Remember Me: A Second Chance Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Racing Toward Love by Everleigh Clark

  Never Settle by Kate Richards

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright 2017 Ever Coming

  Editor Crystal Rae Bryant

  Cover design by Fantasia Frog Designs

  Published by Ever Coming

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Epilogue

  Racing Toward Love by Everleigh Clark

  Never Settle by Kate Richards

  Remember me.

  Ten letters.

  Four syllables.

  Two words.

  Two of the most powerful words of Cate’s life. She read them the first time she had her heart broken, heard them when she lost her husband, and now they stared back at her as her daughter moved away for the first time. Yes, each time these two little words crossed her path, her life changed course. That was why when Cate spoke them to herself, about herself, she knew great things were about to happen. She was going to remember who she was and go back to being that strong, intelligent, determined, and fun—yes, fun—woman she once was.

  Levi loved Cate from the moment they met. They had been inseparable, and if he'd had his way, they would have remained that way. Being taken from her before they ever had a chance to explore their feelings was the one regret in his life, one he planned to rectify the moment her daughter's name crossed his desk. He had no idea they were so close... yet still so far. If fate wanted to grant him another chance, though, who was he to argue?

  Remember Me is a contemporary BBW second-chance romance.

  Remember Me

  By

  Ever Coming

  Prologue

  Remember me.

  Ten letters. Four syllables. Two words. Goodness, one of them was an overused pronoun. As innocuous as they appeared, Cate knew better. Those two words had shaken Cate to the core on not one, but three occasions. Each occasion had brought tears and a new chapter of her life.

  Staring at the framed poem in front of her, Cate scoffed at the two words. There was no way her daughter Jamie had known the importance of the ten tiny letters when she wrote them. Cate had shielded Jamie from the details of that fated night. Yet, they were the exact words Jamie had used as a form of comfort as she moved out for the first time.

  Remember me as

  The au fait woman you raised

  I’m ready to fly

  “A haiku, of course it had to be a haiku, and with French, my silly, wonderful, magnificent daughter.” Cate’s voice cracked as the tears started to flow. Jamie had handed her the gift just as she and her roommate, Heather, drove away to their first real apartment after scoring internships their first summer of college. It was only a half hour away, and she would be seeing them within the week, but those facts didn’t help her heart hurt less.

  Cate read and reread the poem over and over again, long after she had already buried the words in her heart. Of all the things she had done in life, raising Jamie had been the one thing she was proudest of.

  Jamie was a great student, attending the local university tuition-free thanks to her SAT scores. The internship she scored was not only in her chosen field, but also in a prominent company in her field. Cate didn’t pretend to understand the technology behind what Jamie was going to school for, but Jamie soared in it. All signs indicated it would lead to amazing employment opportunities.

  She had been lucky that Jamie had chosen to live at home her first year of college to remain debt-free. Cate might not have been ready for her to leave just yet, but she’d had an entire year more with her than many mothers had with their children. She had learned a long time ago not to take a single moment with her loved ones for granted.

  At twenty, Cate had been living the good life. She excelled in college, had a dashing and loving boyfriend, and was on track to get a coveted art residency for the summer. Life couldn’t have been more perfect. A stranger who’d had one drink too many changed everything.

  One moment she and her boyfriend were driving home from their one-year anniversary dinner; the next thing she knew, headlights were much too close and the sound of crumpling metal filled her ears. Most of the crash was gone from her memory, something Cate counted as one of the biggest blessings of her life. She remembered hanging upside down, looking over and seeing James staring at her, his eyes glossy and wrong.

  Before she could begin to process the scene around her, he spoke two words. Just two. “Remember me.” Those would be the last two words she ever heard him say. The next thing Cate remembered was waking up in a hospital bed in hazy fog with a nurse telling her over and over again that both she and the baby were going to be fine.

  Cate and James had talked about getting married and having lots and lots of babies. She had even envisioned silly ways to tell him when she did, in fact, become pregnant. Her father left her mother at the word of her impending birth, something her late mother had never fully gotten over, and Cate planned to do it right. Heck, she had enough plans for more pregnancy announcements than she ever planned to have children. Nowhere in all her planning had she even fathomed being told she was pregnant the night of James’ death and having to tell him over his grave. What should’ve been one of the happiest days of her life had turned into a nightmare, thanks to one too many drinks consumed by a stranger.

  Of course, the man who had hit them after leaving a local bar in anger—over what, Cate’s lawyer never said—walked away unscratched, while James never made it out of the wreck. The insurance company paid a settlement large enough for Cate to finish her schooling and still comfortably raise Jamie until she was able to get a decent job with her degree. The man did pay for his crime in prison, but none of that would bring James back. None of that would give Jamie her father.

