One last chance, p.1
One Last Chance, page 1
Of all the charity events in all of Cape Town, Zoey Roux had to bump into her husband at this one
Six years ago, Zoey Roux secretly married her best friend Sawyer. But all that did was destroy the best relationship she’s ever had. They went their separate ways, but Zoey never could go through with a divorce. Seeing him again at her sister’s charity event is a shock, but also enlightening: no matter how much she still loves him, it’s time to let him go.
Zoey was Sawyer Wilson’s first love. She broke his heart, but his feelings never died. Love was never their issue—only timing. Seeing her again is a shock: in a perfect world, she would run back into his arms. Instead, she’s asking for a divorce.
But a lot can happen in twenty-four hours: old wounds can heal, first loves can be reunited. And a second chance might just lead to happily ever after.
This book is approximately 74,000 words
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Also available from Therese Beharrie
and Carina Press
One Day to Forever series
A Wedding One Christmas
One Day to Fall
From Therese Beharrie
and Harlequin Romance
The Tycoon’s Reluctant Cinderella
A Marriage Worth Saving
The Millionaire’s Redemption
United by Their Royal Baby
Falling for His Convenient Queen
Tempted by the Billionaire Next Door
Surprise Baby, Second Chance
Her Festive Flirtation
Second Chance with Her Billionaire
From Heiress to Mom
Island Fling with the Tycoon
Her Twin Baby Secret
Content Warning
This book deals with the following issues: grief, dementia, deceased parents, adoption, terminal illness and pregnancy scares. If any of these are triggers for you, please put your mental health first.
One Last Chance
Therese Beharrie
For my husband, who loves who I was, who I am, and who gives me the best reasons to grow. For my loved ones, who celebrate my growth with me. And for the readers who are trying. That’s enough. You are enough.
Author Note
My intention with One Last Chance was to write a lighthearted romance about two best friends falling in love, getting married and ending things, then rediscovering their love for one another. I succeeded in everything except the tone. Turns out, it’s hard to write an entirely lighthearted romance when two people are completely broken and need mending—at least for me.
But there are lighthearted moments in this book. There’s laughter and banter and hope. Most important, there’s love. I hope all of it will resonate with you.
Contents
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Part Two
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Part Three
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Excerpt from One Day to Fall by Therese Beharrie
Part One
‘Let’s get married.’
Chapter One
One Day, Six Years Ago
‘You don’t have to do this,’ Sawyer Wilson said for the third time. After two years of pretending to be in a relationship with his best friend, those words were part of their routine. Still, he cast a worried look at her. As usual, she looked ready to steal someone’s heart. As usual, he layered his defences to make sure it wouldn’t be his.
Zoey Roux looked over. Smiled. Reminded him that those defences were pointless. She’d already stolen his heart.
‘I keep my word, Wilson.’ Her insistence was also part of the routine. ‘Seven years of friendship should mean you know that. Two years of pretending to be your girlfriend, too.’ She fluttered her lashes at him.
‘I know.’ He waited. Wondered if he should say it. Did anyway. ‘But things are different now.’
Zoey rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not going to stop living my life because my... Because of what happened.’
Emotion, sharp and angry and sad, damn it, flushed her cheeks. He shouldn’t have brought her to his cousin’s graduation party. But what was he supposed to do? She had known about it. If he told her not to come, that he found someone else to be his date, she would have been pissed. Not because of jealousy, unfortunately, but because she would have known it was an excuse. A convenient one, designed for her not to have to attend this hellish party.
‘Personally,’ he said conversationally, guiding the car into a space in front of the large hall, ‘I would have jumped at the chance not to come to this.’
She released a little puff of air. When he looked over, her cheeks were back to their normal colour. There was a teasing light in her eyes. She was never down for long, his Zoey.
His Zoey. What a joke. She wasn’t his. Would never be.
‘If I hadn’t come, your grandmother would have set you up with Kyra from church in an instant.’
‘Was that her name?’
‘Tammy? Mia?’ She scrunched her nose. ‘I don’t think the name matters. Grandma Carla just wants her grandson to be happy.’
‘She has countless other grandchildren to worry about,’ Sawyer said darkly.
‘But you’re her connection to the child she lost so tragically years ago. The only thing she has left of her daughter and son-in-law.’ Zoey gave him a sweet smile as she echoed Grandma Carla’s words. ‘The only one who needs constant reassurance he’s loved.’
That last part was Zoey, not his grandmother.
He rolled his eyes. ‘Does matchmaking mean I’m loved?’
‘Hey, if you accept the brownies she bakes you every time you visit, you have to accept this. It’s the good and the bad with family.’
