A Magnolia Move-In

Penny

I’m settling in on Magnolia Island. As the new owner of Magnolia Daily, I’m determined to make the most of my new investment. Nothing is going to get in my way.

That is, until my rental floods and I’m forced to find another place.

Wanting to allow my daughter her own autonomy, I discovers there is a room for rent. Everything seems perfect until I realizes that it's in the home of Spencer--the quiet, brooding mechanic at Clementine's hardware store.

But, it shouldn't be a problem, I have my paper to run.

Love isn't on my mind...until it is.

Naomi

I’m is fairly certain my life couldn't get any lower.

After a car accident that leaves me in a wheel chair with a broken hip and leg, Jackson forces me to move in with him. Even though I’m a grown woman, I’m at the mercy of my big brother. This isn't the life I had planned for myself.

Determined that Magnolia is just a stop on the road to healing, I decide to keep to myself despite the fact that the Red Stiletto Book Club seems to be everywhere. They are a nice group of women but I have a secret that I want to keep a secret.

No matter how insistent these women are or how lonely I feels, Magnolia isn't my home. And it never will be.

If you love characters with secrets but hearts of gold, you'll love the sixth installment of The Red Stiletto Book Club series, A Magnolia Move in. Once you visit to this small town, you'll never want to leave.

Grab your copy today!

Naomi

Walker was missing.

It was ten o’clock at night, and Walker wasn’t back.

I paced in front of the bay window of my small house, staring out
into the darkness as if I could will his headlights into existence.

Nothing.

The only lights I could see were the ones that lined the streets.
It was quiet for a Friday evening in Wilmington, North Carolina. A quality that
I’d always appreciated until now. Now, the silence that was surrounding me in
my suburban town was deafening.

The silence meant that Walker might not show up.

The man worked on an oil rig for months at a time, but when he was
summoned, he always called me. We’d talk and make plans for his departure. As
much as I wanted to believe that this disappearance was because of his job, a
part of me knew it wasn’t.

Why wouldn’t he tell me that he was leaving?

I pulled my phone from my pocket and stared down at my screen. Our
smiling faces greeted me. A picture taken last year. The year he took me to
Mexico and told me he had every intention of marrying me. He just had some
things to take care of first.

I told him I would wait. I would wait forever if that meant I
could be with him. We were all but married. He said he loved me. We were
starting a life together. We had plans for him to move in with me once the
house he inherited from his grandfather sold.

But now?

Now I had no idea what was going on.

I scrolled through my latest messages. A GIF sent from Jackson. A
dentist appointment reminder. But no message from Walker.

Where is that man?

I clicked the side of my phone, and the screen went dark. He’d
left work at four. At least, that was what his assistant told me when I called
her at five, searching for him. I’d asked her if he mentioned where he was
going, but she remained suspiciously quiet until I pressed her. Then she said
she didn’t know.

I didn’t believe her.

Walker worked on the oil rigs off the coast. If he was called out
to work in the field, she would have known. And he would have told me.

His assistant being unaware of his location confirmed my
suspicions.

Sitting alone five hours later, I cursed his name.

I angrily tucked my phone into my pocket as tears formed on my
lids. What was wrong with me? Why did I fall for distant men? Walker was never
going to ask me to marry him. I’d given him my life, and what did he give me in
return?

Abandonment. Deceit. Pain.

That was what I was left with.

“Stupid men,” I mumbled under my breath as I collapsed on the
couch. I covered my face with my hand and allowed a few tears to slip loose. I
was hurting, and I wasn’t sure I could be strong enough to hold those feelings
at bay. Not when I felt so vulnerable.

The sharp, grating sound of my phone’s ringer ripped through the
silence, and my muscles tightened as I pushed myself into a sitting position.

Walker?

I glanced down to see it was a number I didn’t recognize. My adrenaline
plummeted, leaving me shaky. Of course, I would get my emotions out of whack
for a telemarketer.

But, not wanting to be alone, I pressed the talk button.

“Hello?” I tipped my head to the side and allowed the phone to
rest on my cheek. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves.

“Naomi?” The voice was quiet and very much female.

“Yep.” Strange. She didn’t sound like a telemarketer.

“Oh.”

“Who’s this?”

“Never mind.”

The phone clicked off before I could get another word in. I sat
up, catching my phone as it slid down my cheek. I stared at the screen. At the
number. I didn’t recognize the area code. Who had called me?

Anger pulsed through my veins as I stood. I wasn’t going to sit
around, waiting for Walker to show. I was going to go find him. I was going to
tell him what I thought of all of this.

I wasn’t going to be manipulated or pushed around anymore.

I grabbed my purse and keys from the counter and headed out the
back door. I crossed the backyard and threw open my car door. The heat clung to
me, agitating my frustration even more.

I threw the car into reverse and pulled out of the driveway. It
was hard to focus with how angry I was. Every aspect of the town around me only
made me angrier.

Was that woman Walker’s new fling? Had he truly left me like that?
After all I’d given him, he was just going to walk out on me?

He couldn’t even give me a cursory call to tell me we were done?

I paused at the stoplight, my blood boiling as I stared at the red
glow. I’d put my life on hold for that man. I’d walked away from promotions
that would have changed my life and advanced my career.

I wanted a family—he didn’t. He won.

I wanted a marriage—he didn’t. He won.

I allowed him to manipulate me into giving him everything while he
sacrificed nothing. And it came down to this.

Cheating.

As soon as the light turned green, I gunned the engine. In a split
second, the sound of metal crunching and glass shattering filled my ears. I
didn’t have time to react before I was thrown against the airbag, and
everything around me went black.