Authors: Shawn Inmon

Second Chance Love (32 page)

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Detectives Fitzgerald and Anderson pulled their unmarked car up the driveway in front of Chelsea Stanton’s mansion.

“Nice house,” Anderson said.

“Mmm-hmm. Dark, though. Looks like nobody’s home,” Fitzgerald said.

“Maybe she likes it dark. I hear she's a cheapskate. Maybe she’s saving on her electric bill.”

Fitzgerald looked at the home, which resembled a miniature White House, then at the elegant landscaping. “Spending it all on gardeners, maybe. All right, let’s give it a try.”

Both detectives walked to the massive double front doors. Anderson measured with his arms. “What do you need a front door this big for? Is this the horse barn?"

Fitzgerald shrugged, then pushed the doorbell. Deep-throated chimes resonated in muffled form. Thirty seconds passed. The detectives were just turning to walk away when the oversized door opened wide.

Chelsea Stanton appeared at the door with her hair wild, her bruised face turning a terrible rainbow of colors, and with a cast on her left wrist. “You two have a lot of nerve showing up here after you let him out of jail!”

Detective Anderson smiled. “Ms. Stanton, we need you to come downtown with us. We have a few questions for you pertaining to filing a false report with a police officer.”

Author’s Note

I hope you enjoyed
Second Chance Love.
Before I tell you the unusual story of how this book came to be, I’d like to make you an offer. If you will sign up for my New Release Alert List, I will send you another of my books, for free. I only send out an email when I have a new book out (so, only a few times per year) and I always offer my books at a steep discount to people on my New Release list. Also, I value your privacy. I would never sell your email address to anyone. You can sign up for your free book here:
http://bit.ly/1cU1iS0

Second Chance Love
started in an unusual fashion. In November of 2013, I realized I wasn’t going to have my next book,
Rock ‘n Roll Heaven
, ready for a Christmas release. I didn’t want to let the holiday go by without a new story, so I went to my Facebook page (
http://facebook.com/shawninmonwriter
) and asked my readers what type of story I could write as a gift to them.

They gave me some basic ideas: they asked for a story of second chance love, a scene on a Christmas tree lot, etc. I incorporated their ideas into a story I called
Second Chance Christmas.
That story covered the events in December of 2013, when Steve and Elizabeth first met after twenty years apart. Initially, I thought that was the end of the story.

Soon after, though, I found that I couldn’t get Steve and Lizzie out of my head. I wondered what happened to the two of them after that first romantic night together. So, in January, 2014, I wrote a second story that connected to the first. Eventually, I wrote five entries in the series. This book represents all five of those stories combined into a single volume.

If you enjoyed the book, I have good news for you. I will be writing an entire series
around Steve and Elizabeth and the other colorful characters that are featured in
Second Chance Love
. The first of those books will be out later in 2015. If you are on my New Release Alert list you will be the first to know.

Writing a book is a collaborative effort for me, and I’d like to recognize all the people who impacted the book but don’t get their name on the cover.

First and foremost is the man I call
the reader’s best friend,
J.K. Kelley. He has been my editor on every project I’ve ever published. He served as both the developmental and line editor on the five original stories that I adapted into this book. That means that he was involved from the initial concept to untangling my final knotted sentence. He is my friend and I know how fortunate I am to have him as my editor.

Linda Boulanger did double duty on this book, as she has on everything I’ve ever written. She created the lovely cover that may have originally caught your eye as you were browsing. She also formatted the book, which means she took my manuscript and made it look like a book. She is talented, creative, and infinitely patient with “her” writers, which, I am happy to say, includes me.

Debra Galvan served as proofreader on this book. That means that hers are the final eyes that search out misplaced commas and stray spaces before the book goes to print. A lot of pressure, but Debra handles it with aplomb. I appreciate her eagle eye and dedication to stomping out typos.

An important part of the creation of a story is using beta readers. They read the book in earlier drafts and give me helpful feedback and catch problematic plot points and the like. I appreciate all their efforts to help me make this book the best possible story. On this book, my beta readers include Karen Lichtenwalter, John Draper, Dianne Bunnell, Laura Heilman, Betty Simonetti, Kelly Thomason, and Tamela Flynn.

More than anything, I would like to thank you for reading my story. You are the reason I write.

Shawn Inmon

Enumclaw WA

January, 2015

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