Stand - Alone Romance
Allison tolerated nothing less than perfection. Together with her husband, Robert, she enjoyed their upscale neighborhood in a home three times the size their two daughters needed. Her interior design career was as successful as her husband’s CPA firm. Yes, God had richly blessed her.
Except she hadn’t anticipated the cost. The energy it took to achieving, and maintaining, such a high level of perfection generated unhealthy coping mechanisms. And the need to keep that secret.
Barbara, Allison’s twin sister, dreamed of being a stay-at-home mother. She married Tom with high expectations. Living in their tiny starter home was intended to be temporary. An investment until Tom’s career advanced. Had God exhausted His supply of blessings on her sister’s life?
Tom’s promotion failed to materialize at the same time Barbara lost her job. Allison stepped in to save her twin, hoping this move would provide a lifeboat to her own life as well as her sister’s. The unintended consequences of that arrangement impacted both their lives in ways they never anticipated. Neither twin had predicted the lies, deception, and disappointments hidden within their marriages.
Can the twins mend the cracks in their perfectly constructive lives? Or will the pains from their past, the realities of the present, and the web of lies they created, kill whatever hope either of them had?
Ava planned to get her life together once she found time to take a breath. She spent every minute racing from one responsibility to the next, working double shifts just to make ends meet. Her goals of marriage and children raised in a home with a yard disappeared when her sister left town. Now it fell to Ava to take care of everyone else. Everyone but herself. Her schedule, or finances, didn’t allow opportunities to meet a man, no less find time to convince him that she was worth the trouble.
Bradford William Truman IV possessed enough money to hire an army of people to run his business. Except he lacked the ability to release control of his family’s dynasty to anyone. His career demanded his full attention, leaving no time for personal relationships or romance. If not for his mother’s nagging to produce an heir, he’d live the bachelor life until his dying breath. Or until he met a woman who could be a suitable life partner.
Could their chance encounter redirect both their futures? Or would family obligation and duty keep them isolated in their own worlds, destined to lament their unfulfilled dreams?
Chelsea’s world collapsed literally in one heartbeat. She’d always dreamed of returning home and working beside her father in his CPA firm. The small-town lifestyle called to her soul. But her parents had other plans. Plans that involved caring for her sister in Houston. Then one day she received a phone call that changed everything.
Trent, like all his small-town classmates, had inherited his father’s business. Unfortunately, it was a funeral home. He didn’t mind the work. Helping people and fixing their problems gave him great satisfaction. But being a mortician meant foregoing marriage. No woman, not even his own mother, wanted to be married to a man whose days were consumed by death.
When Chelsea’s world collided with Trent’s, the sparks flew. Except Chelsea had commitments in the city, and Trent possessed no hope that any woman could tolerate his career choice. Their paths had crossed, but they both knew they’d go their separate ways once the crisis had passed.
Or would they?