by Jill Sanders
Table of Contents
Prologue
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
Happy Accidents
Jill Sanders
Contents
Happy Accident
Summary
Happy Accident
Prologue
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
Other books by Jill Sanders
About the Author
Happy Accident
~ Silver Cove ~
Kayla & Rowan
© 2017 Jill Sanders
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Summary
Nothing has ever been easy for Kayla. With the mystery of her sister’s death ten years ago still looming over her, Kayla returns home with her young son to a broken family. All she wants is a fresh start. A reboot on life. There’s just one problem, everything seems to be getting in her way of having her very own happy ever after…
Happy Accident
by
Jill Sanders
Prologue
Kayla stood in the hallway, waiting for her big sister to come down the stairs. There was no way she was going to miss Rowan’s sixteenth birthday party, since he’d invited her himself.
She’d asked her mother and she’d said that she was finally old enough to go to one of the famous Holley parties.
Kayla had taken great care in dressing for the evening, even doing her make up extra heavy so that she’d look older than her stupid thirteen years, two weeks, and four days.
She was a little shocked at how much she looked like Lori with the war paint on. Lori had had her sixteenth birthday just two months ago. She’d idolized her older sister for as long as she could remember. Of course, the fondness wasn’t mutual.
If she had to rate their sisterly relationship, she’d give herself an A for effort and Lori an F for not even trying. Kayla always felt like she was a burden to Lori.
Their older brother Jerry, or JT as they called him, had moved out on his own shortly after graduating last year. It had taken him less than an hour to pack his things and disappear from the family. She’d felt a little relieved since JT and their father were always yelling at each other. Not that she didn’t like her brother, but she knew he was happier away from their father.
Her brother had called when he found a place and a job. She hadn’t really had a chance to miss him since he lived only a few miles away above the bookstore in town and she saw him all the time when she went into town.
Her sister was a different story. Their relationship was very strained. Every time Lori had friends over, Kayla was accused of being in the way or doing something to embarrass her and her friends. When Kayla asked to borrow one of Lori’s shirts or outfits, Lori would scream and yell at her until their mother would usher Kayla back to her room, telling her that she had plenty of clothing of her own.
Of course, that wasn’t how it ended when Lori wanted to borrow Kayla’s new shirt that she’d bought with her babysitting money. Lori had snuck into her room and taken it without her noticing. For almost an entire week, she’d thought she’d lost it in the dirty laundry. Then she’d seen Lori wearing it one night as she was getting ready to go out with Rowan. When she confronted her sister, Lori had informed her that it was hers now, since she had borrowed it over a week ago and Kayla hadn’t asked for it back.
“One week is all you get, then you relinquish your rights to the item.”
“Relinquish?” she’d screamed and gone running to their mother, who had a migraine and waved her off, telling her to fight her own battles. Their father never got involved in fights, unless he did, in which case they were better off slapping on boxing gloves and duking it out.
After the argument about the shirt, Lori had jumped in the old beat-up car their father had rebuilt last summer for her and disappeared. The next time she’d seen her sister, there had been a large red stain that looked a lot like wine down the front of Kayla’s new blouse. Her sister tossed the shirt in the trash, along with all of Kayla’s respect.
Lori was dating one of the dreamiest boys in town. Everyone knew that Rowan Holley was going someplace. Not only was he a Holley, one of Silver Cove’s oldest families, but he was almost six foot tall and had dirty blond hair. He was everything she dreamed she’d someday have in a boyfriend.
She’d grown up around Rowan, and since he’d been dating her sister for almost a year, had spent even more time around him lately.
He’d proved a better friend than her own sister or brother had on more than one occasion. Part of her knew that there was no way that Rowan would ever think of her as anything more than the annoying little sister of the girl he was dating. Still, her young mind dreamed of the day that he’d look at her as something… else.
She glanced at herself one more time in the mirror by the front door. Maybe tonight could be that night. She placed more lip gloss on her lips and smiled. She could easily pass for sixteen. Well, maybe fifteen and a half. She was too skinny and her boobs hadn’t quite come in yet. Sure, she had beautiful skin, light blue eyes, and long thick blonde hair, which she had just changed from the brown she’d worn in the past few years, but the rest of her was just… plain.
She guessed that Rowan had invited her to his sixteenth birthday party because he knew that Lori was cheating on him with more than one boy. Why her sister was such an idiot was beyond her.
She jumped a little when she heard her sister’s feet pounding towards the stairs and turned around to watch Lori rush down.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Lori sneered when she noticed her.
“Mom said…” she started.
