A Love for Romance

by Kahlen Aymes

  Amber Garza is the author of the Playing for Keeps series as well as many contemporary romance titles, including Star Struck, Tripping Me Up and Break Free. She has had a passion for the written word since she was a child making books out of notebook paper and staples. Her hobbies include reading and singing. Coffee and wine are her drinks of choice (not necessarily in that order). She writes while blaring music, and talks about her characters like they're real people. She currently lives in California with her amazing husband, and two hilarious children who provide her with enough material to keep her writing for years.

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  To read other titles by Amber Garza and to learn about upcoming releases, please visit her website.

  The Only Chance

  by Magan Vernon

  Chapter 1

  Roni

  Nobody meets their spouse when they're four-years-old unless they're living a fairytale.

  And that's why I thought my life was.

  I met Trigg Chapman on the playground on our first day of preschool.

  His dad was the newly elected state representative and I had no idea that the little boy with sandy brown curls was anything more than the kid who ate his boogers.

  Then middle school happened. I got boobs. He was the first boy in sixth grade to wear deodorant. It was a match made in gym class heaven.

  But things changed. After twenty years of knowing each other the mystery was gone. Once our daughter was born, and he started working on his dad's presidential campaign, so was the romance.

  That's why I needed a night out with my high school friends. I needed some time to clear my head.

  "So where is Trigg now?" Kara asked, taking a swig of her beer.

  After high school, I followed Trigg to college on the east coast and stayed there. Kara never left the Midwest and married an engineer with a job in the middle of nowhere in northern Illinois. When we met up, it was with the girls in the Chicago area, or we found a dive bar and grill near Kara's place.

  I twirled the straw in my drink. I told the girls it was rum and coke, but it was all coke. I wasn't much of a drinker and I thought it was stupid to drink when I had a long, dark ride back to my parents. "Still at Tripp's, sleeping on his couch."

  "Why doesn't he stay at his parents?" Laura asked, flipping her dyed blonde hair over her shoulder.

  "Would you want to stay with Kirk and Melanie?" I raised my eyebrows.

  Kara laughed, downing the rest of her drink and signaled to the waitress to bring another. "I think the governor and first lady would be the last people I'd want to camp out with."

  "Did you know when we'd go home on breaks, if I stayed the night, I had to stay in the guest room until we were married? Hell, we were living together when Trigg was at Dartmouth, yet I had to stay at my parents or the guest room." I huffed.

  Laura laughed. "Yeah, that didn't stop you from getting pregnant before the wedding."

  I put my finger to my lips. "Shh! People don't need to know that!"

  Laura rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You two are married now and Bella's almost one. If people did the math, they'd realize you were three months pregnant then. At least it made your boobs look amazing in your wedding pictures."

  I shoved Laura's arm. "You're ridiculous, do you know that?"

  The waitress—a short girl with a pixie cut and a cut off shorts—came over to the table. "Another round, ladies?"

  I shook my head and waved my arms. "Oh, no, not for me. I'll just take my check."

  Kara raised an eyebrow. "Are you leaving us already?"

  I sighed. "Yeah. It's a long drive back to my parents'."

  Laura put her hand on my back. "You know we're here for you if you need us, I'm sure Kara would be willing to pull out the old air mattress."

  I smiled. "Thanks, girls, for letting me bitch."

  "That's what friends are for." Kara smiled.

  The road was dark and a lot curvier than I remembered it on the way to the bar. My hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel with the radio on the lowest volume.

  But that didn't stop me from hearing the song.

  The song that I remembered from my first middle school party. The one that turned Trigg and I from friends to more.

  "All right, let's liven up this party with some spin the bottle!" Kara yelled, turning up the radio.

  Trigg and his friends Tyler and Justin were the first boys over to the circle. It was the first time I'd really noticed him. His tips were newly frosted and he was wearing a Lakers jersey that showed off his summer tan. He was definitely the most attractive boy in the sixth grade.

