Table of Contents
The Do-Over
Copyright
Note to the reader
Acknowledgements
Blurb
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
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About the author
Copyright © 2020 by Mayra Statham
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Image: Deposit Photos
Editing: Julia Goda of Diamond in the Rough Editing
Formatting: CP Smith
Note to the reader
Dear Reader!
Thank you so much for checking out Passport 2 Love!
Thirteen authors have come together to work on a collaboration that will have you travelling the world from the comfort of your own home with twelve new books!
Don’t worry about a passport and airline tickets! We will take you around the globe! From Vegas to Mexico to London, and all over!
Now, are you ready? Yeah? Alright! Let’s do this! Up, up, and away!
Love always,
Passport 2 Love authors
Acknowledgements
When a book is created, it’s not just an author in front of a computer. It’s a team of people that help make it come to life.
I love my people.
Julia, Kelly, Teeny: Thank you for everything you do. We are scattered around the globe, but I want you to know our friendship, support, and love mean the world to me. Love you!
My babies and hubs: Thank you for your patience and support. Thank you for being my number-one cheerleaders.
You, the beautiful reader: Thank you for taking a chance on this story. You have no idea what it means to me. If possible, please leave a review.
Blurb
When you think it’s the end... but it’s actually just the beginning.
Get ready for a story unlike any other. With the twist you weren’t expecting.
Vince and Natasha ‘Tasha’ Cruz were high school sweethearts. Married young, they wouldn’t have wished the curveballs life threw at them on anyone. Slowly, they disconnected and lost themselves in the life they had created together, until a divorce separated them.
Tasha is ready to go after the dreams she and Vince had put on hold. With or without him, she is going to make them come true. Vince knows he was wrong. His pride and ego got in the way, and he lost Tasha. When he hears what she is about to do, he kicks pride to the curb and fights for a do-over.
Join Vince and Tasha on a Mexican beach adventure where an HEA is guaranteed and low-burning embers grow to roaring fires as lovers find their way back to one another.
Dedication
Love is the only word to describe what we have been through.
Chapter One
Natasha ‘Tasha’ Cruz
The beginning of the end or the start of something new?
I’D STARTED STRONG, but by the time I signed the last spot, my hand slightly shook as I set the pen down on the stack of papers in front of me. My eyes fell to the sheets of paper. I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel. The attorney’s conference room was quiet as I sat back in my seat and watched in silence as he took his turn and signed.
Fifteen years, and here we were.
Signing away the promises and commitment we’d made to one another for over a decade.
Giving up and resigning ourselves to the end. To the failure. Which was exactly how I felt. Like I had failed.
He sat back in his seat. A knot formed in the back of my throat as I looked at him. Why did he have to be so damn good looking?
“So, that’s it?” my attorney and best friend, Ada Tyson, asked, and my husband, or I guess my now ex-husband’s, attorney nodded.
Royce something or another—I couldn’t remember his last name to save my life—started saying something, but I couldn’t really focus on what he was saying. My heart was beating too slowly. My blood too thick in my veins.
A couple of signatures, and poof!
It was like we hadn’t happened. In the eyes of the law, we weren’t together anymore. We weren’t anything but a memory.
Vince cleared his throat, and I looked at him and tried not to show him everything I was feeling. I might have not been sure about my emotional state at the moment, but one look, and he would. He knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.
He was still handsome. More so than when we met in high school and when we said I do a couple of years later.
We had flipped off naysayers and had gotten married the second we found out we were pregnant. It was never I was pregnant. Not to Vince. To him it was we. We were a team.
Two against the world.
Even when the unthinkable happened and we lost our sweet angel.
I almost wanted to laugh.
After everything, this is where we ended up.
All the time. All the curveballs life had thrown at us. The naysayers had been right after all.
“Can we have a minute?” he asked, and I blinked once, twice, so lost in my thoughts I wasn’t sure he was talking about him having a moment with his lawyer or me.
“Of course,” his attorney said, standing up. “Ada, would you like a cup of coffee?”
“You okay for a minute with him?” Ada asked. I nodded, not able to speak out loud. “Okay. I’ll be in the car waiting for you.” I nodded, then I watched Ada and his asshole attorney walk out.
The silence was deafening as it filled the conference room. I looked at Vince, and he looked at me, but neither one of us spoke. Instead, he stood and walked over to me, kneeling beside me, holding my hand.
“Natasha—” I used to hate him saying my full name. Now, I didn’t mind it so much.
“So, it’s done,” I cut him off, the words clinging to the air around us.
“It is.”
