If I Break

Lauren Brooks fell in love with Cal Scott at twenty-one, married him at twenty-two, and had her heart broken at twenty-three when he walked out of their marriage. At twenty-five, 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. The day she meets Chris, all those feelings she thinks she has bottled up tightly come spilling out. She can't afford to give in to her heart's desire again. Love nearly broke her once, and her daughter doesn't need two broken parents. Christopher Scott is in love and newly engaged to Jenna, who saw him through an illness he didn't think he could survive. He's finally settling into the life he's always wanted, and he's making plans he only dared to dream before now. That's when a woman named Lauren arrives on his doorstep. She's intriguing, beautiful and, try as he might, he can't stay away. The closer he gets to her, the more his rock-solid plans begin to crumble. All he knows is that Lauren is the missing piece to a puzzle he must solve. For him to put all the pieces in place, he'll have to follow his heart, and that might cost him everything . . .

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. The thing is, Cal doesn't give an F . . . There are two sides to every story. In this one, there's three.

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.