Second Chance (Cold Springs Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

fought the will, demanded that the diner and all Jean’s possessions be sold at auction and the proceeds split evenly.
    But she hadn’t. She wanted this diner. She wanted to make a new life here in Cold Springs where everyone knew everyone and people could be trusted.
    And she wanted to think the best of her family. Even Theresa.
    Silently, she let herself out and went back to the diner.

 
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    Sam’s blood was boiling by the time she got back to the diner.  The more she thought about her perceived obligation to sell the diner and split the money with them, the more irritated she became.  She had every single right to inherit this diner.  It was what Aunt Jean wanted. Theresa and Mother hadn’t even spent any time with her. Like the time she came down with pneumonia, who had been the one to fly all the way back here and take care of her? Not Theresa and Mother, that was for sure.
    Sell it and split the money with them!  Theresa had to get the last dig in.  Every.  Single. Time. 
    Sam didn’t know what it was about her sister that angered her.  Maybe because she was the favorite in their mother’s eyes.  Sam had grown up under the scrutiny of a mother who expected both daughters to be track stars or homecoming queens, and when Sam didn’t deliver…Theresa rose to the top.  Maybe that’s why she never read her mother’s books.
    Letting herself in the front door of the diner, Sam had trouble shutting it again and had to body slam it to get it to line up correctly to be locked.  She’d have to hire a contractor to take a look at that. 
    She remembered the man who had phoned her cell earlier.  Ian Woods.  If Burt recommended him, he was probably reliable.  Maybe she shouldn’t have given him the cold shoulder.  It was just that all she could think of was the Ian Woods she’d gone through school with.  How embarrassing would it be if he turned out to be one and the same?  Facing him after his rejection, even after all these years, would still be humiliating. 
    Sam could still recall every detail of that night so long ago.  She’d saved for months to buy a prom dress, and rehearsed for weeks how she would ask Ian to accompany her.  She’d almost passed out when he’d said yes.  Just thinking about it brought back a rush of nerves.  She waited hours for him to come by and pick her up.  Theresa laughed it up when she found out Sam had been stood up.  She’d reiterated that the whole thing had been set up as a joke on her, that someone like Ian Woods would want nothing to do with the geek girl brainiac. 
    Despite all the years that had gone by, if Ian Woods was one and the same, Cold Springs was awfully small, and it was almost inevitable that they would cross paths, especially when she reopened the diner. 
    Bypassing the kitchen that seriously needed cleaning, she hurried upstairs to the apartment.  Mother had offered her spare bedroom if Sam wanted to stay there while she fixed up the upstairs apartment.  Sam appreciated the offer but had refused.   Living with Mother, even temporarily, especially with Theresa always intruding, was not going to work.  She shouldn’t feel so irritated, but she couldn’t help it.  Those two fed off each other and had a perfect way of pressing her buttons, even if they didn’t mean to.  This was why she seldom came home to visit…and now she was here for good.
    She let herself in the apartment and shut the door.  All the walls were painted white and were still in fairly good condition despite the dust.  Built-in shelves and drawers lined one side of the one-room apartment.  She stared at the salt and pepper shakers of various sizes and shapes which cluttered the shelves.  Aunt Jean’s customers were always giving her shaker sets over the years.  She had some from Cancun, a pair of slot machine shakers from Las Vegas, even a set replicating the Great Wall of China that a customer had given to her upon returning from a business