Summer Dreams: Vegas Dreams, #4

By Cheryl Bradshaw

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cheryl Bradshaw: 

Rae. Sasha. Callie. Kenna Four lifelong friends. Four women looking for love. 

Summer Dreams: Vegas Dreams #4, Kenna's Story

Kenna is the kind of girl who breezes through life, always seeing the positive side of everything. Life is good until the day of her husband's fatal car accident. Now, struggling to find the woman she was before the crash, she struggles to put the fractured pieces of her heart back together. Will she ever be able to open herself up to another man again and find a second chance at love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cheryl Bradshaw
• Release date: Sep 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536569254

Cheryl Bradshaw

Born and raised in Southern California, Cheryl Bradshaw became interested in writing at a young age, but it was almost two decades before she put pen to paper. In 2009 Bradshaw wrote Black Diamond Death (Book One: Sloane Monroe series). Within six weeks it entered the top 100 in two different categories and remained in the top 100 for over a year. Since that time, Bradshaw has written three additional novels in the series, and is now hard at work on the fourth. In 2013, Bradshaw introduced a new pranormal thriller series: Addison Lockhart, the first book titled Grayson Manor Haunting. Bradshaw is the founder of IWU on Facebook, a writers group with over 1,800 members. In August 2012, Bradshaw was named one of Twitter's seven best authors to follow.

Book preview

VEGAS DREAMS NOVELLA SERIES BY CHERYL BRADSHAW:

Sweet Dreams – Rae’s Story (Book 1)

Shattered Dreams – Sasha’s Story (Book 2)

Stolen Dreams – Callie’s Story (Book 3)

Summer Dreams – Kenna’s Story (Book 4)

My name is Kenna Bradley, and this is my story.

For me, life had always come easy.

Stable home life. Check.

Good parents. Check.

Good friends. Check.

No broken bones. Check.

Amazing husband. Double check.

I was happy. Really happy. And I couldn’t imagine life would ever be any different.

It was a nice evening. Scratch that. It was a perfect fall evening for a backyard barbecue in Sin City. I was sitting on a lawn chair on my deck, holding a martini in one hand and my husband Robert’s hand in the other. I looked around at all our friends and smiled. Life was good—really good—and to me, it couldn’t get any better.

Robert squeezed my hand, then leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. You all right? He tilted his head toward my empty glass. Want me to get you another drink?

I shook my head. I’m fine. I’ve already had three tonight. One more and the only thing I’ll be interested in is sleep.

I’m cutting you off then.

My voice went up a few octaves. Cutting me off? Why?

He ran his hand down the side of my short blond hair and winked. I need you to save some energy for later when I have you all to myself again.

We were one week away from celebrating our wedding anniversary with a trip to the Bahamas and had decided to celebrate the occasion early by having a barbecue with some of our closest friends. We’d been married five years, and yet the love I felt for him that day was stronger than it had ever been. In a society where divorce was becoming second nature, our bond had never wavered. I didn’t know why our marriage lasted while others didn’t. All I knew was the man sitting next to me wasn’t just my husband—he was my best friend—the love of my life.

Two fingers snapped a few inches from my face, and my attention shifted to my friend Rae, who was hovered over me. She had a towel draped around her waist and wet hair that was dripping water all over me.

Hey, you’re leaking, I said.

She backed up, twisted her hair around her hand, and a stream of water splashed all over the deck. Okay, you guys. How about the two of you stop pawing all over each other and join the rest of us in the pool? We’re thinking we should toss a ball around before we go, play a little water volleyball. You in?

Robert laughed as he stood.

I joined him. Oh yeah. We’re in.

Two successful volleyball games later and our get-together had almost wound to a close. With the exception of Rae, Sasha, and Callie who’d stayed to help me put my back yard together again, the rest of my guests had called it a night.

 Robert was gone too, on a quick errand he’d been a bit cryptic about before he left, except to say he wouldn’t be gone long. Not long had been more than an hour already. I’d texted him a few minutes before, letting him know the girls were leaving and we were a go for alone time. But he hadn’t texted back in over twenty minutes, which was unusual for him.

Well, Rae said, thanks for an amazing party Kenna.

She leaned in, hugged me. Not to be outdone, Sasha and Callie followed suit, and then the four of us walked together to Rae’s car. Along the way, my cell phone buzzed in my back pocket. I picked it out, glanced at the number. I didn’t recognize it. Thinking it was a telemarketer I ignored the call. Less than a minute later, my phone buzzed again. This time I pressed the call button and then the end button. When my phone rang a third time, I sighed, then answered it. Hello?

A female voice said, Hello. Is this Kenna Bradley?

Yes? Who’s this?

My name is Kathryn. I’m calling from Hilltop General.

Hospital?

Yes, I’m sorry. I should have said that. Your husband is Robert Bradley, correct?

Robert’s my husband. Why?

He was brought in a short time ago.

I don’t understand.

He’s been in an automobile accident.

I gasped so loudly all three of my girlfriends stopped talking. Rae placed a hand on my shoulder and whispered, Kenna, what’s going on?

I held up a finger in the air, continued the conversation with Kathryn. What do you mean he was in an accident? What happened? Is he all right?

She paused for too long—much too long—and I realized I was no longer breathing. My chest felt like a deflated balloon. Empty. If he were okay, she would have said so.