‘Sure,’ he muttered, getting out the car and walking around to her side to open her door. ‘That’s why you’re pretending to be my girlfriend. Because you think I should accept her matchmaking ways.’
‘I’m here because you told me, and I quote, “I don’t want to bring a new woman along every time. And if I don’t bring anyone, my grandmother will marry me off.”’
‘To which you replied, and I quote, “She can’t marry you off until you’re done with university.” Which we both know is a lie. She managed to promise several women, from when I was sixteen, that I’d be a good husband someday.’
Zoey chuckled, putting her clutch under her arm and reaching up to straighten his tie. His breath hitched before he could stop it. He hadn’t prepared himself for her touch, though he should have known better. Their years of friendship had taught him that Zoey would touch him whenever she wanted to. She was free with affection. Since he was her best friend, that affection was aimed at him, too. Which would have been totally fine had he not been harbouring feelings for her.
‘What?’ she asked, frowning. Apparently, righting a tie required concentration.
‘What, what?’ he replied dumbly.
‘Why did you gasp?’
‘I didn’t gasp.’
‘Of course you did. I heard you.’
‘You must have heard wrong.’
Her hands brushed against his skin. He gritted his teeth.
‘What’s going on with you?’ Zoey asked, her gaze flickering between his face and his tie. ‘Do you want to go in there with a skew tie?’
‘Okay.’
‘Sawyer,’ she said, stilling in front of him. Rich, dark brown eyes that had gone from amused to concerned peered up at him.
‘It’s fine, Zo,’ he replied, gently taking her hands and lowering them to her sides. ‘I’ll fix it in the bathroom.’
‘Or I can fix it—’
‘No,’ he said too sharply. He cleared his throat. ‘It’s fine. No one will think less of us because my tie’s skew.’
She studied him. He worried she’d see right to what he wanted to hide from her. Instead, concern was replaced by light and seconds later, she pushed him back against the car. It wasn’t the strength she did it with that had his breath leaving his lungs. It was the surprise.
‘What...the...hell?’ he gasped.
‘Let me fix your tie, damn it.’
Her hands were on his tie before he could stop her, which accounted for his instinctual reaction. He blocked her. Slid an arm between himself and her body and blocked h
‘What are you doing?’ she asked, still struggling to get to his tie.
‘I’m protecting myself against this vicious attack.’
‘It’s only vicious because you won’t let me fix your tie!’
Her efforts intensified. For a few minutes, they struggled.
‘When did you get so strong?’ Sawyer asked when she took one of his arms and pinned it to the car.
‘Why...are you...holding...back?’ Her words were interspersed by little huffs of breath.
‘You’d get hurt if I didn’t,’ he retorted, then let out a startled laugh when one of her hands clutched at his side. ‘No,’ he gasped now, realising her plan. ‘Don’t. This is underhanded—’
He broke off when she began tickling him in earnest, and his attempts to defend himself became clumsier. He twisted, but that gave her access to the side of his body she knew was the most ticklish. She showed him no mercy.
‘Stop...it.’
‘Not until you tell me why you won’t let me fix your tie.’
‘Fine, if it’s that important, you can fix it.’
She lifted her hands in pseudo surrender. ‘Are you going to tell me why you didn’t want me to fix it in the first place?’
He eyed her hands warily, but didn’t answer. What would he say?
When you touch me it’s hard to remember we’re only supposed to be friends.
That wouldn’t work. If he were ever inclined to reveal his feelings for her, he wouldn’t choose now. They were in an empty parking lot. There was a fast-food restaurant across the road; next to it, the post office. Some homeless people slept under the shelter of the post office building. A couple of drunk people staggered down the road from the bar he knew was nearby.
It didn’t exactly scream romance. Besides, he was about to attend a family function. Everyone, save for his aunt and uncle, who raised him and his cousins, thought Zoey was his girlfriend. And so it would remain until he finally got a serious girlfriend. Or until Zoey got a serious boyfriend.
‘You were taking long,’ he said, grasping at the first excuse he could think of and ignoring the way his heart complained at the prospect of Zoey being with someone else.
‘I don’t believe you.’
He smiled. ‘Okay.’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘Something’s going on.’
He widened his smile, hoping it would hide the faint alarm sounding in his head. It was unlikely that after seven years of friendship—and seven years of unrequited love—she finally saw it. He clung to that thought like his little cousin Carly clung to a beloved snack when she got home from school.
‘You’ll never be safe from a tickle attack,’ she said now, sniffing. ‘I know you’re lying to me, and I will get answers.’
‘By means of torture?’
‘If necessary.’
He thought about it. ‘Well, then, you give me no choice.’
In quick movements, he dipped until his shoulder was at her waist and tipped her over.
‘Sawyer!’ she squealed.