“Okay.” I met his eyes, eyes who had been part of the soundtrack of my life. Eyes I could always lose myself in. Dark eyes that weren’t mine anymore. They hadn’t been for a very long time. “Ada’s waiting for me. I should go—“
“Give me a minute, yeah?” He sighed, and I rolled my eyes.
“Okay.”
“I love you,” he said, and the knot in my throat grew as my eyes got watery.
He wasn’t an easy man.
Not the kind of man who said those words freely and generously. I’d known that going in, but I couldn’t deny it was one of the many reasons why we were where we were now.
But here he was, saying words I had wanted to hear for so damn long.
“That’s’ funny.” I knew I sounded bitter. I just didn’t care.
“I always will,” he added, twisting the knife just a little deeper into my heart.
“Okay, then.” I stood, ignoring how he was still kneeling in front of me. “The movers will be at the house this weekend.”
“Tasha.”
“I’ll call them. Double-check that they know exactly what to take. It�
�s also the twins’ birthday.“—our nephews, his sister’s boys, our godsons—“Their gifts are in the hall closet. I’m sure you probably have some party at the beach house you’re throwing after all this.” The bitterness dripped from my voice.
“Babe—“
“I’m not anymore.” I straightened my back when he stood in front of me. I didn’t flinch when his hand touched my face. He wouldn’t hurt me. Not physically at least.
“Listen to me.”
“If you’re going to try and say something poetic about living and loving and losing, you can save it.”
“Jesus. Woman. Shut it.” His eyes twinkled like I was somehow amusing him instead of irritating him. It had been a long time since his eyes had sparkled like that.
“Over a decade, Tash.”
“I was there.” All the emotion I had been feeling quickly transformed into anger and pain, and I couldn’t stop myself.
“I just—“
“Don’t,” I bit back. “You wanted this. You got it. I’ll see you at the twins’ graduation and birthdays.” For how long, I wasn’t sure. But for now, that was my plan. I wasn’t giving up the relationships and family I had made because he had wanted to end us. “But other than that... hope you have a good life,” I spewed out honestly and as clearly as I could manage with out ripping his eyeballs out or slamming my fists on his chest.
“Don’t be like that, Natasha.”
“And how would you rather I be?”
“I just...” He ran his fingers through his hair. My hands clenched the leather strap of my purse.
I knew exactly how soft his hair felt. How long had it been since I’d touched it? Why did it matter now? I’d never touch him again.
“It’s fine, Vince.” I sighed, shaking my head. “It’s over.”
“Do you remember the day we got married?” he asked, and I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The ridiculousness of his question was too much for me.
“Of course, I do.”
“Months of planning,”
“And everything went wrong anyhow,” I pointed out. “I guess we should have looked at it as a warning for our marriage.”
“I don’t think that.” He broke eye contact, and I stared at the door. Hoping I could miraculously will it to open and a tornado would suck me out.
“I’m sorry.” His hand graced mine, and my eyes met his. His touch felt familiar and exhilarating. I didn’t want to lose it. Soon, I wouldn’t be able to remember it. “I can’t imagine my life without you.”
“That’s funny, since, you know, this whole thing was your idea.” I stepped back. “The thing about divorce, the main point of it is so legally, you no longer have to spend your life with the other person. In case you didn’t know what it meant when you asked me for this.”
“We were flailing.” My head snapped back towards his
“And instead of holding on, you pushed me away,” I bit back, done with his crap.
“We were flailing, and you didn’t just let me go. You threw me away,” he roared, the first time I had actually seen him upset about this whole thing, and it left me completely stunned.
“Excuse me?” I whispered.
“You heard me.” His cheek twitched.
I knew that cheek twitch. He was frustrated and pissed and aroused. I wanted to look down to his crotch and confirm, but I didn’t let myself.
“That’s not true.” I swallowed the flurry of warring emotion down.
“We were flailing, and you didn’t give a shit,” he hissed, taking my wrist in his hand and pulling me in closer.
“Again, not true,” I clipped. “I thought we were okay. I thought we were going through a rough patch, and you…” My voice cracked, and I hated him for it in that moment. I pulled my wrist away, and he let me go. “You asked for a divorce out of left field.”
“And you didn’t blink before you gave it to me,” he clipped. “I asked once, and you gave it to me.” He could not be believed!
“What the hell was I supposed to do, Vince?” I questioned, the burning at the tip of my nose making my eyes glassy. “Beg you to stay with me?”
“Why not?” he hissed.
“Why not?” I sounded hysterical, but I didn’t care. This was a long time coming. “Why would I beg the man who hardly took his attention away from his phone to look at me? Why would I beg the man who stopped saying ‘I love you’ and started closing himself off so much I could have bet money there was someone else!”
“There’s never been anyone else for me other than you.”
