by Reina Torres
Text copyright ©2017 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Marina Adair. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original St. Helena Vineyard Series remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Marina Adair, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds
Taking a Chance
Book 4 - Second Chance Series
Reina Torres
Contents
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
About the Author
Introduction
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the St. Helena Vineyard’s Kindle World, where romance is waiting to be uncorked and authors from around the globe are invited to share their own stories of love and happily ever after. Set in the heart of wine country, this quaint town and its cast of quirky characters were the inspiration behind my St Helena Vineyard series, and the Hallmark Channel movie, AUTUMN IN THE VINEYARD. I want to thank these incredible authors for spending time in St. Helena, and all of you readers who are adventurous enough to take the journey with us.
I hope you enjoy your time here as much as we have.
Warmly,
Marina Adair
Acknowledgments
Thanks, as always, to Marina Adair. Who knew what would have happened if I hadn’t stumbled upon St. Helena Vineyards? Thanks to your amazing talent and generous heart I have grown as both a write and a person. HUGE thanks and lots of love to the woman that literally made all of this possible!
I have a very special group of readers that have become a huge help to me while I write the things and edit the things and format… you get it, right?
Sometimes I ask them to give me some help with elements of my books. For this book I needed songs that fit the ‘feel’ of certain moments in the story. I had a HUGE list of stories from the group, and I ended up using a few more than I had intended to use. So, thanks to Kimberly Raby, Dawn Yacovetta, Mona Kekstadt, & Cheryl McMahan.
Chapter 1
Jordan Schultz slid into the last empty seat at the Sweet and Savory and set her cup down on what seemed to be the only remaining spot on the table. Before she opened her mouth to greet her friend she let her eyes crawl over the veritable cavalcade of delectable desserts on the small round table. She hadn’t had sugar in over a week, and just letting her eyes roam over the decadent display was likely to put herself in a diabetic shock. “If you’re not careful,” she warned Frankie, “I may have to take my chances and try for a bite of one of these.”
Frankie DeLuca, the youngest of the Baudouin children of her generation, was apparently going for a Guinness Book Record for sugar consumption, and threatened to strip Jordan’s skin off with her eyes. Since she had a chocolate fringed fritter in one hand, and some kind of crème puff in the other that was oozing something red and sticky onto the empty wrapper beneath it, she probably didn’t have the ability to do much damage but Jordan wasn’t going to push the issue.
Sitting back in her chair, Jordan folded one leg over the other as she offered her best friend a placating smile. “Okay, so keep my grubby paws off of your goodies, I get it.”
“It’s not my fault,” Frankie grumbled as she took another bite of the fritter, tucking it into her cheek like a chipmunk, “I came in to get an herbal tea, to calm my stomach,” Jordan looked at the table and saw nothing resembling a drink anywhere on the surface, “and then Lexi brought out a brand new tray of lemon bars. And then the lemon bars drew my eye to the cupcakes…”
Frankie continued on until she’d explained the presence of every delicious morsel on the table. “I swear, I didn’t even mean to order any of them!”
Jordan’s shoulders shook in silent laughter. “Hey! No worries. You don’t have to explain a thing to me. I know what it’s like to be pregnant.”
“Yeah,” Frankie grumbled around another bite of the crème puff, with the fruity filling squishing out of the corner of her mouth, “but you were pregnant a long time ago.”
Jordan didn’t react to the words, at least not outwardly. Frankie, her BFF in so many ways, looked like she wanted to fall through the floor at her feet.
“I’m sorry,” she began, a fresh dusting of sugar on her lip, “I didn’t mean-”
“Frankie, stop.” Jordan rolled her eyes as Frankie apologized half a dozen times, culminating the mea culpa fest by offering her an éclair. “Please stop.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Nibbling on her bottom lip changed to nibbling on the éclair she held in her hand.
“I know,” Jordan leaned forward and broke off the end of the éclair before popping it into her mouth, “it’s the hormones talking. Just wait until the babies start dancing on your bladder. I do NOT envy you.” She chewed on the flaky bit of heaven in her mouth. “But seriously, I am so glad I’m past the age for babies. I can barely handle the nineteen-year-old that I have!” Jordan used a meticulously manicured finger to wipe the crumbs off her lip. “I’m going to need to start dying my grays.”
Frankie munched on the remaining bit of the éclair before Jordan could think to reach for it. “Your ‘grays,’ as you like to put it, look like blonde highlights in your hair. Do me a favor and at least slouch in the chair, so I don't look so dumpy.”
Jordan leaned against the table, careful not to smudge frosting on her autumn-colored paisley blouse, and reached her hand over the sea of calories to take hold of Frankie’s wrist, since her hand was full of a carrot cupcake. “You, Frankie Deluca, are a freaking goddess. And I, and anyone with eyes in their head, can see that if anything, Nate is even more in love with you than ever.”
“Heaven help you, Jordan, if you so much as hint that it’s because there’s more of me to love, I will kick your-” Frankie stopped short and cast a brittle smile over Jordan’s shoulder. “Well, hello, Nora.”
