Falling for Fate (Second Chance Book 2) Read online

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  The Second Chance Series

  Last Second Chance

  Falling for Fate

  One Last Ride (Coming Soon)

  The Kylie Ryans Series

  Girl With Guitar

  Girl On Tour

  Girl In Love

  Keep Me Still Series

  Keep Me Still

  Hold Us Close

  Broken Heartland Series

  Storm Warning

  Path of Destruction (Summer 2014)

  Abbott Springs Series

  All I Ever Wanted

  For my precious early readers, who wanted to know exactly what happened on the beach.

  This one is for you.

  Sometimes the worst things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us.

  –Unknown

  “Weddings are supposed to be fun, Fate. Breathe.” Melissa Lincoln smiled her bright, chemically whitened smile in the mirror behind her. Her long, copper-colored hair and the scent of expensive but slightly cloying perfume fell over Fate’s shoulder. “And for goodness sake, smile.”

  Fate made a concentrated effort to force her mouth upward.

  “Trevor hates lace. Says it reminds him of his grandma’s curtains,” she informed her best friend and maid of honor. “But every dress I like has lace overlay.” Smoothing her hand over the lace she wore, her frown returned.

  Standing on the pedestal in front of a three-way mirror was the last place she wanted to be. Her mom was at home, alone, in the tiny one-bedroom apartment they now shared, probably drowning her sorrows over boyfriend number four bailing on her. Fate’s shoulders were weighed down by guilt at not being there for her mom. Chantal, the very helpful, young bridal consultant and Melissa had both told her to stand up straight several times while modeling dresses.

  She’d tried talking to Melissa about it in a roundabout way, but her friend’s answer had been that Fate’s mom was the one who should be there for her, not the other way around. Melissa’s mom was a Martha Stewart in the making, so Fate didn’t bother trying to explain how the dynamic of her relationship was vastly different.

  “What about this one?” Melissa held up a satin, strapless gown that was quite pretty. Except it was ivory and Trevor had specifically said diamond white. He’d made several comments about her needing to wear a white dress since she was holding out on him. If he were going to marry a virgin, he’d said, then his bride would wear the brightest white possible.

  “It’s pretty,” Fate offered. “But Trevor wants diamond white, not cream or ivory.”

  Melissa’s smile tightened. “Well we can’t disappoint Trevor now can we.”

  “It’s his wedding day too,” Fate reminded her. Her relationship with Trevor Harris hadn’t always been easy. They’d met freshmen year at the University of Texas and been on again and off again over the past four years. But he was all she had, aside from a mother with a dangerously addictive personality. “Plus, I just don’t see what the big deal is. It’s only going to be his giant family and my mom. It’ll be over before you know it. Seems crazy to spend this much time and effort on something that will be over in a blink. But then I feel bad for not being more invested because he’s pretty excited and so is his family. So I keep reminding myself that it’s his wedding too.”

  Trevor’s mom was treating the event like a national holiday. His family owned a large pharmaceutical company, Harris Pharmaceutical. He was being put in charge of overseeing a new research and development lab in New York while completing business school at NYU. After their wedding at his family’s house in the Hamptons, she and Trevor would move into an enormous penthouse apartment in Manhattan and Fate would begin her job as a marketing assistant at a company she’d found during her online job search. Maxwell Medical was a large, multinational corporation that Fate was hoping to learn more about.

  While Harris Pharmaceutical still had several marketing positions available, Trevor had made a rule about them not working together. He said that couples that worked together got sick of each other and brought their marital problems to the office and vice versa. Fate agreed that she didn’t want to be one of those couples.

  “So it is,” Melissa said through clenched teeth. “Here. Try this one.”

  Fate used both hands to lift the skirt on the dress she was currently wearing and stepped down off the pedestal to get a better look at the dress her friend held.

  “I like that one.” It was gleaming white, form-fitting with a plunging neckline. “Hold it up and I’ll snap a picture with my phone to send to Trevor.”

  Melissa gaped at her in horror. “Are you insane? He can’t see it before the wedding. It’s bad luck.”

  Fate rolled her eyes. “It’s the bride, Mel. He can’t see the bride before the wedding. Of course he can see the dress. Hold it up.”

  Ignoring her friend’s disapproving glare, Fate snapped a quick picture and messaged it to Trevor. Her phone buzzed with his reply almost immediately.

  Nice. Is that Melissa with you?

  She texted back yes and that she was trying the dress on and would call him when she was done.

  Fate slipped on the new dress with Melissa and Chantal’s help. It was a little too long, but it fit her body as if it had been made specifically for her. She glanced at the price tag after seeing it in the mirror.

  “Oh. Wow. No.” The number had an extra zero at the end.

  “It’s Vera Wang,” Chantal informed her. “Part of our exclusive collection.”

  “Yeah. No, I can’t afford this.” Fate flushed with embarrassment, wishing she hadn’t put the dress on before checking how much it cost.

  “Trevor would pay for whatever dress you wanted if you asked him to.”

  Fate shook her head. “I know he would. But he’s already marrying me and my mountain of student loan debt. And his parents are paying the majority of the wedding expenses. I can buy my own dress.”