  The memories assaulted Cate, from that fateful night to Jamie’s first steps, to the first time she handed Jamie keys to the car. Some memories were practically debilitating, while others set her heart soaring. All of them had her in tears.

  When the last tear fell, Cate made a decision, one she had thought about for years, but had lacked the courage to follow through on. One that always seemed too selfish, too self-absorbed, and too risky.

  Remember me.

  Jamie’s poem gave her the courage to own those words, to shape them, to make them work for her. Cate was going to remember herself. Not who she was in order to survive. No. She was going to be the Cate she had been before her world crumbled. She was going to go back to her love of art, and she was going to pursue her lost dreams.

  Remember me. No, that wouldn’t quite do, Cate decided. Remember the me I wanted to be. That was what she
was going to do from here on in.

  Chapter 1

  The local art supply store had exploded in her sunroom, from an easel to canvasses of every size, and paints galore. Cate had even splurged on more brushes than she could possibly ever use. Even the cashier giving her a total that rivaled a mortgage payment hadn’t squashed her high.

  Art had always been her one true passion. Being ever pragmatic, she had chosen teaching as her career in college. Not even an art teacher, because art was the first thing that got cut during budget crunches. She chose to earn a degree in teaching elementary school, because the jobs were more plentiful and safer. Even then, she used every last elective she had for art courses and had once even tried to get a summer residency at a local art studio.

  Everything changed with James’ death, and she was forced to be completely true to her pragmatic self by taking the maximum allowed courses at her university the summer she was pregnant, and adding another two from the local community college as transfer credits. It had been rough, but Cate had managed to graduate on time, even while taking a semester off for the birth of her beautiful daughter.

  It had all been worth it, knowing that she had been able to grant her daughter the start Cate’s own mother had not been able to give her. Jamie never went without. Sure, there had been lean times, but Cate never had to worry about where the next meal would come from or which utility to pay that month, the way her mother had.

  Now, here she was, nineteen years later, picking her dream back up and dusting it off. A quick look online, and Cate was signed up for a painting class at the local community college. Putting her first canvas on the easel, she closed her eyes and waited for inspiration to hit.

  Cate had been shocked to learn that most other students in her classes in undergrad didn’t work this way, since it had always been her method. Close eyes. Take three deep breaths. Allow her mind to go blank and then when something popped back in, she painted it.

  Moody. That was probably the best way to describe the pictures she had first painted as a teen. They were rough as far as technique, but people swore they could feel her emotions just by looking at them. At first, that had made her very self-conscious. After she sold a few at a local art fair, she let go of her insecurities and just let the ideas come to her.

  Three deep breaths and a less than a minute later, Cate pulled out the correct paints and brushes for her inspiration. Hours passed by as she painted and painted, the colors flowing as beautifully on the canvas as they had in her head. She may not have picked up a brush for anything other than walls in years, but her fingers acted as if it had been but a day. As the sun began to set, her lighting became less than optimal, and she decided to quit for the night, adding new lighting to her mental shopping list.

  Cate was almost finished cleaning up when the phone startled her, and she responded with a smile when the caller ID came into view. Jamie, her dear, sweet Jamie. It had taken every last ounce of her will power not to call Jamie every night this week, but she had done it and was proud.

  “Hello.” Cate tried to keep her voice steady so to not give away how much she needed the phone call. There was no point in putting pressure on Jamie like that. Not when she was finally spreading her wings.

  “Hey, Mom.” It was so good to hear her daughter’s voice. “I was calling to see if you were still coming for lunch tomorrow.”

  As her appeasement for not following her daughter to her apartment on move-in day and allowing her to “be an adult,” Jamie had invited her to lunch over the weekend. That tiny offer meant so much to Cate. Not only did it show that her daughter was going to try to stay close even as she spread her wings, but also that she’d raised her to be both compassionate and intuitive, two skills that would benefit her throughout life.

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. How was your orientation today?” Cate grabbed her dirty brushes and plopped them into a jar of cleaning solution.

  “Paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.” Her daughter sighed as she spoke, but her smile could be heard through the phone. It had been a good day.

  “Adulting tends to be like that.” Cate double-checked all of her paints were sealed before picking up the jar and placing it in the utility sink in her adjacent laundry room.

  “You do know I’m sticking my tongue out at you, right?”

  Cate barked out a laugh. Yes, she did know exactly how her daughter would respond, and the vision of her daughter making such a goofy face helped to ease some of her worry. She knew she needed to let Jamie go, but it didn’t make it easy. Talk about adulting.