  I sipped the last of my Surge and twisted my braided hair around my finger. I had the braids done on our family vacation in Mexico and I thought they made me look edgy, instead of just the wide-eyed middle schooler from the Chicago suburbs.

  "Trigg, you want to do the honor of going first?" Kara asked, handing him the empty root beer bottle.

  "With pleasure," he said, sitting down in the circle.

  All eyes were on that bottle as it spun around Kara's basement floor. Every girl's hands were together, praying that the Trigg Chapman would get to kiss them.

  But the bottle slowed and came to a stop right in front of me.

  Oohs and ahhs came from the crowd, but I wasn't paying attention to them. My eyes were locked on Trigg's emerald green eyes as he leaned across the circle and gave me my first kiss.

  That was years ago. A time past. Now I couldn't remember the last time we kissed. Probably at some point when he was leaving for work and it was a peck on the cheek. Where had my perfect fairytale gone?

  I was so lost in my own thoughts that I barely saw the lights ahead. I swerved and screamed, praying that I'd corrected myself. But those bright lights were the last thing I saw before everything went dark.

  Chapter 2

  Trigg

  Living on Tripp's couch wasn't all bad.

  Well, it wasn't bad until his "friend" Sam became more than a friend.

  At first, she was just a friend that was helping him out, but by the way they flirted and the way he looked at her, I knew it was more.

  Of course they didn't really start anything until after Christmas when she moved into a friend's place. That didn't stop their sleepovers that weren't really sleepovers but more like "Hey-Trigg-leave-the-apartment-for-awhile-so-we-can-screw" overs.

  I'd give anything to have my own place back.

  I had a great townhouse in Boston.

  Two bedrooms and two bathrooms in Cedar Grove. I had the open kitchen, granite everything, and view of the water. But none of that was the same when Roni left and took our daughter Bella with her.

  I had just gotten home from work and found Roni packing up. I thought maybe she planned a surprise trip, but instead she handed me divorce papers and took off on a plane to Chicago.

  I followed.

  I couldn't stay with my parents, hell I couldn't even tell them about it. Dad was wrapped up in his presidential election, which he lost to another liberal democrat that promised to change America, and I knew they would frown on the concept.

  My youngest brother, Trey, had a nice place with his fiancée, but I couldn't bother him with all that since he had a baby on the way.

  That left my brother fresh out of rehab who lived in a studio.

  It wasn't all bad. I was literally a block from a great coffee shop where I spent most of my time, working.

  That's most of the reason why Roni said she left. All I did was work for the marketing company or on Dad's campaign.

  I told her it needed to be done. It was what provided for our family.

  But it made me miss the days when we were both carefree and didn't worry about jobs. The days when our only worries were where we were going to park my car.

  "Hey, go through my visor and find another CD?" I glanced over at Roni who pushed her hair out of her eyes.

  We had the top do
wn in the convertible and she tied her highlighted hair back in a headband, but it still kept whipping around her face, which would just make her laugh.

  "What? You don't like this mix I made?"

  I shook my head. "You really should stop burning music from the internet. That's going to be the downfall of the music industry and our economy."

  She laughed. "God, you sound like your dad!"

  "Hey! He speaks the truth!"

  "Pretty soon you'll be picking out red ties and we'll be attending fundraisers for your election."

  I shook my head. "No, that's not going to be me. Trey will be the one who runs for president. He has the look for it."

  She leaned over, running her fingers along my temple. "I think you have a pretty good look, too, Trigg."

  I turned off the highway, going toward downtown. We weren't supposed to go into Chicago, but I'd had my license for almost a year and I was ready to see the city and to travel in something other than the Amtrak.

  "You're just saying that because you hope I get you a t-shirt at the concert."

  She laughed. "Well, that too, but I mean it. You have the looks, charm, brains. You're the complete package."