“You could have fooled me.”
“Natasha, I didn’t. I—“
“I don’t care,” I lied. “It’s over, so this conversation is pointless. Movers will get my things this weekend. Hope…” I wanted to swallow the words, but we’d shared too much to end on a sour note. Despite how we found ourselves in that moment. We’d shared amazing times together, and because of that, I had to be better than I wanted to be. “Hope you find someone who gives you what I couldn’t.” The words felt heavy on my tongue as they slipped through my lips.
There was so much I wasn’t able to give him.
One day, he’d have it though.
He’d have everything. And me?
I’d have memories and a lifetime of what could have been.
Vince
I watched her walk out with her head held high and her back ramrod straight, and my hands immediately balled into fists. I wanted to throw something. Anything. Hit and destroy something to smithereens.
But I had already done that, hadn’t I? Me and my stupid fucking mouth.
“Hope you find someone who gives you what I couldn’t.” Her words felt like shards of glass raining onto me. Nicking and cutting my skin, leaving abrasions on my whole body. I hated that’s where her head was.
That’s what she thought this was about? Fuck! I rubbed my face and pinched the bridge of my nose.
She had no idea. How could she? I sure as fuck hadn’t said anything. I always had so much in my damn head, yet nothing ever came out.
“Vince?” My gym buddy and attorney, Royce, knocked on the conference door, and I looked up.
“Sorry, Royce,” I rasped, rubbing my face while trying to stop myself from running after her. “You probably need this space—“
“You okay, man?” he asked with concern. I knew to most people he was a douchebag and a half. But I had to admit, with me, he was actually a decent human being.
“Yeah,” I lied, but by the look on his face, he sure as hell didn’t believe me.
“How about we get a drink or a bottle?” he offered sympathetically, and I chuckled.
“It’s ten in the morning,” I pointed out.
“It’s five o’clock somewhere, Vince.” He shrugged. “Come on, I know just the place.” He turned, and I followed. Because what the hell else was there to do after your marriage implodes and is no longer viable?
We stopped and got food and a couple of bottles of Buchanan’s Scotch. We went to his huge place and sat by his huge pool.
One drink became two.
Two became three, and so on, until I lost count. I wouldn’t remember much after that.
I didn’t slow the drinking until everything was fuzzy and my heart pounding with pain every beat only mildly ached.
I’d lost my girl.
I’d lost my girl because I hadn’t fought.
I hadn’t spoken up.
I’d thought she would be the one to do it for me, and fuck, was I wrong. I’d played a shit hand, and she called my bluff, and I had fucking lost.
“You could get her back, you know,” he said slowly, probably because he was as buzzed as I was.
“I fucking doubt that.”
“She still loves you,” he said, and I wanted to believe it because I sure as hell still loved her.
“She hates me.” I laughed, opening my eyes and staring at the blue depths of his pool.
“Maybe… Probably.” He chuckled. Oh yeah, he was jus
t as buzzed. “But she still loves you.”
“She doesn’t.” I shook my head, getting lost at the sight of the blue water in front of me.
“Do you really believe that, or are you just being fucking pigheaded?” My head swung in his direction, making me a little dizzy.
“Hey! Watch who you call pigheaded.” I pointed at him with a scowl.
“All I am saying is, don’t let pride fuck you over, man. Life’s too damn short.”
“Where was this before I actually had you file everything and work with her and Ada, huh?”
“Man…” He shook his head and looked off to the water. “Honest?”
“As my attorney and buddy, you should always be honest.”
“I didn’t think you would go through with all this.” He shrugged, and I let his words sink in. I hadn’t thought I would either, until she just…
She just went with it. It had stung. Hitting my ego and pride where it hurt most, and it had been a spiral ride down a black hole.
“I kept expecting you to stop signing shit and just tell her you messed up and you didn’t want a damn divorce.”
“Aren’t you a fucking book boyfriend,” I slurred and didn’t miss the way Royce was looking at me like I wasn’t making sense. “The divorce attorney with a hopeless romantic side.”
“Fuck you,” he chuckled. I reached for the bottle and noticed it was empty. “You think we can DoorDash more?” I looked at the bottom of the bottle. Empty. Empty like my life now.
“I think you’ve had enough. I’ll order us some food, and if you want more after you eat and drink some water, we can pop open the bottle I left in the kitchen.”
“That’s a good plan.” I sighed, pointing at him and letting my arm fall over my chest. “You really think I could get her back?” I felt ridiculous asking.
“How long have you been together?”
“Since we were eighteen.”
“So, what sixteen, seventeen years?”
“Yeah, fifteen married.”
“You do get that’s almost half your life, right?”
The Do-Over Page 1
