A New Chapter

by Susan Coventry

  A New Chapter

  By Susan Coventry

  Text copyright © 2016 Susan Coventry

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design: Woodchuck Arts

  Edited by: FirstEditing.com

  Also by Susan Coventry

  See You Then

  Starring You and Me

  For my two beautiful daughters.

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilogue – 8 months later

  Chapter 1

  “Don’t turn around,” Kelly ordered from her position behind the cash register.

  “Why not?” Emma asked, her head bent over a stack of books that had just arrived.

  “Because someone is staring at you from self-help. A very handsome someone, I might add.”

  “If he’s in the self-help section, I don’t know that I want to turn around,” Emma responded drily.

  Kelly chuckled, but her laughter was quickly cut off and replaced by the sound of a man noisily clearing his throat.

  “Emma, is that you?”

  The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but Emma couldn’t quite place it. In any case, she couldn’t very well ignore it. She turned around slowly to face the man who had been accused of staring at her from the self-help section. Oh no, not him. Why now? Why here? Why, why, why?

  “Yes, it’s me. Hello, Zack,” Emma replied coolly.

  She hadn’t seen Zack Kostas since her cousin’s wedding five years ago, and she’d hoped to never see him again. They had been paired up together as groomsman and bridesmaid, and she had spent half the night fending off his advances. It wasn’t because he was bad looking or uninteresting; it was the fact that both of them were taken! Last she heard, Zack had married his date from the wedding, and they lived in Ann Arbor. Why on earth was he in her bookshop in her hometown after all these years?

  “Great to see you,” he said, his eyes lit up with genuine pleasure.

  Kelly had been glancing back and forth between the two of them, and now she spoke up. “Emma, aren’t you going to introduce me to your… friend?” she asked, breaking out the smile she usually reserved for their best customers.

  Realizing that she had no choice, Emma made the introductions, determined to ignore the appreciative once-over that Kelly gave Zack.

  “So, you’re standing behind the counter. Does that mean that you’re the owner of A New Chapter? Great name, by the way.”

  “Yes, I am,” Emma answered proudly. “I must say I’m surprised to see you here; I thought you lived in Ann Arbor.” Rats! She didn’t want him to think that she had kept tabs on him after all these years.

  “Actually, I just moved here. My folks live in Clarkston, and I wanted to be closer to them, since…”

  Just then, a little girl with wavy dark brown hair and a bright smile rushed up to Zack and wrapped her arms tightly around his legs.

  “Daddy, Daddy, come to the kid’s section. There’s something I want to show you.”

  Daddy? Zack Kostas, playboy extraordinaire, is a daddy? Emma was shocked, although, why should she be? The man was married, after all. For some reason, she just didn’t see him as the “family” type.

  “Just a minute, sweetie. Daddy’s talking to someone. Why don’t you go back to the coloring table, and I’ll be there soon?”

  Zack’s daughter looked up at Emma with big, expressive brown eyes and then narrowed them at her dad.

  “Ok, but hurry up,” she demanded before running off.

  “Where was I?” Zack asked, thrown off by the appearance of his daughter.

  “You were just explaining why you moved here,” Kelly answered sweetly.

  Ok, Emma was officially going to kill Kelly after the store closed! She had no interest in why Zack moved to Clarkston; she just wanted him to leave so she could get back to work.

  “That’s right,” Zack said, turning his attention back to Emma. “I’m divorced, and I decided to move here so that my parents could help out with Gracie.“

  Ah-ha, that explained it. Emma could relate to his divorced status, having gone through her own divorce six months ago. In any case, she wasn’t prepared to swap sob stories with this man.

  “Well, it was nice to see you. I really should get back to work though. I have a mountain of new books to shelve and—”

  “I can take care of that, Emma,” Kelly offered eagerly.

  Ok, since Emma couldn’t actually kill her, she was at least going to cut her off from reading romance novels! Kelly was a hopeless romantic, and she was undoubtedly trying to set up Zack and Emma as the next couple in her “happily ever after” world. Kelly was in for a rude awakening!

  Zack glanced between the two of them and said, “It’s ok. I understand. Didn’t mean to keep you. I just wanted to come over and say hi.”

  Emma experienced a flicker of guilt. Maybe he was just being nice. She shouldn’t condemn the man for being an asshole five years ago, should she? Maybe he’d changed now that he had a daughter…

  “If Gracie likes books, I conduct a story hour for kids every Saturday morning at eleven. It’s free, and she’s welcome to come.” Yep, my guilt got the best of me.

  “Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll let her know.”

  Her good deed done for the day, Emma turned back to the business at hand, and Zack drifted away toward the back of the store.

  “Wow,” Kelly whispered as soon as he was out of sight. “He is absolutely delicious!”

