So the big four-oh looms right down the pike
For each of us, one right after another. Boom, boom, boom. Iâm the first to cross that dubious threshold in May. Alex turns right after me in Augustâ
Turns? Thatâs horrible. It sounds like one day weâre light and lively and the next day weâre soured milk. Iâd never thought of it that way and wish I hadnât because it gives me yet another reason to dread turning forty. Anyhow, Rainey, the baby of the bunch, is the last to outlive her shelf life. She turns in November.
And we started the annual girlsâ getaway the year of our thirtieth birthdays. So in a sense this year is a double celebration.
But I canât go. Because I donât trust my husband enough to leave him alone for two nightsâ¦.
Nancy Robards Thompson has reinvented herself numerous times. In the process, sheâs worked a myriad of jobs, including newspaper reporting; television show stand-in; production and casting extras for movies; and several mind-numbing jobs in the fashion industry and public relations. She earned a degree in journalism, only to realize that reporting âjust the factsâ bored her silly. Much more content to report to her muse, Nancy has found nirvana doing what she loves mostâwriting romance fiction full-time. Since hanging up her press pass, this two-time nominee for the Romance Writers of Americaâs Golden Heart struck gold in July 2002 when she won the award. She lives in Orlando, Florida, with her husband, Michael, their daughter, and three cats, but that doesnât stop her from dreaming of a life as a bohemian writer in Paris.
Dear Reader,
I read recently that forty is the new thirty. What does that mean? That forty was considered over the hill and is no longer as old as once perceived? Or is it reflective of a new attitude? That chronological age is irrelevant, and a woman can reinvent herself at any age?
The latter is the premise of my story Out with the Old, In with the New. When forty-year-old Kate Hennessey discovers her marriage of twenty years is over, sheâs faced with the horrifying realization that she gave half her life to a man who doesnât want her anymore. At first, she worries the breakup means the best years of her lifeâand all sheâs accomplished in that timeâare null and void. Learning to stand on her own two feet, she embraces her new path and the opportunity to grow into her full potential.
I hope you enjoy Kateâs journey of self-discovery. Hereâs wishing you a lifetime of love and happinessâ¦and the strength to look deep inside yourself and discover where those qualities live.
Warmly,
Nancy Robards Thompson
This book is dedicated to the transforming
power of friendship and to my good friends Katherine Garbera, Mary Louise Wells, Teresa Brown, Elizabeth Grainger, Catherine Kean, Debbie Pfeiffer, Robin Trimble, Joanne Maio, Carol Reiss, Evelyn Sechler and Christina Mancia. Ladies, your friendship makes my life very rich.
First and foremost, Iâd like to thank two wonderful
womenâMichelle Grajkowski, my agent, and Gail Chasan, my editor. Michelle, thanks for having the foresight to get this manuscript into Gailâs hands. Gail, thanks for everything. I look forward to many years of collaboration with both of you.
Heartfelt appreciation (and a long overdue dinner) to
Robert Trimble for your sage advice on divorce law (for the book, thank God, not for real life!).
Finally, love and thanks to Michael and Jennifer.
I couldnât do this without your love and support.
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
Confession time. Iâm not going on the annual girlsâ weekend with Alex and Rainey. But how do you tell your best friends youâre breaking a ten-year tradition because you donât trust your husband enough to leave him alone for two nights?
Itâs embarrassing. Humiliating.
Rainey would hate Corbin if she thought he was having an affair. And Alexâsheâd kill him. Then theyâd both rally around me, like a prizefighterâs coaches who were training for the kill.
Iâm not ready to deal with it. Saying it out loud makes it soâ¦real.
I can hear Alex now. âKate, if heâs cheating, your staying in town isnât going to stop him. So you canât miss our weekend.â And that would inevitably prompt her to add, âIf you even think heâs cheating, why donât you hire a private detective and find out for sure?â
Donât think I havenât considered hiring someone. But for Godâs sake, it hasnât even been a full twenty-four hours since the bomb dropped. I need time to think, to sort out my options and figure out how to deal with the aftermath, should I discover the man I sleep with every night is being unfaithful.
This ugly jealousy is so new. All I can think of is this time yesterday I trusted my husband. I loved him and was so sure he loved me.