“Hello, Francesca,” Nora’s voice was as brittle as the layer that topped Lexi’s crème brulee, “having cravings, I see.”
“This?” Frankie gestured at the assortment of baked goods covering her table. “No,” she skewered Jordan with a look, “this is our tasting menu for the Daughters of Prohibition Gala.”
“Oh?” Nora perked up, and almost, just nearly looked at Jordan. “Why wasn’t I informed?”
Seeing the plea in Frankie’s dark eyes, Jordan knew she’d cave, but she also knew that Frankie was going to pay. “Actually, the decision hasn’t been made, yet. And I haven’t even brought it before the committee.”
“Oh, so this is all,” Nora’s eyes narrowed as she glanced over the selection, “just an excuse to indulge, hmm?”
“Well, nothing wrong with supporting our local businesses, right, Nora?” Jordan resisted the urge to cross her eyes when Nora moved closer to the table, putting her back to Jordan. “I think any time we can keep business local, we keep St. Helena the same close knit community that it’s been for generations. A tradition that your family has had a vital role in keeping.”
“Yes, of course,”
Nora sputtered a little, trying to find some kind of objection to latch onto, “but the committee-”
“Yes, the committee, as a member of the, what was it, advertisement committee?” Jordan nodded and continued. “Once we select the menu, we’ll need you to help get the word out.” Jordan snatched up a cinnamon and chocolate roll and pushed it into Nora’s palm “So here, you have a taste.”
“I, well, that’s to say, that I would be happy to help when that time rolls around, and-”
“Nora?” Pricilla called out across the room. “I have your order ready!”
Both women held their breath until Nora was safely standing in front of the refrigerated case, then Frankie glared openly at Jordan. “You are so lucky you’re my bestie, because that was my favorite pastry-”
“Payback,” Jordan reminded her, “for sicking Nora on me.”
“It was desperation and vapor lock,” Frankie tried to explain. “I couldn’t think of anything else to say!”
“The truth,” Jordan shot back at her, “works just fine. And it’s not like you’re the first woman to have cravings.”
“But I am the first woman to gain enough weight to be mistaken for a double-wide.”
Jordan felt her eyes tear up with barely contained laughter. “That’s it, I can’t take it anymore.”
Frankie’s expression was a mild horror, teetering into blind terror.
“You need to stop getting on your own case. Your doctor said you were in perfect health.” She saw the skeptical look on Frankie’s face and barreled on. “Your sugar numbers are manageable, but they’re keeping an eye on you… so until your doctor tells you to cut back, enjoy the excuse.”
“What excuse?” Frankie grumbled into the swirling frosting of an ensaymada pastry.
“Come on, Frankie. When I did it I only got to say that I was eating for ‘two,’ but you… you’re amazing. You’re eating for three!”
Jordan’s phone pinged and the screen lit up. She picked it up, looked at the screen, and set it back down on the table with a little sigh and her cheeks began to heat. Picking up her Kamehameha Mocha from the table, she took a sip. The strong coffee brew was mixed in with just enough liqueur to excuse the rising color in her cheeks.
But it wasn’t quick enough. “What’s up?” Frankie eyed her with open curiosity. “Hey, what’s got you so dressed up?”
“Me?” Jordan kept her cup up to her lips, tucking her chin down just enough to let her hair fall forward. The heavy swish of her coppery hair fell against her hand. “I dress like this all the time. It’s what I wear to work, to board meetings, to-”
“And you’re nervous!” Frankie set down her pastry and leaned on the edge of the table. “What is going on?”
“Nothing.” Jordan took a long sip and felt the heat of the coffee course down her throat in a rush, making her sputter and cough a moment later.
“Evasion tactics,” Frankie mused. “Spill.”
“Vance is coming to visit.”
“Vance?” Frankie’s voice rose in volume as she leaned closer to her friend. “Vance Donovan?”
Jordan’s gaze widened as she leaned on her side of the table. “Yes, Vance Donovan. Will you please lower your voice? It’s bad enough my insides are in knots, I don’t need Nora,” she leaned to the side to sweep the room and make sure the infuriating woman had left, “hearing about it. I can only imagine what she’d have to say.”
“Say?” Frankie rolled her eyes. “She’d be camped out at the Napa Grand with her camera and-”
Jordan looked off toward the window, hoping her cheeks weren’t nearly as pink as they felt.
“Wait, he’s staying with you?”
“Yes.” Her voice was nearly lost in the long shaky exhale of her breath. “He was talking about places to stay and Gabe would have offered him a room at his house, but Vance is actually coming here to write and needed quiet and Gabe has Holly and Sophie and then there’s the-”
“Right. Quiet.” Frankie gave her old friend a knowing look. “Ever since Gabe introduced you two last year when Vance was in San Francisco for his book signing, you guys have been flirting like crazy. It makes more sense for him to stay with you.” Taking a big sinful bite of her lemon bar, Frankie gave her friend a wink. “It’s best you have him close enough to grab. I bet it’s the first time you’re happy that Ava’s away at school.”