  “He’s a man, not a pastry, Kell, and if you knew his backstory, you might feel differently.”

  “So, enlighten me. How did you two meet, and holy Greek God!”

  Emma reluctantly let out a giggle. “I’m not going to tell you the story while he’s still in the store. Oh look, Mrs. Simmons just walked in. Why don’t you see if she needs any help?”

  Mrs. Simmons was one of their “regulars,” and she almost always bought a book from the classics section. Lately, Emma had noticed her hovering around the erotica shelf, and she might have even paged through one of the books when she thought no one was looking. That wouldn’t have been such a big deal with most customers, but Mrs. Simmons was an eighty-year-old, gray-haired grandmother who dressed like a throwback from the 1950s. To say she was prim and proper was an understatement. Emma and Kelly had shared a good laugh over
the idea of Mrs. Simmons reading Fifty Shades of Grey, but hey, who were they to judge?

  Kelly stepped out from behind the counter and approached Mrs. Simmons just as Zack and Gracie walked up, each with a couple of books in their hands.

  “We just need to pay for these, and we’ll be on our way,” Zack said apologetically.

  Looking into Gracie’s eyes as she placed her selections on the counter, Emma couldn’t help but soften her stance. Zack couldn’t be that bad if he had created such a beautiful and seemingly well-behaved little girl.

  “I didn’t mean to rush you,” Emma said, extending her olive branch. “I just got a big shipment of books in today, so I’m anxious to get them priced and on the shelves.”

  “It looks like you have a thriving business. I’m glad to see that an independent bookstore can still survive; they seem so few and far between these days.”

  “You’re right, but I’m determined to stay afloat.”

  “Well, the store looks great. Gracie already said that she’d like to come back, so I’m sure you’ll see us again.”

  Oh boy. “Great,” Emma said, hoping that she sounded enthusiastic.

  Emma rang up their purchases and gave Gracie her own bag with a complimentary kid’s bookmark. She adopted a neutral expression while she bagged Zack’s books about single parenting. Gracie rewarded Emma with a beaming smile and then tugged on her dad’s hand to lead him out of the store.

  When Zack had one foot out the door, he turned around and gave Emma a wave. Damn it, why had I still been looking?

  As soon as Emma changed the sign on the front door to “Closed” and turned the lock, Kelly started in with her questions.

  “Ok, so what’s the deal with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?”

  Emma went about running the register tape for the day’s sales and tidying up the front counter while she relayed the short version of the story to Kelly.

  “Zack is a college buddy of my cousin Phil. You know, the one who currently lives in Charlotte. Anyway, Zack and I stood up together in Phil’s wedding five years ago, and that’s how we met. I haven’t seen him since, so it was a bit of a shock that he showed up here today.”

  “And?” Kelly said, tapping her toe impatiently. “There’s got to be more to the story than that.”

  Emma could try to trick her best friend, but it was pointless. Kelly would get all of the details out of her in the end no matter what.

  “And he came on to me all night long, even though we were there with our future spouses! The tragic irony of the tale is that we both ended up divorced. Crazy, huh?”

  “No, I don’t think it’s crazy at all. I think it’s destiny,” Kelly replied earnestly. “You might not believe in fate, but I do, and I think that there’s a reason why Zack showed up here today.”

  Emma set the register tape down and let out a heavy sigh. “Kelly, you are hereby officially cut off from reading romance novels. I forbid you to so much as lay a finger on one when it comes into this store. Understood?”

  “Nice try, but you’re just trying to deflect. It’s obvious that you find each other attractive, and hello, who wouldn’t find that dude attractive? He’s so…”

  “Delicious? Yes, you already said that. Listen, he’s the classic playboy, and I plan on staying as far away from him as possible.” Although, now that we live in the same town, that’s going to be a little more difficult.

  “Maybe he’s changed. Have you considered that? Think about how much your life has changed in the past five years. His obviously has too.”

  Kelly’s words resonated with her as Emma drove the mile and a half home from the bookstore. Her friend was right. Emma’s life had changed drastically in the past five years, and she hoped it was on the upswing. The divorce process had taken the wind out of her sails, and she was just beginning to feel stable again. She would never forget the day that Mark had told her he wanted out. His words were forever etched on her brain, and whenever she recalled them, she felt hurt and confused all over again. Her husband had simply decided that he didn’t want to be married anymore. He hadn’t had any specific complaints, and he’d sworn up and down that there wasn’t another woman, which Emma had believed. No, Mark had “come to the conclusion that marriage was not for him.” He wanted to be “free” to live a life without restrictions.