  “And I’m rolling my eyes, so all is well,” Cate teased, as she wiggled her way out of her shirt and placed it beside the jar of brushes. She was a messy painter, always had been, and the last thing she needed was to get paint on her couch or walls.

  “How are you, Mom?” Her daughter’s voice turned on a dime. She had been just as worried as Cate had been. In some ways, Jamie was so much like her father, but in this, she was Cate’s spitting image.

  “Great. Why did you sound so worried when you asked me that?” It had probably been her intuitive nature, but Cate had to be sure she wasn’t sending her daughter guilt vibes unintentionally. Cate’s mother had done it to her for years before it all came to a head, and that was a fight she never wanted to have with her daughter.

  “Mom, you’ve never lived alone.”

  “I sort of did before you were born, you know.” She heard her daughter sigh with drama at her pathetic excuse. “Fine, I had to throw a party now that I had the freedom to do so.” Cate pulled her phone back as her daughter’s faux laughter filled the phone, almost causing Cate to respond in full-out, real laughter. Goodness, how she missed Jamie. She pulled her composure back together the best she could before responding. “What? That’s not funny. Moms need a life too, you know.”

  “It kinda is, Mom, since you have two friends and one of them is in her sixties.”

  “Sixty is the new forty.” Or so her friend Amelia reminded her often. She was the one more likely to throw a huge party, and both Jamie and Cate knew it.

  “Whatever, Mom. So how was work today?” By work, she meant the crappy temp jobs Cate usually accepted in the summer, ever since summer school had been cut from her district’s budget.

  “I told you I had a party.” Grabbing the tea kettle, Cate filled it as she waited for the amusing response she knew Jamie was forming.

  “Fine, I’ll fill in the blanks. Work was work.”

  “Actually, I practically did throw a party. I took a personal day and went to Creative Endeavors and made my bank account weep.” It wasn’t that much, but it had been pretty darn close, and she regretted nothing.

  “Did you buy a painting?”

  Cate had never told her daughter how much she missed and loved art. She had a few straggled paintings from before the accident, but that was the extent of her sharing. It only made sense that Jamie thought her mom was buying one of the owner’s paintings. So much for her clever reveal.

  “Better!” Cate smiled at the squeal in her voice. She was acting like a kid getting their first car, though in a way, this was just as symbolic. Cars equaled freedom, and this was allowing herself the freedom to follow her dreams. “I turned the sunroom into an art studio.”

  “Really?” There was no skepticism in her voice, which relieved Cate. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to think she was going through a midlife crisis in response to being an empty-nester for the first time. “That’s fantastic! I love the painting we have in our living room.”

  Cate had never shared with Jamie the true meaning of the picture in the living room, and it was something she vowed in that moment to change. It was an abstract piece she’d painted the night James had announced his intentions to marry her. It wasn’t a proposal, far from it. It was more of him staking his claim. The painting encapsulated the moment beautifully.

  After her high-school sweetheart, Levi, had moved unexpectedly, Cate had been crushed and
erected a wall around her heart to avoid future hurt. Even with James, whom she adored, she had never let another guy in. Until that moment. The one where James promised her forever, whether she was on board or not. After then, she slowly but surely let him in, until he completely owned her heart.

  The painting was one she worked on immediately after he dropped her off. It had been her way of processing the conversation, and she looked at it often to remember how glad she was to take a chance on him, even if he hadn’t turned out to be her happily ever after. Because during the rest of their time together, he was her everything and that made the heartbreak worth it.

  “Well, expect plenty more. I even enrolled in a painting class. Before long, you’ll be stuck with one of my pieces.” The tea kettle whistled, and Cate turned it off before pouring the water over her tea bag.

  “At MCC?”

  “Indeed.” She dunked the tea bag a few times before dropping it and jumping back. She had forgotten her half-naked status and managed to splash a drop of hot water on her belly. Brilliant. “I’ll be only ten minutes from you every Tuesday and Thursday evening from six to eight pm.”

  “So if I play my cards right, I can parlay this into either an early or a late supper?”

  Cate let out a slow breath. She had a slight concern that Jamie would feel that she was stepping on toes by “following her” to the city, but thankfully she saw it completely different. She saw it as free dinner. That would do quite nicely.

  “Parlay away.” She grabbed her tea cup and wandered toward her bedroom. “See you soon.”

  “Love you, Mom.”

  “And I, you.” As Cate hung up and prepared for a shower, followed by a cuppa and a good read, she was practically dancing. She was really doing this. She was following her dream, even if only for the summer.

  Chapter 2