Kim (Beach Brides Book 8) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Kim

  Beach Brides Series

  by

  Magdalena Scott

  Kim

  Beach Brides Series

  Copyright 2017 - Magdalena Scott

  WARNING: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work, in whole or in part, in any form, is illegal and forbidden without the written permission of the author, Magdalena Scott.

  This is a work of fiction. Characters, settings, names, and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, places, settings or occurrences are purely coincidental.

  Digital Release July 2017

  ISBN-10:0-9971922-2-4

  ISBN-13:978-0-9971922-2-3

  Published by Jewel Box Books

  Edited by Karen Block

  Cover Design by Raine English

  Elusive Dreams Designs

  www.ElusiveDreamsDesigns.com

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Author Bio

  Excerpt from ROSE

  Introduction

  Grab your beach hat and a towel and prepare for a brand new series brought to you by twelve New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors…

  Beach Brides! Fun in the summer sun!

  Twelve heartwarming, sweet novellas linked by a unifying theme.

  You’ll want to read each one!

  BEACH BRIDES SERIES (Kim)

  Twelve friends from the online group, Romantic Hearts Book Club, decide to finally meet in person during a destination Caribbean vacation to beautiful Enchanted Island. While of different ages and stages in life, these ladies have two things in common: 1) they are diehard romantics, and 2) they’ve been let down by love. As a wildly silly dare during her last night on the island, each heroine decides to stuff a note in a bottle addressed to her “dream hero” and cast it out to sea! Sending a message in a bottle can’t be any crazier than online or cell phone dating, or posting personal ads! And, who knows? One of these mysterious missives might actually lead to love…

  Join Meg, Tara, Nina, Clair, Jenny, Lisa, Hope, Kim, Rose, Lily, Faith and Amy, as they embark on the challenge of a lifetime: risking their hearts to accomplish their dreams.

  This is Kim’s story….

  Jon was engaged when he “landed” the message in a bottle on a fishing trip, and it disappeared before he could decide whether to respond. Now unattached, he's on a road trip with Kim, whose gratitude in spite of a painful past reminds him of the touching note he wishes he’d kept.

  Find all of the Beach Brides at Amazon!

  MEG (Julie Jarnagin)

  TARA (Ginny Baird)

  NINA (Stacey Joy Netzel)

  CLAIR (Grace Greene)

  JENNY (Melissa McClone)

  LISA (Denise Devine)

  HOPE (Aileen Fish)

  KIM (Magdalena Scott)

  ROSE (Shanna Hatfield)

  LILY (Ciara Knight)

  FAITH (Helen Scott Taylor)

  AMY (Raine English)

  Prologue

  Kim’s message in a bottle...

  I’m writing this letter under protest, because a bunch of my friends are each writing one. And no, I don’t need to hear the old question, “If your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you jump too?”

  Answer: No. But I would write this silly letter.

  FYI—I don’t expect this bottle to be found by the man of my dreams. Though I’ve had some rocky times, I am not desperate for romance.

  I have a great career, friends, and a life I enjoy. I’m considering adopting a pet. So, you can see, when you read this sometime in the future, I’ll probably be much too busy and happy to become involved with you.

  This is just fair warning, because I am an extremely honest person. If you are married, please burn or shred this note. Or you can seal it back in the bottle and chuck it into the ocean again, if you’re the romantic type.

  If you are not married or in a relationship and want to be my email pen pal, I might be open to that. But nothing more. I expect we have zero in common beyond a possible scientific curiosity, re: bottle floating from where I tossed it to wherever you found it.

  Makes me think, for some reason, of Star Wars. Are you a fan of sci fi?

  Do you believe people are fated to certain experiences?

  And do you believe it’s important to stand by someone even when leaving is immeasurably easier? If your answer to this question is “no,” please forget this bottle came into your life.

  Yours truly (because how else should I close this?)

  whitecapkr@...

  P.S. The girls are watching to make sure I fill up the page. Otherwise I would have written less.

  Like this:

  Hi. I don’t believe you’re out there.

  Chapter One

  The patio of Tony’s Macaroni in Serendipity, Indiana, was busy tonight. Kim Rose sipped her red wine, letting it slide down her throat as she anticipated a delicious meal. The weather was perfect. A warm breeze teased her with the rich, spicy smell of the neighboring table’s lasagna. She glanced at a couple nearby who seemed to be in a romantic world of their own.

  When a car horn honked, her friend, Emily Standish, sitting across the table from her, raised a hand in a wave.

  A puff of wind blew some hair into Kim’s eyes. She pulled a scrunchie out of her handbag and jerked her hair into a ponytail, hoping all of it would stay under control for once.

  “Emily, do you know who that was? Or did you just wave in case you knew?”

  Emily laughed. “Her name is Lauren. One of her sisters was in my high school class.”