  If Emma had a dollar for every hour she had spent analyzing those words, she probably wouldn’t have to work at all. But thank God for the bookstore; it had been her anchor throughout the divorce process and beyond. Mark had promised it would be a “congenial” divorce, and it was, relatively speaking. He’d signed off on any and all rights to the bookstore, and now Emma owned it free and clear. Sometimes she wondered if that was supposed to be her consolation prize. Tell her what she’s won… her very own bookstore! Looking back on the time when she had first opened the shop three years ago, Mark had been so supportive of her. He had been her cheerleader through it all, insisting that she follow her passion. Had he set her up with everything he thought she wanted just so he could leave her? Was that supposed to soften the blow?

  “Just stop!” Emma shouted out loud, and realized that she still sat in her parked car in the garage. She didn’t even recall opening the garage door. This was exactly why she tried not to relive those awful days. The questions swirled around and around in her mind, but there weren’t any satisfactory answers. Nowadays, she found solace at work and with her friends, and of course with books. Books were the one thing she could always count on, and they would never let her down.

  Chapter 2

  Zack leaned back in his brown leather Barcalounger and took a long slug of his Heineken. Now he could finally relax since Gracie was down to sleep. He had read her one of her favorite Little Critter stories, and when he’d turned the last page, she was out.

  Zack was just beginning to realize how exhausting single parenting could be. Sure, he had help from his parents, but after he worked all day and picked up Gracie, she was still raring to go. He glanced around the living room of his new home, noting all of the boxes that waited to be unpacked. The remote control for his new oversized flat-screen television sat on the coffee table, but he was too tired to walk over and retrieve it. The new books he had bought about single parenting sat unopened on the table beside him, but he couldn’t bring himself to crack one open. Nope, he was truly and utterly exhausted.

  Glancing at the books reminded him of the one bright spot in his day—running into Emma Murphy. Wow, what a looker! He had thought that five years ago, but now she looked even prettier, although there was a hint of sadness behind her eyes. He didn’t blame her for the cool reception she gave him because he deserved it. He had been a bit of an asshole at her cousin’s wedding. Zack would have liked to blame it all on the amount of liquor he’d consumed that night, but he knew that wasn’t the sole reason. He had been six months away from getting married himself, and instead of feeling like the luckiest guy on earth, he had felt strangely empty. Foreshadowing of what was to come? Maybe, if you believed in that sort of thing. In any case, when he’d met Emma at the rehearsal dinner, he’d been instantly attracted to her. She’d had that special something that was hard to define, yet undeniable. She’d exuded warmth and a sense of ease with an undertone of sexy that he had found irresistible. And the best thing of all, she’d had no idea that she was that attractive.

  Zack cringed when he recalled some of his actions from that night. He remembered resting his hand on Emma’s knee underneath the table and her repeatedly shoving it aside. He may have stood too close to her when they partook in the bridal party dance, and she must have been aware of his erection pressed up against her. He vaguely recalled whispering in her ear that she was the most beautiful woman at the wedding. Ugh! What a jerk! Emma had reacted to it all with cool politeness, similar to how she reacted at the bookstore. She surely wouldn’t have wanted to cause a scene at her cousin’s wedding, so she had put up with his antics without encouraging him, although, a couple times, he
thought he’d seen a sparkle in her eye. Zack had wondered then if they had both been single, could there have been a chance…

  Here they were five years later, both available, but toting a lot of emotional baggage. Emma hadn’t said, but Zack already knew that she was divorced too. He had found out through Phil, whom he talked to every few months. Phil had given him minimal details, but Zack got the impression that Emma’s husband had left her and not the other way around. Zack could relate to being rejected because it had happened to him too. Alicia had traded him in for a much younger model, a guy who interned at her company. He should have seen it coming, between her extra-long work days, texting on her phone at all hours, and becoming increasingly distant and withdrawn. But nope, he had been clueless. He had truly believed that Alicia wouldn’t break up their family; my God, Gracie had only been three at the time.

  That was a year ago, and now Gracie would be starting preschool in one week. Zack took another long pull of his beer and set the empty bottle on the side table. No use crying over spilt milk. He was done trying to figure out what went wrong. His marriage was over, and Alicia was already living with what’s-his-name in their new condo. Zack’s focus now was to make sure that Gracie was ok. He had messed up his marriage, but he would do everything in his power to make a good life for his daughter. That included not dating for a while. He and Gracie needed time to heal before he brought another woman into their life. For now, he would concentrate on his role as Dad and give no further thought to the pretty lady with the light green eyes, strawberry blonde curls, and that tight, petite body.

  Nope, he wouldn’t give her anymore thought… tonight.

  Chapter 3

  Emma and Kelly began setting up for story time twenty minutes before eleven. Today’s book was Green Eggs and Ham, a crowd favorite for the kids and adults alike. Kelly was in charge of snacks, and she had baked oval sugar cookies with green frosting—to represent the eggs of course. They had also set out coloring sheets of some of the pages from the book and new boxes of Crayola crayons.