He cleared his throat. “Change of subject?”
“Sure.”
“I know it’s been a rough day, and I hope this won’t make it harder on you, but I don’t think there’s ever going to be a good time.” He pulled a long slender box, wrapped in gold foil from the car’s glove compartment. “This belongs to you. I hope it’s not too sad a reminder.”
Mia unwrapped a jewelry box.
She snapped the lid up, and her hand flew to her throat.
It couldn’t be the same one.
She closed her eyes, picturing her mother turning the pages of a storybook, in her mind she heard tinkling bells. She could see the silver rungs of a bracelet, the beautiful charms: a cross, a heart, and a star. She opened her eyes. “Is this… is this my mother’s? How can that be?”
“Dad’s original pawn shop has been closed for years, but he kept boxes and boxes of unsold inventory. He also kept meticulous records. So when I heard your mother used to come into the shop, I promised myself that if anything of hers was in storage, I’d find it.”
He brushed his hand across his eyes. “I’ve been wanting to give this to you since the moment I found it. But knowing that it led your mother to my father… I-I worried it would be too painful for you to see it or touch it. But in the end, I realized I had no right to make that decision for you.”
Mia nodded, her throat too clogged to speak.
She held up her wrist, and he helped her with the clasp.
“Thank you.” She lifted her eyes to his. “I admit this is a bittersweet memento—some people might even think it’s morbid to wear it. But my mother loved this bracelet, and in spite of everything, I loved her. I don’t want to push away my past anymore. I didn’t choose it, but it’s part of who I am.”
“What about the future?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” she said. “But getting the hell out of this prison parking lot would be a good start.”
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Books by Carey Baldwin
Her First Mistake
The Cassidy & Spenser Thrillers Series
Judgment
Fallen
Notorious
Stolen
Countdown
Prequels
First Do No Evil (Blood Secrets Book 1)
Confession (Blood Secrets Book 2)
A Letter from Carey Baldwin
Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking time out of your busy life to read Her First Mistake. I loved creating these characters, and I hope you enjoyed getting to know them and taking their journey as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you.
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Building a relationship with readers is one of the best things about being a writer. I love hearing from you, so please stay in touch by connecting with me on Facebook, Twitter, and my website, and following me on BookBub. I’ve posted the information below for your convenience. Meanwhile, if you enjoyed this story, I would be grateful if you could leave a short review. Reviews are one of the best ways to help other readers discover my books. You can make a big difference simply by leaving a line or two.
Thank you very much for reading and don’t forget to stay in touch!
Love, Carey
www.careybaldwin.com
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Acknowledgments
Thank you so much to my wonderful agent, Liza Dawson, who is unendingly supportive and always wise. I’m so grateful to everyone at Bookouture for taking me on and working so hard to make this book a success. In particular, I want to thank my fantastic editor, Lucy Dauman. Where there was an opportunity to make the story better, she spotted it, and brilliantly shone her light on the way forward. She’s truly amazing. I also want to thank my beta reader, Staci Motley, for her kind support and her invaluable input. As always, I want to thank my incredibly talented friends Leigh, Tessa, and Lena. You’ve been with me from the start, and you’re always there for me whether I need to cry, celebrate, or fix a plot hole. I don’t know what I’d do without you. To my family—Bill, Shannon, Erik, and Sarah. I love you truly, dears.
We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.
Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.
We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.
Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.
Thank you.
*As reported by the National Literacy Trust
Published by Bookouture in 2021
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
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Copyright © Carey Baldwin, 2021
Carey Baldwin has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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