He ignored it. Made sure he had a secure hold and that her dress was still protecting her modesty. He also tried to ignore that her butt was next to his face. If he didn’t, he might have to fight the temptation to do something ridiculous like kiss it.
Kiss ass, his cousin, Phil, had once called him. Sawyer had taken Zoey’s side in a debate. Sawyer vowed Phil would never discover how tempted he had been to make that accusation literal.
‘You gave me no choice.’
‘I’ll give you one now.’ She sounded a little winded. ‘You either put me down, or you’ll live to regret it.’
‘Yeah?’ he asked, unconcerned. ‘How so?’
‘Hi, Grandma Carla!’
Sawyer instantly put Zoey down, and turned to face his grandmother. She wasn’t where he thought she might be based on Zoey’s voice. He looked around, stopping only when he got a light punch in the shoulder.
‘Hey!’
‘That was for picking me up.’
He rubbed his shoulder. ‘No need for abuse. Especially with Grandma Carla around.’
Zoey quirked a brow. He realised there was no Grandma Carla. She grinned, somehow managing to make it menacing and cute.
‘You deserved to think she was.’
She stepped closer, her eyes narrowing. It took him all of three seconds to figure out her intention. He stood perfectly still, bracing for her touch. She fixed his tie, then patted him on the chest.
‘You should know by now that I always get what I want.’
She winked. It made him want to kiss her.
He wished he had the power to get what he wanted, too.
Chapter Two
One Day, Now
‘Zo, would you mind helping?’ Sophia asked, irritably. Not far from her usual tone of voice, though Zoey knew this wasn’t a usual day. She moved to help her sister without a word.
‘That’s it?’ Sophia asked as they packed picnic baskets onto a table. ‘You’re not going to complain?’
‘What would be the point of complaining?’ Zoey deliberately kept her voice light. ‘You’d get me to do it eventually, and we’d have to go through a whole thing about how I offered to help and “you shouldn’t say you’re going to do something if you’re not going to do it.”’
‘Was that you trying to imitate me?’ Sophia’s brows rose. ‘Since when do I sound like James Earl Jones?’
‘Oh, you’re right.’ Zoey cleared her throat. ‘It’s actually “way up here, isn’t it?”’ She laughed at the glare Sophia threw her. ‘You asked for a more accurate rendition.’
‘I regret it.’
‘You shouldn’t ask for something if you don’t want it,’ she told her sister solemnly, and laughed again when this time, Sophia pulled a face. ‘I’m beginning to think this event is stressing you out.’
Sophia unpacked the last of the baskets in her box, set her hands on her hips and looked around. ‘It just seems very important, you know.’
Zoey followed Sophia’s eyes, taking in the concert stage that had been set up metres away and the banner that hung above it.
Summer Charity Concert for Dementia Research.
She softened, and reached over to take her sister’s hand. Sophia wasn’t generally the kind of person who inspired affection. Or someone who wanted or needed comfort. But Zoey had recently learnt those kinds of perceptions didn’t do her sister any favours. In fact, it had put distance between her and Sophia. So she’d offer Sophia reassurance because that’s what her gut told her to do.
‘I know,’ Zoey said, squeezing Sophia’s hand. ‘But you and Parker have done a hell of a lot to get this event ready. It’ll be great.’ She frowned. ‘Except for the part where you’re making me run a thousand kilometres in an hour. No, wait, the fact that you had me here since five in the morning and you expect me to run a thousand kilometres.’
‘Do you think I wanted to be here at five in the morning?’ Sophia asked, letting Zoey’s hand go, although she gave it her own squeeze first. ‘Kirstenbosch’s management told me someone needed to be around while the guys set up for the concert. And the delivery of the picnic baskets was coming in early, so here we are.’
Sophia started unpacking another box. She eyed Zoey, who was still on her first. Zoey stuck out her tongue, and unpacked her box before moving on to her second.
‘And it’s not a thousand kilometres.’ Sophia scowled minutes later. ‘It’s a run, for like, ten kilometres max. And you could totally walk it.’
Zoey waited for more. When it didn’t come, she shook her head.
‘What?’ Sophia asked.
‘I’m thinking about how you took ten minutes to come up with that reply.’ She shook her head again. ‘You really are stressed about this.’
‘Shut up,’ Sophia said, but there was no bite in her words. Which told Zoey that her sister was stressed. She made a mental note to stop teasing her about it, and kept working until all the boxes were empty.
As she worked, she gave a fleeting thought to Angie, their oldest sister, who’d got out of helping by using her baby as an excuse. Zoey had always been jealous of people who could use their kids to get out of stuff. Kids could also make tea and peanut butter sandwiches when they were old enough. That did a lot in favour of having kids, in her opinion.
