Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND)
Next Song I Sing
Book One of the
Next Time Around
Series
by
Donna McDonald
* * * * *
Copyright 2012 by Donna McDonald
Cover by LFD Designs for Authors
Edited by Toby Minton
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should delete from your reading device and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
Dedications
This book is dedicated to the many readers who asked for a series about 40 year olds who were divorced and starting over, and to those who survived the reality, like me.
This book is also for those readers who look in the mirror, see a woman outside the magazine or runway model norm and wonder if love and romance is for them. The answer is yes, but you have to like that woman you see in the mirror well enough to let someone like her back. This dear readers is the hard part. The actual love and romance will likely be much easier. So smile at her and then go smile at everyone else.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my beta readers for their sage advice about Chloe and her friends.
Thanks to my editor for his endless patience with helping me get this one smoothed out in all the places it was rough. May the muses reward you.
About this book
In 2011 after releasing most of the
Never Too Late
Series, I got quite a few messages and emails from some of my younger readers
This first book has been in progress for quite some time, but I was having trouble finding a title that resonated with me enough to do more books. My original working title for book one was “Weighing All Her Options”, and you’ll see as you read why I was trying to find a title referencing weight.
However, “Next Song I Sing” ended up being perfect for the book and for Chloe’s story. I'm satisfied with all three now and looking forward to working on “Next Game I Play” and “Next Move I Make” later this year…much, much later. I am so backed up in series books right now.
If the other two books turn out like the first, this series will be funny, full of mishaps, and lighter story lines that will hopefully make you laugh. I am dealing with a touchy topic here and there, but was definitely shooting for humor over heartache. You can let me know later how I did.
Chapter 1
Chloe sighed heavily when she saw a magazine with ear-marked pages being pulled from the bright red overnight case tossed on the roll-a-way cot next to the window. She hung her head and groaned like a woman dying, eliciting a wicked laugh from the bag’s owner.
“Emma Wallace, I can’t believe you still do those silly quizzes. I will not be answering any questions about my favorite position during sex, so don’t even ask.”
Emma studied her friend Chloe and then pointed the magazine at her, punching the air with it for emphasis. “I’ll take it easy on you because your divorce is still fresh, but you need soul-searching more than any of us, Chloe. You stayed with a man who cheated on you for more years than I did. This is not just a quiz. It’s part of your journey to self-discovery.”
“Journey to self-discovery? Jeez, Emma, you’re starting to sound more and more like those greeting cards you write,” Taylor Baird said, dragging an expensive black leather overnight case on wheels into the room behind her.
Emma and Chloe smiled at the svelte blond who looked all business in her suit. Chloe ran over to hug her, surprised to be getting all choked up over how happy she truly was to see Taylor.
“Thank God you’re here. Emma brought a
quiz
,” Chloe complained, saying it as if it were a dirty word.
Finally letting Taylor go, Chloe returned to her unpacking, a little embarrassed about how incredibly happy she was to be with her friends again. God, she should never have left.
“Command some authority here, Taylor, and tell Emma no quiz questions. I moved to the West Coast to get away from being emotionally tortured,” Chloe said.
Taylor laughed, her voice husky. “Remember in college when Emma got the idea that we needed to get our belly buttons pierced to be sexy?”
“Unfortunately,” Chloe said, remembering the trauma all too well.
She had screamed in pain while Emma had laughed and Taylor had winced in sympathy. But ironically, Chloe had kept the piercing over the years. Mostly because it had cost her so dearly to get it, but also because it made her feel sexy even when her husband Aaron hadn’t liked it. Wearing jewelry in her belly had been her way of rebelling against him when they fought, which ended up being often during the almost five years they had been married.
“Earth to Chloe? Where are you?” Emma called, waving a hand in front Chloe’s face.
“That piercing hurt like hell, Em,” Chloe informed her, glaring hard as she remembered the pain.
“Everything worth doing hurts a little, even exercising. And who was it that ran around in navel-revealing shirts all that year? I’ll give you a hint. It wasn’t me or Taylor showing off our piercings,” Emma reminded her, not a bit embarrassed to gloat.
“What else could I do but show it off? I figured I might as well enjoy flaunting it after going through hell to get it done,” Chloe insisted, glaring at Emma, who stuck out her tongue.
“I bet you still have your piercing,” Emma said with a knowing grin. “I don’t. Taylor doesn’t. Tell us the truth, Chloe.”
“A woman has a right to some keep some secrets, especially from nosy friends,” Chloe announced, turning away from their knowing smiles.
When both Emma and Taylor both laughed, Chloe rolled her eyes because…well, she had kept her piercing. And it had felt very brave to take a healthy chunk of her savings and buy a tiny real diamond studded ring to wear there. It made her feel a lot younger than forty. She had needed help to feel better about her thirty-six-year-old husband replacing her with a skinny woman half her age.
Taylor laughed at Chloe’s and Emma’s bickering, thinking five years living on opposite coasts hadn’t changed the dynamic between them much. Back in college though, Chloe’s programming to please people she cared about had practically guaranteed she would never outsmart a determined Emma hell-bent on a make-over. Helping people improve themselves was practically a religion to Em, and she and Chloe were usually favorite converts.
“We were twenty-one not sixteen when we got those piercings, Chloe Zanders. You could have said no about the belly button ring. You can say no to the quiz now. That was my point for bringing it up. It’s time to learn to command your own authority,” Taylor said on a laugh.
“Trust me, Baird. I’m not the push-over I was in college. I command authority when I need to nowadays, but you’re not fooling me. If I don’t play along, you and Emma will think I’m just as boring as my ex did,” Chloe said, turning away to shake out her clothes from the exercise duffle she had brought.
She glared at the plain black gym bag. It wasn’t red and perky like Emma’s or sleekly black like Taylor’s. It was black and old, not mention well-used, but her good luggage had been too large for a simple three-night stay in a resort, so Chloe hadn’t bothered with it. Everything that worked for California fit in the one small bag she’d carried on the plane.
“You are so not boring, Chloe. Your ex was just a selfish jerk like my mine was. Own it, girlfriend—and then let it go,” Taylor said flatly, snorting in derision. “Trust me, you didn’t lose anything divorcing a man who didn’t appreciate you. One day soon, you’re going to be nothing but relieved Aaron is out of your life. It just takes a while to feel it.”
Taylor unzipped her case and starting looking through her clothes. “Now come on. We’re going shopping for sexy new dresses to kick off our weekend. For once, I’m looking forward to letting Emma try to fix me with her quizzes and questions. I haven’t had a decent date in three months. I obviously need an attitude adjustment.”