  Kim shook her head in amazement. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to living in a small town. You seem to have a connection to everyone in Serendipity.”

  Emily leaned back in her chair, smiling. “That’s one result of living in the same place all my life. But, Kim, you know more people every day.” Emily tipped her head, concerned. “I hope you’re not second-guessing your decision to move here.”

  Kim put a hand over her friend’s. “Not second-guessing. I’m just still in the adjustment period.” For years, Kim had lived and worked in New Albany, Indiana, a vibrant community minutes away from the culture, shopping, and dining opportunities of Louisville, Kentucky. Except for the incredible speed of the gossip tree, everything in Serendipity moved at a slower pace than Kim was accustomed to. “Serendipity has a very different lifestyle. I’m learning how it works.”

  Emily nodded. “Remember when I told you that Serendipity Hospital was looking for nurses? I warned you of what to expect here.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I remember, and I told you I was ready for a drastic change. I love Serendipity. I feel happier than I have in a long time.” She sipped more wine, to shut herself up and avoid getting
maudlin about the past. “I’ll have to be okay with the possibility that I’ll never know as many people as you do. Sometimes I think you can call every one of Serendipity’s six thousand citizens by name.”

  Emily cringed. “In my sordid past, I probably called a few of them some names I shouldn’t have. Good thing you dragged me down the road to recovery after my car wreck and helped me change my attitude.” She shook her head in dismay. “Sometimes I can’t believe how rotten I was back in the day.”

  Kim laughed, glad for the change in subject. Before becoming a nurse, she was an aid in the facility where Emily was sent for physical therapy and rehabilitation. At first, nobody wanted to be around the angry, bitter young woman. “You were certainly one of our most well-known patients.”

  Emily covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head. Her words were muffled when she spoke. “Okay, I’m really wishing for some brain bleach here. Thank goodness I wasn’t a lost cause.”

  “Nobody is a lost cause,” Kim said. That belief was important to her sanity at work, and she had to believe it for herself.

  Emily removed her hands and leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Do you ever think about all the connections in our lives, things that happen and we don’t realize the importance until later?”

  Kim slowly twirled her wineglass on the table, wishing for the food to arrive or for someone to recognize Emily and interrupt their conversation. Anything. “What kind of connections do you mean?”

  Emily’s eyes sparkled. “Well, my wreck for one. It was a terrible thing, for me, for my family. But so much good has come out of it.”

  Kim had a flash of Emily’s wedding day. “Your relationship with David sure evolved during your rehab.”

  “Absolutely. He and I wouldn’t have gotten together otherwise. But so many things led up to that. And, Kim, getting to know you was a big life changer. You taught me a lot about gratitude and about working hard to achieve a worthwhile goal.”

  Kim laughed. “I did? Really, I was just trying to keep you from giving up on yourself.”

  Her friend shook a finger at her. “Don’t shrug it off, Kim. I’m serious. Your attitude toward life after losing your mom to breast cancer and going through that yourself—and the boyfriend who dumped you—”

  Kim slid down in her chair and whispered, “You’re making me feel pretty awesome right now.”

  Emily frowned. “I don’t mean to be negative. I’m talking about being grateful every day even when life is hard. That’s what you taught me, Kim.”

  I’d love an instant replay of those lessons. The audio version so I can listen on my phone whenever I need a lift.

  Kim cleared her throat. “New topic. The road trip. Are you one hundred percent sure you can’t go?”

  An unusual look passed quickly over Emily’s face. “Yes. One hundred percent. I’d love to see that area, and I will someday. But I want to make it a family vacation. Something David and I do together and take Isabel when she’s old enough to enjoy it. I know you’re eager to go, and you’re just being kind.”

  “Well, I am looking forward to it, but I’d step aside and let you go. I wouldn’t know Travis and Suzanne without you introducing me. If you were up for it, we could both go. Surely there’s room in their car for four. Not sure about four plus a car seat.” She chuckled at her own joke.

  Emily coughed, seemed to narrowly avoid spitting wine. “Oops. Excuse me—wine went down the wrong way.”

  She replaced her glass on the table, just as Tony, the restaurant co-owner, appeared with their handmade pizza. It was beautiful and smelled heavenly.

  He set it on the table with a flourish. “You ladies need anything else right now?”

  Emily looked at Kim and answered for both of them. “We’re good, Tony. Thanks. It’s a perfect night to eat on the patio. I’m so glad you added this.”

  He shook his head, chuckling. “Thanks. It hurts to admit it was the wife’s idea, and I kept telling her nobody’d be interested. I’ll be eating crow about that for the rest of my life, I guess.”

  “If you get to do that on the patio, it won’t be so bad.”

  Tony covered his ears, laughing. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He excused himself and checked in with another table.