  I squeezed her hand that was on the console between us. "You're not so bad either, Miss soon-to-be-valedictorian."

  She giggled. "We still have our entire senior year ahead of us! Someone could totally outrun me."

  I shook my head. "That's not going to happen. You're the one who got into Dartmouth on your grades, while I got in on my legacy."

  It sucked saying it out loud but it was true. Roni was the better one out of the two of us. She didn't rely on her family's money or name. She was just the smart, beautiful girl that I loved since the moment I saw her on the playground. I'd wanted her to be my girlfriend since kindergarten, but she shot me down every time I asked. It wasn't until middle school that she finally agreed when I serenaded her with a Backstreet Boys song and a bouquet of carnations. Now we'd been together ever since.

  "Hey! Don't say that! You know you're amazing, Trigg. I don't care how much your dad gives you and your brothers a hard time. You need to know that."

  I glanced over at her out of the corner of my eye. Her tie-dyed tank top ended just above her tanned stomach. The girl was always a vision of beauty, no matter what she was wearing, and more importantly when she wasn't wearing anything. "If you say so."

  "I'll keep saying it as long as you promise you won't end up like your dad. I don't know if I could marry a guy that all he does is work and talk about politics."

  I shook my head. "I'll never be that guy...but what is all this talk about marriage?"

  She giggled nervously. "I'm just saying...if it were to ever happen."

  I took her hand and brought it to my lips. "It'll happen. We'll get through our time at Dartmouth and you'll finally be able to add Chapman to your last name. Not the governor's wife or any other politician."

  She blew out a breath. "I hope so."

  I stared at my computer screen as it booted up. I really needed a new one, but I was hoping I could wait until I finally got back to Boston.

  I'd seen Roni a few times and I hoped she was coming around. We'd had a few date nights and I'd seen her at her parents, but there was still something missing. I knew we needed to talk about why she left. Why I was a workaholic and how I was hoping it would stop after the election was over.

  But I knew it wouldn't.

  I knew it had to change.

  But part of me couldn't help it. I was addicted to my phone and the computer. I couldn't stop thinking about marketing.

  Even now, as I waited for my computer to boot up, I found myself scrolling through my phone.

  It was then that a Chicago number I didn't recognize came up.

  I usually didn't answer, but I figured it could have been something work-related.

  "Hello, this is Patrick Chapman?"

  "Hello, Mr. Chapman, this is Doctor Collins at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I'm calling in regard to your wife, Veronica."

  All the air felt like it left my lungs and my mouth went dry.

  "Is she okay?" I barely managed to squeak out.

  "She's been in a bad car accident, sir. She's in a coma."

  I couldn't hear another thing she said, because I was too busy grabbing my stuff and leaving the coffee shop. I didn't even know if I grabbed anything and there was no time to get a taxi, so I ran.

  She may not have known I was coming, but I had to be near my wife.

  Chapter 3

  Roni

  I was dreaming.

  I knew I was dreaming because there was no other way that Trigg would be at my side.

  We were standing in the middle of the Roman coliseum, a place I'd wanted to go for years, but the only time Trigg took off work was for family functions.

  I was wearing a long, gold dress with my hair in a fancy updo. Trigg stood in front of me, grinning in a black tuxedo. His beard was trimmed and his hair gelled back.

  "Trigg? What's going on?"

  He snapped his fingers and music filled the crumbling stadium. Classic music. Violins and other string instruments. The same music that we heard at a symphony on our honeymoon.

  "It's all for you, Veronica," he said, taking my hand and pulling me into a waltz.

  "Am I dead?" I asked.

  He shook his head. "No. You're perfectly alive."

  "Then why are we dancing? What is all of this?"

  "It's your dream, Roni. You're controlling it." He pushed a fallen curl behind my ear.

  "That doesn't make any sense. Why would I bring us here?"

  Trigg dipped me and then pulled me back to him. "I'm just in your subconscious, I can't interpret it. Maybe it's because you were looking for time alone with me and this was where your brain took you?"

