THE backup plan ONE PASS AWAY: A NEW SEASON BOOK TWO ©2020 MARY J. WILLIAMS Copyright © 2020 by Mary J. Williams. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the Copyright owner and publisher of this book. First E-book Printing, 2020 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Writing isn’t easy. But I love every second. A blank screen isn’t the enemy. It is an opportunity to create new friends and take them on amazing adventures and life-changing journeys. I feel blessed to spend my days weaving tales that are unique—because I made them. Billionaires. Songwriters. Artists. Actors. Directors. Stuntmen. Football players. They fill the pages and become dear friends I hope you will want to revisit again and again. Thank you for jumping into my books and coming along for the journey. HOW TO GET IN TOUCH Please visit me at these sites, sign up for the Mary J. Williams newsletter, or leave a message. Bookbub Newsletter Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram Goodreads MORE BOOKS BY MARY J. WILLIAMS Harper Falls If I Loved You If Tomorrow Never Comes If You Only Knew If I Had You (Christmas in Harper Falls) Hollywood Legends Dreaming with a Broken Heart Dreaming with My Eyes Wide Open Dreaming of Your Love Dreaming Again Dreaming of a White Christmas (Caleb and Callie’s story) One Pass Away After the Rain After All These Years After the Fire Hart of Rock and Roll Flowers on the Wall Flowers and Cages Flowers are Red Flowers for Zoe Flowers in Winter WITH ONE MORE LOOK AT YOU One Strike Away For a Little While For Another Day For All We Know For the First Time The Sisters Quartet One Way or Another Two of a Kind Three Wishes Four Simple Words Five More Minutes (The Sisters Quartet Christmas) Six Days (The Sisters Quartet Wedding) Rock & Roll Forever Almost Paradise Almost Blue Almost Everything Almost Home Almost Like Being in Love (A Rock & Roll Forever Christmas) One Pass Away—A New Season The Devil Wears Blue Jeans The Back-Up Plan The Last Honest Man AUDIOBOOKS ONE PASS AWAY SERIES After the Rain – click here After All These Years – click here After the Fire - click here HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS SERIES Dreaming with a Broken Heart – click here Dreaming with My Eyes Wide Open HARPER FALLS SERIES If I Loved You – click here If Tomorrow Never Comes – click here If You Only Knew – click here If I Had You – click here THE SISTERS QUARTET One Way or Another - click here Two of a Kind - click here ROCK & ROLL FOREVER Almost Paradise - click here Almost Blue - click here Almost Everything - click here Almost Home - click here Almost Like Being in Love – click here TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR HOW TO GET IN TOUCH MORE BOOKS BY MARY J. WILLIAMS AUDIOBOOKS PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE EPILOGUE PROLOGUE ▲ ▼ ▲ ▼ ▲ LOVE AT FIRST sight. Fact or fiction? Levi Reynolds smiled as he remembered the first words Piper Winslow ever said to him. More of a challenge than a question, her green eyes a bit hazy from weariness and a few precisely timed shots of her drink of preference—ice-cold, premium-grade vodka—she seemed to dare him to produce an answer she could rip to shreds with her sharp, smart-ass brain. If Levi recalled correctly, he hadn’t been in the best of moods when Piper approached him. All he wanted was to exit the noisy ballroom, get in his car, roll down the windows, and crank up some tunes. Perfection equaled an open road and a heavy foot on the accelerator. The last thing he needed was to be waylaid by a nonsensical question delivered by a woman whose bad mood almost rivaled his own. As the memory solidified, Levi’s smile widened. From the first moment, Piper Winslow was impossible to ignore. How could he not be drawn to a fiery-haired woman with an attitude to match? A woman who, despite her momentary belligerence, was also adorably tipsy. Not drunk, but floaty—her word. And, looking into her soft-focus green eyes, he saw no reason to argue. Levi would learn in the years to come that Piper was a woman who knew how to handle her alcohol. As the band played one more syrupy love song, despite his wish to be anyplace else, Levi was intrigued. Instead of leaving, he watched as Piper hitched up the mermaid-style skirt on her dress and climbed onto the barstool to his right. “Vodka. Straight up,” she told the bartender. She leveled her gaze onto Levi. “Love at first sight. Fact or fiction? I’m Piper by the way. Can I buy you a drink?” Because Levi neither accosted women nor was he a glutton for punishment, he swallowed his sudden and illogical desire to plant a kiss on the woman’s full, red lips. He cleared his throat as he reminded himself that he was, at heart, a gentleman. “Levi.” He smiled. “The drinks are free.” “So they are,” Piper said with a wink of one green eye. “Well, what’s the verdict?” “Love at first sight is a fallacy,” Levi stated, ignoring the flutter of increased interest. “Lust, yes. But love? Absolutely not.” “Exactly!” Piper slapped a palm onto the bar. The sound was loud enough to momentarily rouse the drunk four chairs away. “And yet, three weeks after they first laid eyes on each other, the happy couple has tied the knot. Why?” Rubbing the back of his neck, Levi pondered the question. One answer came to mind. “The need to justify twenty-one days of sexual hijinks.” “Reasonable assumption, but you are way off the beam, my newly acquired friend.” Piper sighed. “The reason you see me dressed in a bright pink taffeta confection straight out of every bridesmaid’s worst nightmare isn’t because of an overload of sex but a massive case of unfulfilled desire.” “Unfulfilled?” Levi glanced toward the door, remembering the newly married couple’s hasty retreat after a rushed cake cutting ceremony. He’d wondered at the time why the groom looked so wild-eyed. Now he had his answer. “She wouldn’t sleep with him until he put a ring on her finger?” “Typical,” Piper said with a scoff. “Place the blame on the woman.” “You mean…? He wouldn’t…?” The idea was too inconceivable for Levi
