If I Break

This is not your typical happily ever after.... Lauren Brooks wants to do three things: Escape the small town she grew up in, get accepted to her dream school in Chicago, and graduate without drowning in debt. Now she's working her ass off to do just that. With a full course load and a waitressing job at one of the hottest nightclubs in Chicago, she does not have time for distractions; namely ones who only want to get into her pants. She's been burned before.

Lauren Brooks fell in love with Cal Scott at 21, married him at 22, and had her heart broken at 23 when he walked out of their marriage. At 25, while raising their daughter on her own, Lauren is finally moving on with her life...until she learns the reason for Cal's abandonment. The walls she had carefully built around her begin to collapse.

Cal's back, and his arrival changes everything. Lauren knew it was coming, but what she didn't think he'd bring with him was an ultimatum. A choice. One that Lauren feels trapped under. A choice she's unsure will make a difference but could possibly change everything. Cal doesn't just have an ultimatum; he has answers. The ones Lauren so desperately craves. But the truth won't only affect the lives of Cal and Lauren but everyone around them...and not everyone wants the truth to come out.

When you're heartbroken, it lies beneath everything that you do. It's in all of who you are. Foreshadows who you'll be. It hides underneath your smile, rests between your laugh, revels in your tears and taunts your every thought. You wish it away but are too terrified to let it go. When Cal first disappeared, I swore my heart had broken, and before all of this is over, I swear it will shatter into pieces.