  He twirled me around and then pulled me back to his chest. "This seems like something in one of those fairy tales. Like I get to see you once upon a dream."

  "If that's true, this may be your only chance to make the most of it."

  I looked into his sparkling green eyes. Maybe it was a dream or maybe this was heaven. I couldn't be certain of either.

  "You know I love you, Trigg, but I hate that you love your computer and your phone more than me."

  He nodded. "I do and I hate that I'm addicted to technology and everything else than what I should be paying attention to."

  "Would you be saying all of this if you weren't in my dream?"

  He shrugged and dipped me again. "I should hope so."

  I put my fingers to his lips. They felt real. Warm to the touch beneath my hand. "Is this real?"

  He kissed each one of my fingertips before taking my hand and leaning toward me, his words a whisper on my lips. "Kiss me and find out."

  Chapter 4

  Trigg

  She looked like she was sleeping.

  Well, sort of.

  Her body hooked to different machines, her neck in a brace that kept her upright.

  But her eyelids would flutter in REM sleep.

  She was dreaming.

  I sat down beside her and took her hand, kissing each one of her fingers. The way I'd done since we were younger when handholding was taboo in middle school. When kissing was even worse.

  But I couldn't stop touching her.

  Even after all of these years, she was still as beautiful as the middle school girl who first agreed to be my girlfriend.

  "Hey, Chapman, Roni's checking you out from the stands," Keith Shoulderman said, bouncing the soccer ball on his knee.

  I glanced over to see where she was sandwiched between her best friends Kara and Laura. They were all giggling over something and flipping their long hair over their shoulders.

  I'd never been much for playing sports, but I thought if I joined the soccer team then I could impress Roni. Maybe she'd even wear my jersey on game day.

  Too bad I was more of a PlayStation type of a guy and I sucked at sports.

  "Hey, Chapman
, heads up!" Keith yelled.

  But I turned to slow and the ball hit me square in the forehead.

  "Ow!" I yelled, holding onto my head.

  "Dude, you should have head butted that."

  I groaned, rubbing my forehead. "I don't even know what the hell you're talking about."

  "Shhh! Don't let Kara's mom hear you swearing. She'll tell our parents." Keith looked behind him where Kara's mom was camped out on a bench with a romance novel in her hands.

  Kara's mom watched a bunch of us after school until our parents got off of work. She didn't watch us, as much as use it as an excuse to continue to stay home with her older kids and make some money off of it. I thought we were all old enough to stay home by ourselves, but Kara's mom seemed to convince all of our parents that we needed supervision, so we spent most days at the park while she sat on the bench.

  It wasn't all bad, though. It meant I got more time with Roni.

  "Hey, can I play with you guys?"

  I turned around to see Roni standing there, holding the ball that had hit my head. It was just starting to get a little colder and I missed the tank tops she wore all summer. But even in a striped turtleneck that was the same color as her chunky highlights, she still looked amazing.

  Keith shook his head. "Naw, why don't you go take another quiz or whatever you guys are doing in that magazine?"

  Roni frowned. "Girls can play soccer."

  Keith laughed. "Yeah, but not very well."

  Roni set the ball down and turned around, walking slowly in the other direction.

  I punched Keith's shoulder. "Why'd you have to do that?"

  "Ow!" He rubbed his arm.

  "Now she's going to be pissed at me and never agree to go out with me."

  Keith laughed. "She wouldn't go out with you anyway."

  "You don't know that."

  "I do, because she definitely prefers a guy who can play."

  Keith turned toward his soccer ball then his eyes went wide as it hit him square in the eyes.

  I whipped around to see Roni with her foot in the air, smiling as she set it down. "Actually, I prefer guys who aren't jerks."

  I grinned. "Nice shot, Roni."

  Her cheeks flushed. "Thanks, I guess I'm okay for a girl."