Lori laughed. “I don’t care what Mom said. You are not coming with me.” She grabbed her jacket from the front door hook and pushed past her.
“I’m going or…” Kayla started to follow her sister out.
Lori turned around and pushed her. Her sister had almost a full foot on her and at least twenty pounds. Most of it in her boobs.
“Or what? You’ll tattle? Go right ahead. Mom doesn’t give a shit.” Lori moved closer until their noses almost touched as she lowered her voice. “In case you haven’t noticed, she doesn’t care about any of us anymore.”
“Then I’ll tell Dad.” Kayla raised her chin as she crossed her arms over her small chest. Her bra was padded with the foam cups from Lori’s swimsuit, which she’d tossed out. Where Kayla was barely an A cup, Lori was almost a D at this point, and if Kayla’s bad luck held, her sister
would continue to grow while she would end up with just what she had for the rest of her life.
“Dad?” Lori laughed. “If you haven’t guessed it, little sister”—the sarcasm in Lori’s voice stung when she called her that since Lori had made fun of her small boobs on multiple occasions— “Dad has one foot out the door.”
“What do you mean?” Kayla’s mind suddenly changed gears. Now, instead of worrying about a stupid party, her parents’ lives and her future hung in the forefront.
“D-I-v-o-r-c-e.” Lori spelled it out.
While the nasty word sunk in Kayla’s mind, her sister slipped out of the house without her notice.
Chapter 1
Ten Years Later
She couldn’t believe she was standing on her front porch again. The same one she’d played on years ago with her brother and sister. The same porch where she’d done her homework and received her very first kiss. The same one where she’d last seen her father before he left the family and the one of the last spots she’d seen her sister alive.
This strip of wood in front of her old house held a lot of memories. So did the building she had been avoiding for the past few years.
Glancing around, she frowned at the mess that was piled up against the front windows. Her once-beloved favorite spot was now overrun with junk. Even the swing sat in the messy pile, broken and unused.
“Are we going in?” Connor glanced up and frowned at her. Her son’s dark eyebrows drew together as his tongue rolled around in his mouth. His jeans were once again too small, the third pair he’d outgrown in the past year. She’d bought his tennis shoes two sizes too big on purpose. She couldn’t afford to keep buying him new shoes every few months.
His blond hair was a little too long and curled in every direction. His blue eyes matched hers almost perfectly. His pouty lips he’d gained from his father. He held his left arm close to him, wrapped in a small red cast.
“Yes, sweetie.” She squeezed his good hand gently. “Would you like to ring the bell?” She nodded to the button next to the door.
Her son stood up on his tippy toes and carefully placed his chubby baby fingers on the button and pushed.
It took almost a full minute for her mother to answer. When she did, Kayla tried not to groan at her mother’s haggard appearance. Mary Thomas had once been someone Kayla had aspired to be like. She’d kept her appearance, her clothes, and her home tidy and well maintained. Now, there was no real style to her mother’s silver hair. Her clothes were unkempt and appeared dirty and a few sizes too large for her frail frame.
“Is that my mema?” Connor asked quietly.
“Yes, sweetie.” She took her son’s good hand again. “Hi, Mom.” She stepped past her mother without waiting for an invitation. She held in a gasp at the mess that met her inside.
“Kayla, I thought you were coming tomorrow?” her mother said, shutting the door behind her.
“I told you today.” She put her small bag down inside the doorway and tried not to cringe at the thought of what she had set the bag down in. The smell in the house told her that her mother hadn’t gotten rid of any of the pets she’d had last time Kayla had visited.
At first glance, she estimated over half a dozen cats roaming the living room. She heard barking and knew there were at least three dogs, by her last count, somewhere in the house.
Her mother shut the front door and turned towards them. “Well, I was just about to clean up.”
Kayla held in a very sarcastic, ‘Right.’ Her mother’s eyes moved down to Connor and softened.
“Don’t worry about it. At least we made it.” She glanced down. “Mom, this is Connor James.” She smiled down at her son, who was looking up at her mother.
“I’m three.” He held up his fingers and gave her mother one of his charming smiles.
“I know, sweetie.” Her mother smiled. “I’ve got your room all set up for you.” Her mother knelt and Kayla relaxed slightly. “I gave you your mother’s old room.”
Connor frowned and glanced up at Kayla. “It’s not pink, is it?”
Her mother chuckled. “No, sweetie. It’s blue. Your mother’s favorite color.”
Connor smiled and did a little bounce. “Mine too.”
Her mother reached out her hand for his. “I’ll go upstairs and show him the room while you get the rest of your stuff from the car.”