Jordan’s smile changed to a little wisp of a grin. “I didn’t invite him over for sex, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Honey, if you’re thinking during sex, you’re not doing it right.” Frankie’s laughter faded quickly. “Look, I know you like him. You two talk all the time.”
And it was true. After they met, they’d talked often on the phone, starting when Vance had called the office to thank Gabe for a gift of wine that he’d received and it had been Jordan who’d picked up the phone. But even Frankie didn’t know how much she talked to Vance, or how personal the conversations had become. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to share it with her friend, but there was something that she didn’t even want to admit to herself when she thought about Vance. She trembled when she thought about him and that made her feel off-kilter. She was a woman sure of herself. She knew her business, she had her life under control. Or did she? Talking to Vance on the phone made her heart beat faster, or sometimes it stuttered in her chest. Jordan knew that her feelings for him had gone far beyond friendship. Far beyond the ‘it’s nice to talk to you’ and straight into the ‘please don’t think I’m a silly school girl when I giggle all the time.’ “I’m a grown woman, dammit.”
Jordan looked up into the silence and saw Frankie’s expectant look across the table. “What?”
“You do realize you just said that out loud, right?”
A quick sweep of the room proved that to be true. Everyone inside the four walls of Lexi’s Sweet and Savory was staring at her.
She gave the room a half-wave that might have looked like a pageant queen. “Sorry, nothing to see here. Carry on.”
Jordan sank back into her chair and shared a soft laugh with Frankie.
“Look,” Frankie reached across the table and Jordan felt a dab of some kind of frosting on her arm, “I have a good feeling about this-”
“That’s one of us.” Jordan saw the way Frankie’s eyes widened in frustration. “Sorry.”
“And you do too if you’d just get your head out of your ass and roll with it.” She grinned and licked some sugar off her lips. “And if you’re lucky, you’ll get some rolling in with Mr. Donovan.”
Before Jordan could think of something to say back, Frankie picked up a napkin and dabbed at her lips. “And while you’re keeping him ‘entertained’ see if he’ll give you a copy of his book to read and slip it to me, hmm?”
Jordan took a sip of her rapidly cooling drink. “You read his books?”
“The John Calloway series?” Frankie scoffed aloud at the thought. “Ohmygoodness, yes!” She laughed and gave her belly a rub. “Well, okay, I’m a recent convert. You remember two months back when my legs were swollen to the size of small aspen pine trunks?” Frankie continued on with a rush. “The doctor told me to put my feet up, and I told Nate to rub my feet. And he did, because he fears my mood swings,” Frankie’s grin was almost feral in her glee. “But he was only rubbing with one hand because he was reading Vance’s book at the same time. When he fell asleep on the couch a little while later, I picked up the book and started reading. And I binge read the rest of the series on my Kindle that week. So, you know… help a girlfriend out and get the book, okay?”
“You want me to give him sex for a copy of his next book?”
“Yes.” Frankie winked at her, “you know you’re going to do it anyway, the sex that is. So, this way I can benefit from you ‘benefitting’ from his visit.”
Jordan’s phone chimed and she picked it up and looked at the text message. She couldn’t help the giddy smile that teased her lips. Reading it over again she let out a calming breat
h.
ALMOST THERE
Picking up her purse from the floor, Jordan struggled to keep her hands from shaking. “Well, that’s my cue.” Standing, she rounded the table to press a kiss on Frankie’s sticky cheek. “You take care of yourself, okay?”
“And you,” Frankie answered back, “have some fun, you deserve it.”
Jordan didn’t trust herself to reply. It was all she could do to walk, not run, out to her car and make her way home.
Vance relaxed against the seat and watched the world pass by his window. His hand was still on his phone where he’d laid it on his thigh and when it vibrated against his palm, he smiled and lifted it so he could see the message.
CAN’T WAIT
Smiling he set it back down and drew in a long steadying breath. He should text Gabe, he reasoned, and let his old friend know he was in town. Switching text menus, he sent a quick message. They’d met years ago when he was a business analyst that Gabe had hired just a few years after inheriting the business from his parents. Even back then, Gabe had impressed Vance with his solid nature and determination. It might have seemed odd to some people that Vance would befriend the younger man, but there was something about Gabe that made him take a personal interest in him. Together, they spent countless hours going over the future of the DeLuca holdings and while it had been a long and profitable relationship for them both, it was their friendship that had the greatest impact on Vance.
And almost six years ago, when Gabe encouraged Vance to go after his dreams, he sold his first book to a publishing house and the trajectory of his own life changed dramatically.
The St. Helena welcome sign flashed by the window and Vance sat up a little, taking his first good look at the town he hadn’t seen in years. It all seemed… newer, like someone had put a fresh coat of color on everything. The Napa Grand Hotel rose above the other buildings and a café with a long line inside seemed to be doing some really good business. Everywhere he looked, there were happy people and he wondered aloud, “Are you sure we didn’t drive into Mayberry?”
