and it was Maya from the MAC makeup counter. And she only did it because she knew it made me happy. I grinned at her over my shoulder. She clapped louder, jumping up and down in a pure attempt to feed my ego.
A cluster of teenage girls moved between us, laughing and chatting, eyes glued on all the pretty things around them. I quickly turned away, ducking my head and focusing on the gorgeous grand piano that filled the center of the glistening lobby.
Nobody recognized me these days, but better safe than sorry.
When the shoppers had moved on, I gathered my music and slipped it inside a folder. Maya was still slow clapping by the time I reached the counter that was covered with tubes of lipstick.
“Woman, you were on fire today,” she cheered. “I was seriously moved by that last piece. Tears, Clover. Actual tears.” She pointed at the corner of her eye where her electric blue eyeliner was smudged.
“Moonlight Sonata.” I took a steadying breath, banishing the lingering emotions that clung to the edges of me. Beethoven’s masterful piece was one of my favorites too. And I rarely played it. But today I’d been in the mood for melancholy and memories. And that song, above all others, despite what the tabloids and bloggers said about me once upon a time, weighed the heaviest with my past. “It’s a good one.”
The Something about Her: Opposites Attract book four Page 30
