Righting a Wrong (A Ripple Effect Romance Novella) (16 page)

Cambri looked up and caught Jace watching from the front porch with his shoulder leaning against the post and his eyes focused on her. She smiled, wiping at a few remaining tears.

Some might say that the world was filled with imperfect people, and because of that, perfect moments didn’t exist. But Cambri knew better. This moment proved it, though it wasn’t easy to come by. It took leaving, coming home, lowering her pride, and learning to find the good. It took heartache, loneliness, tears, and sorrys, as well as forgiveness, acceptance, love, and a whole lot of growing up.

And looking back, Cambri wouldn’t change a thing. All that hard stuff had turned her into a stronger, wiser, and better person than she was before—someone who realized that she had something worth having. And that something was pretty great.

Continue on for a sneak peak of Book 4 (Lydia’s story) in the Ripple Effect Series.

Dear Reader,

I’m so grateful to you for taking time out of your day to read
Righting a Wrong
. I hope that it gave you a much-needed break from the craziness we call life.

If you can spare the time, I can’t tell you how much I’d appreciate a review on
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Thanks again and happy reading!

Rachael

To Karey and Kaylee, my co-collaborators in this project. You are both brilliant writers, wonderful editors, and good friends. I hope this is the beginning of a lot more fun projects to come.

To Donna K. Weaver, Julie N. Ford, and Jennifer Griffith—you guys rock! The stories you imagined and wrote are so unique and fun. Thank you for putting your trust in us and for being so great to work with.

And to my family, for being the wonderful, supportive people you are. Especially my husband, Jeff. I thank Heavenly Father every day for your presence in my life.

A
USA Today
bestselling author, Rachael Anderson is the mother of four and is pretty good at breaking up fights, or at least sending guilty parties to their rooms. She can't sing, doesn't dance, and despises tragedies. But she recently figured out how yeast works and can now make homemade bread, which she is really good at eating.

You can find Rachael online at any of the following places:

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Next in the Ripple Effect Romance Series

Lydia was supposed to have an adventurous and exciting summer. Instead she's done nothing more than read and eat takeout. Now it's time to go home, and what does she have to show for it? A big fat nothing. Unless, of course, her trip to the airport somehow turns into something more than just a flight home.

Blake feels like he's been sent on a wild goose chase. While work is piling up back in Denver, he's on the other side of the country, hunting for some mysterious box that his grandfather left him. Well, no more. Nothing inside that box could possibly be more important than the opportunity to make it as the youngest partner at his firm. So he's going home, and that's that. But that's before he discovers his flight has been cancelled.

When these two strangers meet at the airport, they make a split-second decision to search for the box together. Maybe with both of them on the hunt, Lydia can have her adventure and Blake can find the box. And maybe, if they’re lucky, they’ll even find some romance.

Lydia lifted her bag onto the scale and crossed her fingers it would meet the weight restrictions.

“Either you’re a mighty fine packer or you’re right lucky,” said the man behind the counter. “Forty-nine pounds for one and forty-nine and a half pounds for this one.” His thick, mahogany mustache moved as he spoke and reminded Lydia of a squirrel’s tail.

“I guess I’m a little of both. I weighed them on a bathroom scale, but you never know how accurate they are. The scale said they’d be three pounds under.”

“Now you know your scale weighs light. Probably didn’t want to know that, did you?” He laughed at his little joke and Lydia tried not to stare at the rodent on his upper lip. “You need to go to Gate C-14. Glad you gave yourself some time. That gate’s quite a jaunt from here.”

Squirrel Man pointed to his right. “Go past the restaurants and stores, and you’ll find the C concourse on your right. It’s just past The Traveler’s Friend. Now that’s a piece’a irony, calling it a traveler’s friend. I can buy a gallon of O.J. for what they’re chargin’ for a Dixie cup.” He held his fingers up to demonstrate the tininess. Does that sound like a friend to you?”

Lydia laughed. “No, sir. It doesn’t.”

“You have a nice flight, Miss Sutton.”

Lydia headed in the direction Squirrel Man had pointed. She’d taken only a few steps when the wheels of her carryon malfunctioned and the bag flipped onto its front side—the side without wheels—again. “This is the last trip I’m taking with you,” she muttered to her suitcase. Of course, considering this summer, maybe she’d never take a trip again.

After Lydia made it through security, she stopped at a little deli and bought a sandwich before continuing to her gate. Squirrel Man had been right. The walk to C-14 was long, made even longer by the cheap wheels of her carryon.

Lydia felt clammy and uncomfortable. The air conditioning in North Carolina’s humid heat was a ninety-pound weakling fighting a steroid-swollen heavyweight champion. The C concourse had to be at least the length of a football field. Up ahead was C-14—just past the mob of people waiting at C-12 for a flight to Miami.

Lydia maneuvered her way through the throng. “I’m so sorry,” she said after her suitcase flopped over and upended an older gentleman’s bag. Finally, the crowd thinned and she was at her gate, next to a few scattered early birds who sat in the powder-blue, vinyl chairs. Eyeing the seats facing the window, she cut through two rows. As she turned the corner, her suitcase flipped again and snagged on a chair leg, upsetting her balance. Her purse slipped down her arm to the crook of her elbow. Lydia wrenched the suitcase back to its wheels and kept moving. The purse, now dangling from her elbow, caught on the armrest of a chair, yanking her to a stop. Her Sensational Sandwich sack flew out of her hand and landed on the floor a few feet away.

Lydia took a deep, cleansing breath, unhooked the purse strap from the armrest, righted the carryon, and looked for her wayward sandwich.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” asked a handsome man.

Perfect. Of course Lydia’s sandwich acrobatics would have to be witnessed by a guy who looked like a movie star. And not a Nick-Nolte-mugshot movie star, either. This guy was more like a Ryan-Gosling-freshly-shaved-and-in-a-perfectly-tailored-navy-suit-with-a-super-crisp-white-shirt movie star.