  Melissa gave her a sympathetic head tilt before turning to Chantal. “Do you have something similar by a less exclusive designer?”

  The girl nodded. “It won’t be similar as far as quality and craftsmanship go, as in the beading won’t be hand-stitched or anything. But we have this style in several other lines.”

  “Grab a few of them, would you? Size four.”

  “Um, or a six please.” Fate was grateful that Melissa was handling this humiliating moment, but she also wanted to be able to breathe on her wedding day. “Let’s just get this off before I damage it or something. It costs more than my car.”

  Mentioning her car made her a little sad. Betty, her four-door Toyota Corolla, was being sold before the move to New York. Trevor said that no one drove there and the company was going to provide a car service should she need one. Betty wasn’t a luxury vehicle or anything, but she was Fate’s and she’d worked hard waitressing through college to pay for her.

  Once they’d carefully removed the dress, Melissa stepped away to answer her phone. The obnoxious device had been ringing incessantly, as her friend’s phone tended to do. Melissa was a year older than her and worked for one of the most sought after even planners in the state of Texas, for which Fate was grateful. Her friend had handled the wedding details with such care and attention to detail as if it were her own.

  Chantal brought three other dresses over to them, all with a similar style but less elegant than the first had been.

  “This one is Maggie Sottero,” Chantal said, handing over the first dress. “Zayn.”

  “It has a name,” Fate whispered to Melissa when she returned from her phone call. “A cool one.”
/>   “Let’s give it a whirl.”

  This time, Fate checked the price before putting it on over her nude, strapless bra and matching panties. It wasn’t cheap by any means, but at least it had the correct number of decimal places.

  Once she’d returned to the pedestal, she immediately knew this was the right dress. While the Vera Wang one had been unquestionably beautiful, it had felt too fancy for her. The same way Trevor sometimes felt too fancy for her, with his family’s huge dinner parties and formal flatware. His mother had spent hours debating cake designers and the perfect champagne for the wedding toast. Fate was a simple girl who’d been raised by a woman with complex issues. She preferred to keep things as uncomplicated as possible. Part of her always wondered why Trevor had picked someone like her. He was the guy every girl wanted, wealthy, popular, the life of every party. His tastes were refined and specific.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “This is it,” she said to Melissa and Chantal. “This is the dress.” She’d heard that, when you found the right wedding dress, you just knew. Now, she knew that to be true.

  “Perfect.” Chantal’s smile was much bigger than Melissa’s. “Once you’ve paid in full, we can get started on the alterations.”

  Fate bit her lip. She didn’t have much in the way of funds, but she was short on time too. She’d literally put wedding dress shopping off as long as she could. It was three months until the wedding. Three months until she moved to New York and started her new life with Trevor.

  “How long do alterations usually take?”

  “Usually four to six weeks or so. But June weddings are pretty popular, so we’re kind of slammed at the moment.”

  Fate had wanted a fall wedding. She loved fall, loved the scent of the leaves, the cool, crisp air, and the colors. It was her humble opinion that the colors during fall made nature the perfect backdrop for a wedding—no fancy decorations needed. But Trevor and his mother both had their hearts set on June. So June it was.

  “Fate…” Melissa began hesitantly. “Why don’t you let me put the full cost of the dress on my credit card and you can pay me back? Half now and half later. That way, they can go ahead and get started on the alterations.”

  Fate was overwhelmed by her friend’s generosity. “That’s such a sweet offer, Mel. But there’s no way I could let you do that. I’ll pick up some extra shifts at the diner and pay the dress off next month. It’ll be fine.”

  Melissa frowned, lines creasing her forehead. “If you were one of my clients, I’d tell you this was crazy—putting off everything until the last minute.”

  “Guess it’s a good thing I’m just your best friend then,” Fate told her as she pulled out her debit card to pay the deposit on the dress.

  “Guess so,” Melissa said quietly before they walked outside.

  Once they reached Melissa’s red Mercedes, her friend stared at her intently as if making up her mind about something.

  “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Fate asked, curious as to what had her usually chatty friend so introspective.

  She hoped she hadn’t been insensitive bringing Melissa along. Mel had recently called off her own engagement with an entertainment lawyer she’d been dating for the past few years. At least that’s what her friend had told her. But rumors had run rampant throughout their small circle of friends and Fate had overheard mumblings that it had been Ethan who’d ended things. There was even gossip about Mel cheating, but Fate didn’t believe that. Melissa was the most loyal person she knew.

  “It’s just…” Melissa shook her head as if she were going to back out of finishing her sentence.

  “It’s just what, Mel? You know you can tell me anything.”

  Melissa was the only truly close friend she had and the only person aside from Trevor who knew about her mother’s issues with addiction.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, Fate? The wedding, I mean. You just seem to be sort of… I don’t know… Unenthused about the whole thing.”

  A tight ball of worry formed in Fate’s stomach. Was that how she was coming off? Unenthused?

  “It’s just a lot, you know? I guess seeing my mom get her heart broken so many times and what it did to her… I never thought I’d be the kind of girl to get married. Then there are all these decisions and things you’re supposed to care about.” She sighed. “I mean, honestly, I don’t care about the font on the invitations or what fabric the tablecloths at the reception are made of. I’m a sucky bride.”