Connor glanced up at her until she nodded in agreement. Then he reached up and took her mother’s hand and followed her up the stairs.
Kayla noticed that almost every step was full of clutter. Her son quietly maneuvered around each piece of rubbish without saying a word.
She had prepared Connor before their arrival. She’d explained that his grandmother was a hoarder, a word she had to go into great detail to explain on the long trip up to Silver Cove, Maine, from Florida.
She took a moment to assess how bad it had gotten since she’d left years ago. Bad. Very bad. She trudged her way through her mother’s home and almost stepped on a cat, which scuttled away and hissed at her.
“Sorry,” she said, stepping over a stack of clothes. Her shoe landed in a pile of something squishy and she shivered at the thought of what it might be.
She heard more movement in the room and only hoped that it was cats instead of rodents. She cringed and glanced around once more. The smell alone made her stomach turn.
Stacks of newspapers and magazines from the past ten years sat in the living room along with, it seemed, every piece of paper her mother had received in the last ten years.
There were dirty dishes, food boxes, clothing. It was more than Kayla could wrap her mind around. How did her mother get all of this… junk?
Thoughts flooded her mind of clearing all the clutter out. Hauling load after load to the dump.
She remembered how that ordeal had gone the last time she was here. Her mother had yelled, threatened, and in the end, replaced everything Kayla had tossed out.
She knew her mother had to make the change herself. She’d watched enough of the show Hoarders to know that it was a sickness rather than just a lack of cleanliness.
She walked outside and took a deep breath of fresh summer air. How was she going to live like this? Why would she allow her son to be raised in a place like this? Was it even safe?
It wasn’t as if she had a choice. Not after… She forced her mind to stop dwelling on the past. Chad was no longer part of her life. No longer part of Connor’s life either. They were better off for it.
There were a lot of things that were no longer part of her life, just like Chad. Things like her job, her rundown apartment, a small but cozy bank account, spending money, her sanity.
She sighed as she tossed a bag from her trunk over her shoulder.
“Hey,” someone said from behind her.
Glancing over, she squinted directly into the mid-morning sunlight.
Rowan Holley. One of the only doctors in town as well as the most available and by far the sexiest bachelor in Silver Cove. She tried to hold in a sigh of pure sexual desire as she turned towards him.
“Hi.” She smiled up at him and set down the bag she’d pulled out of her car. Before she could grab the next one, he took it from her and then removed her remaining bags.
“I heard you were coming back today,” Rowan said once all her worldly possessions sat on the sidewalk in front of her mother’s house. “I saw you turn off Main and thought you might need some help.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I’m back.” She stopped herself before she rolled her eyes.
“How long are you staying this time?” he asked, leaning on the trunk of her car. He crossed his arms over his chest and once again she held in a sigh of appreciation for his beauty.
She’d been back a handful of times. Once, a few years back, she’d even gone out with Rowan. Well, not gone out, gone out. He’d had a date planned for a charity event, but Lilith, another friend of his, had been kidnapped. Rowan had bumped into Kayla in town and she’d agreed to fil
l in while Lilith was recovering from the scary ordeal. Which reminded Kayla that a lot had changed in Silver Cove since she’d been here last.
That night with Rowan had been nice enough, but she’d still been in school in New York. Still young and stupid enough to fall for Chad’s charm when she’d returned to the city. His charm had been powerful enough to convince her to drop out of school and follow him down to Florida. Where he’d stomped on her heart and left her with the most precious gift she’d ever receive.
“Not sure this time.” She glanced at the house and wondered if she’d done the right thing coming back here, staying with her mother.
He followed her gaze. “Things still bad?”
She shrugged. “Worse.”
“JT and I try to check in on her as often as we can.” His eyes were glued to the house. “I wish there was something more we could do.”
Rowan had been one of her brother’s best friends. She knew they were still friendly, but their friendship had died a little the day Lori’s body had been discovered. Part of her wondered if JT blamed Rowan and part of her kept her own blaming ideas to herself.
“Thanks. But it’s not really a medical issue.” She sighed. “I don’t think anyone can help her, but herself.”
“No, some things you can’t fix with needles and stitches.” He stood up. “Well, least I can do is help you inside with all this.” He bent down and tossed a bag over his shoulders, then picked up two of her suitcases. She took the remaining bag and box and led him down the pathway to her mother’s place.
At one point in her life, back when her father still lived with them, the house had been the cutest on the block. Now, the outside needed paint, the yard needed some serious work, and the inside... Kayla tried not to cringe as she opened the front door.
She stopped Rowan from following her inside. There was no way she was going to allow anyone to see the inside, especially him.