  Emily served a slice of pizza to Kim and put one on her own plate. “Back to the road trip. It’s all yours, Kim. Have a great time. Take loads of photos and text them to me. I know you’re ready for a break. You haven’t taken a real vacation since that island trip with your book club friends, right?”

  Kim chewed slowly, picturing scenes from Enchanted Island. “Yes. It’s almost two years. Hard to believe. We were chatting about it online the other night.”

  And even harder to believe that some of the girls had actually met the men of their dreams through that ridiculous bottle toss. She hadn’t told anybody outside the group about the message in a bottle. Not even Emily. Emily would probably have a good laugh about it if she heard, and Kim wasn’t ready to provide that comic relief.

  Kim was realistic. She didn’t expect a knight in shining armor to sweep her onto his galloping white steed and carry her off to live in a castle. She had to do the best she could with the life she had, and that meant learning, again, to be grateful each day. And being satisfied with experiencing romance by reading about it in novels. The real-life kind was too painful to risk again.

  Gratitude changes lives, she’d heard. Evidently, she’d said it a few times, and Emily had paid attention. Maybe it was time Kim re-learned the lessons she had taught her friend.

  Nobody is a lost cause. Not even me.

  Chapter Two

  Jon Whitfield loaded suitcases into his friend Travis’s car. Yesterday he’d driven from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains to Travis and Suzanne’s house in Nashville, Tennessee. He’d left his Corvette in their garage, and he and Travis had taken turns driving to a hotel in southern Indiana where the three of them spent the night.

  Travis’s wife, Suzanne, six months pregnant, appreciated and needed the addition of a hotel stay to the trip itinerary. If Jon had been making this journey alone, he’d be hours further along. But, then again, if he were going alone to this machine fabricating conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he would have flown instead. He was uneasy about being away from the factory for the additional time that driving required.

  “Suzanne, how are you handling the trip?” Jon asked when Travis pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

  She settled into her seat and smiled. “Great. I’m really enjoying the scenery. Everything is so lush and green. This two-lane highway to Serendipity will be beautiful—wooded areas, fields of corn, soybeans, whatever. And neat homes. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere but Nashville but can see why David and Emily love it here.”

  Travis increased his speed to fifty-five when they left the little town, though he had to slow often for curves. “I’m sure glad to be done with the interstate for a while. But don’t worry, Jon. We’ll make up time when we get on the next one.”

  Jon picked up his phone. “I’ll let David know we’re only about an hour away. I want to be sure he has time to kick a path through the house before we get there.”

  Travis laughed. “That was the old days, buddy. Haven’t you visited since he and Emily got married?”

  Jon paused, considered rewording the text. “Been busy. You know the drill.”

  “Sure, but you know. Friends?” Travis shook his head. “Emily has that house looking great. Even now that they have Isabel, it’s so neat you won’t recognize it. Emily and Suzanne have that in common. Right, honey?”

  Suzanne patted her tummy. “I hope to be as good a mom as Emily is. I assume she used a front-end loader to transform David’s house into a home.”

  Jon finished the text, which no longer included the phrase kick a path. He hit send. “Does that mean you can’t build forts with pizza boxes anymore?”

  Suzanne and Travis both laughed.

  Jon watched the rural scenery slide
past. He felt bad that he hadn’t visited David since the wedding. And he felt like a heel for trying to talk Travis out of this side trip. There were a couple of reasons. One was the stated busyness. He’d taken a big chance by leaving a successful company to take over a struggling, large machine shop in little Legend, Tennessee. His income was drastically lower and he had more responsibilities than ever, but he knew if things went right, he could make a difference for a lot of people.

  If this conference hadn’t been so important, he’d have stayed home and worked. This was the first time since Jon’s career shift that he and Travis had both managed to attend the conference. Back in the day, the company they worked for had paid for both of them to attend. Jon was footing his own bill this year and looked forward to both the business networking and the personal reconnections.

  The other reason he had avoided Serendipity since Emily and David’s wedding was Emily’s best friend, Kim. The woman had treated him like pond scum when they met at the wedding and, for some reason, he couldn’t get that out of his head. Since then, he’d only seen David at their annual guys’ trip with Travis and their other college friends or at someone else’s home. Not in Serendipity.

  Never before had Jon made an effort to avoid a pretty, smart woman. He wouldn’t tell the others and knew it was ridiculous, but Kim had made an indelible impression on him, and he didn’t know why.

  He gave himself a mental shake. This brief stop should be fine; there shouldn’t be an opportunity to run into her. They would be at David’s only for a couple of hours for a visit over brunch, then hit the road again.

  Travis looked in the rearview mirror at his wife. “You still doing okay? Need anything?”

  Jon saw Suzanne’s eyes roll. “Travis, I’m fine. I’m healthy, well fed, even well-rested for the most part. If I’d realized how much you were going to obsess about me being along, I might have stayed home.”