  It felt good to admit. Melissa nodded and they got in the car. Once they’d both buckled their seatbelts, Melissa turned as much as the shoulder strap would allow.

  “I know it’s a lot, Fate. But just think—when it’s all over, you get to be Mrs. Trevor Edward Harris.” There was a wistful twinge in Melissa’s voice. It added to Fate’s guilt.

  “Thanks. You’re right. I know. I guess I’m just a little overwhelmed.” She swallowed her concerns back down. “And, Mel, I know we haven’t really talked about it, but I’m so sorry things didn’t work out with Ethan.”

  Her friend’s eyes widened and then she waved her hand between them. “That’s old news. Besides, I don’t need a wedding of my own. I can just live vicariously through you. Now let’s go pick you out a cake.”

  Fate was excited for the first time in all the wedding madness. Cake was a wedding tradition she could finally get on board with.

  “I got Italian cream cake with almond buttercream icing. Oh my gosh. It was so good, Trevor. Like heaven in my mouth. And German chocolate for your groom’s cake.”

  Fate sipped the glass of red wine that had been placed in front of her by the waiter at her fiancé’s favorite restaurant. She preferred white or blush even, something fruity and crisp with a hint of sweetness versus the burn of red that made her skin flush, but Trevor said that red went better with the baked ziti he’d ordered them both for dinner. So red it was.

  “It’s all the same to me, darling. But you should speak with Mother to be sure. I think German chocolate may contain coconut and we have a few family members who are allergic.”

  “Oh.” Her gaze fell to the garlic bread on the table. She’d already eaten one piece despite Trevor reminding her that a bride-to-be should watch her carbohydrate intake. “Maybe I should call tomorrow and have them change it to plain chocolate. I just remembered that Bundt cake my mom made that you liked so well.”

  Trevor let out a low chuckle. “Dear God, Fate. Was that when your mom was going through her ‘going to start a catering business’ phase? I’m pretty sure I was just being polite. I thought you realized that.”

  Fate felt the sting of hurt on her mother’s behalf. He’d been more than polite. He’d raved. Laid his praise on almost too thick. He had been making fun of her mom, she now realized.

  Sure, her mom had her issues, but she’d had a difficult life. Brenda Buchanan’s mother had abandoned her when she was young and she’d lived with various relatives who’d passed her around like a hot potato until she got pregnant with Fate at seventeen. Fate’s dad had proposed just before going into the Air Force, where he’d been killed on his first deployment as a fighter pilot when she was barely nine months old. After that, it was one hobby after another as her mother tried relentlessly to move on. She wasn’t a perfect woman, but she’d done the best she could with what she had. And despite her many, many failures, she kept trying. Fate admired her tenacity and resilience.

  “I didn’t realize,” Fate said evenly. “I guess you can add acting to the list of your many skills.”

  Trevor gave her a playful smile as he sipped his own wine. “I didn’t realize you were so naïve, darling. We’ll have to work on that.”

  The main course arrived, but Fate’s appetite seemed to have vanished. “Maybe your company can develop a pill for it.” She was going for light, teasing even, in hopes of ridding them of the tension in what she’d meant to be a conversation about cake. But somehow, her tone held a bitter edge she hadn’t intended for it to. />
  Trevor arched a brow over the steaming plate of pasta. “Feeling feisty tonight, are we?”

  “Sorry,” she mumbled, feeling as if she’d behaved like a petulant child. “I’m just tired. It was a long day.”

  Trevor smirked and took a bite of his food. “That’s too bad,” he said once he’d chewed and swallowed. Fate watched as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I was kind of hoping you’d let feisty Fate out to play. Any chance I can talk you into staying at my place tonight?”

  Disappointment pulled in her gut. This argument had grown old by now. She respected her mom, but she didn’t want to repeat her mistakes. She’d had a ringside seat for most of them and she considered herself a living, breathing reminder of the biggest one. So she was saving herself for marriage, something she’d told him when they first began dating as not to lead him on or give him false expectations.

  Trevor Harris was not used to rejection, and over the nearly four years they’d dated, the breakups had almost always come at the end of an argument about sex. Once they’d gotten engaged, Fate had compromised and they’d begun engaging in oral sex, but that was as far as she was going until they said I do. Melissa jokingly called her a prude, and Trevor, when angry, had called her much worse. But she’d stuck to her guns and would continue to do so until after the wedding.

  “You know I can’t,” she said softly. “I know you get frustrated, but I want our wedding night to be special. It’s important to me.”

  Huffing out an annoyed breath, Trevor took another bite. Fate focused on her food, cutting it up into smaller and smaller pieces.

  “It will be. It will probably be even better because you’ll know by then what you enjoy, what feels good. First times can be awkward and uncomfortable, Fate. Is that what you want for our wedding night?”

  A passing waitress stepped over and refilled their water glasses. The young girl bit her lip as if hiding a smile. Fate felt the heat from both Trevor’s words and knowing that a stranger had overhead them.