Take the Chance (Top Shelf Romance #9) - Brittainy Cherry Page 0,210

not have done it without them: Angela Shockley, Joy Kriebel-Sadowski, Kathleen Ripley, Jeannine Allison, Sarah Torpey, Suanne Laqueur, Jennifer Balogh-Ghosh, and William Hairston.

To Tom Ripley for his legal expertise, I thank you so very much. And while I stand by my research and his advice, I did take some liberties and exerted creative license over certain aspects of California custody law. Don’t kill me.

To the bloggers, readers, and amazing people of this community who make it possible for me to do this job. Thank you.

To Grey, who literally saved me from disaster. Thank you for your kindness, your time, for being there for me at one a.m., and especially for that last read-through. With love.

To Melissa Panio-Petersen, who keeps me sane while I write the words, then she wraps the words inside a beautiful cover. Thank you for sharing your time, talent, and artistry, and for being the winner of World’s Most Thoughtful and Hilarious Human, six years running.

To Robin Renee Hill for all the reasons, and a thousand more I can’t remember but I’m sure we talked about them in an email somewhere, and it probably ended with you sending me an eyeroll emoji. <3 you more than all the babka.

And to every single member of Emma’s Entourage. Words cannot express how much you mean to me, how I’m so grateful to all of you each and every day. Thank you for being there, my Blue Ribbon Stalkers. I cry more tears of joy than you know for what you do for me. Thank you. <3

Also By Emma Scott

The Girl in the Love Song

an instant Top 100 Amazon Bestseller

“This might be a bold statement but I believe what this author is doing is creating the possibility of us becoming better people and a better society through romance.—BrendaRomConFan

FREE in KU: https://amzn.to/2TY7yGi

A Five-Minute Life

50 First Dates meets Awakenings in this emotional standalone

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Hq2d3E

Add to Goodreads TBR here: http://bit.ly/2DASZzB

How to Save a Life (Dreamcatcher #1)

Let’s do something really crazy and trust each other.

“You’re in for a roller coaster of emotions and a story that will grip you from the beginning to the very end. This is a MUST READ…”—Book Boyfriend Blog

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pMgygR

Audible: http://amzn.to/2r20z0R

Full Tilt

I would love you forever, if I only had the chance…

“Full of life, love and glorious feels.”—New York Daily News, Top Ten Hottest Reads of 2016

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2o1aK1o

Audible: http://amzn.to/2o8A7ST

All In (Full Tilt #2)

Love has no limits…

“A masterpiece!” –AC Book Blog

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2cBvM26

Audible: http://amzn.to/2nUprDQ

After We Fall

By Melanie Harlow

For J & C

Your love and courage inspired me.

Second chances are not given to make things right, but are given to prove that we could be even better after we fall.

-Unknown

Margot

I didn’t throw the pie.

And really, I think that’s what everyone should be focused on: the supreme restraint, the Buddhist-like control, the fucking regal nature with which I glanced at the award-winning Cheery Cherry Delight and decided against it. (Just so you know, that was only because of the shirt he wore. Furious as I was, even I could not bring myself to desecrate a snowy white, crisply starched Brooks Brothers button-down. I’m not a monster.)

Not that hurling a tray full of scones—one at a time, with admittedly poor aim—at your ex-boyfriend is behavior to be commended. I completely understand that. And anyone who knows me will tell you it was utterly out of character. I, Margot Thurber Lewiston, pride myself on my ability to control my emotions. Maintain grace under pressure. Keep calm and carry the fuck on. My composure rarely slips, and it certainly doesn’t slip in a room full of donors to my father’s Senatorial campaign.

Honestly, I’ve never thrown food in my life. I’ve never thrown much of anything, which is probably why I had a bit of trouble hitting the target (I have apologized profusely to Mrs. Biltmore about the singed linen. Also the Belleek vase), and I certainly don’t throw things indoors.

Because I was raised with manners. Good old-fashioned, old-money manners. We believe in modesty, courtesy, and—above all—discretion.

No matter what, we do not Cause a Scene.

According to my mother, Margaret Whitney Thurber Lewiston (known to all as Muffy), nothing says poor taste—or worse, new money—like Causing a Scene.

She tells me I have caused one that people will be talking about for years to come.

This is probably true.

I can explain.

It was a text no one wants from an ex-boyfriend at one in the morning on a Tuesday night. Or any night, really.

Tripp: I need to see you. I’m outside.

Me: It’s so late. Can we talk tomorrow?

Tripp: No, it has to be