Sasha's Happy Ending

By Emily Mims

GET REAL

Sasha Fontenot has seen hell in the dry sands of Afghanistan, and the aftermath of war has left her vacant and wary. There’s no way she’s looking to get involved with anyone, especially an opinionated, annoying, headache of a man.

Mike Werner has endured his own version of misery, and the last thing he wants is to subject his young daughter to any more tragedy. Sure, Sasha is one stunning woman, but she’s damaged goods. Getting involved with her will complicate his life, and Mike doesn’t do complicated. Especially with a woman who's as difficult as it gets.

Yet.. If they take the time to focus on how they truly feel, maybe they'll overcome their fears and accept they're good for each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957295213

Emily Mims

The author of over thirty romance novels, Emily Mims combined her writing career with a career in public education until leaving the classroom to write full time. The mother of two sons, she and her husband split their time between central Texas, eastern Tennessee, and Georgia visiting their kids and grandchildren. For relaxation Emily plays the piano, organ, dulcimer, and ukulele for two different performing groups, and even sings a little. She says, “I love to write romances because I believe in them. Romance happened to me and it can happen to any woman—if she’ll just let it.”

Book preview

GET REAL

Sasha Fontenot has seen hell in the dry sands of Afghanistan, and the aftermath of war has left her vacant and wary. There’s no way she’s looking to get involved with anyone, especially an opinionated, annoying, headache of a man.

Mike Werner has endured his own version of misery, and the last thing he wants is to subject his young daughter to any more tragedy. Sure, Sasha is one stunning woman, but she’s damaged goods. Getting involved with her will complicate his life, and Mike doesn’t do complicated. Especially with a woman who's as difficult as it gets.

Yet.. If they take the time to focus on how they truly feel, maybe they'll overcome their fears and accept they're good for each other.

ALSO BY EMILY MIMS

Durango Street Theatre

Vivi’s Leading Man

Maggie’s Starring Role

Wade’s Dangerous Debut

Jessica’s Hero

Letti’s Second Act

Cameron Unscripted

Miranda Rewritten

Rachel's Favorite Villain

The Smoky Blues

Mist

Smoke

Evergreen

Indigo

Emerald

Mistletoe

Violet

Ruby

Amethyst

Noelle

The Texas Hill Country

Solomon’s Choice

After the Heartbreak

A Gift of Trust

Daughter of Valor

Welcome Home

Unexpected Assets

Never and Always

A Gift of Hope

Once, Again

Other Romances

Season of Enchantment

A Dangerous Attraction

For the Thrill of It All

SASHA’S HAPPY ENDING

Durango Street Theatre – Book 9

Emily Mims

www.BOROUGHSPUBLISHINGGROUP.com

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Boroughs Publishing Group does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites, blogs or critiques or their content.

SASHA’S HAPPY ENDING

Copyright © 2022 Emily Wright Mims

All rights reserved. Unless specifically noted, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Boroughs Publishing Group. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of Boroughs Publishing Group is illegal and punishable by law. Participation in the piracy of copyrighted materials violates the author’s rights.

ISBN 978-1-957295-21-3

To all the soldiers who’ve come back from war damaged beyond belief

and are struggling to put their lives back together in a meaningful way.

We love you and thank you for your service.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As always, this book was not written in a vacuum. I’d like to thank beta reader Roy Bartels for a perceptive read and spot-on suggestions, and the Boroughs Art Department for the wonderful cover.

A special shout-out to editor Susan Stones, who managed to get all the eggs out of the pudding and has this manuscript reading like a dream.

Thanks everyone!

Contents

Also By

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

SNEAK PEEK at the 1st book in the new Bear’s Brigade series

About the Author

SASHA’S HAPPY ENDING

Chapter One

Mike

If this was supposed to snap him out of the funk he’d been in for way too long, serving on the set crew of the Durango St. Theatre production of Hello, Dolly was not doing the job.

Mike was every bit as down as he’d been when he walked in here eight hours ago.

He was so tempted to turn around and walk out. But he’d promised his brother-in-law Brian he’d give it a try. Come on, man, Brian had cajoled him yesterday when they were going off shift. It beats sitting at home thinking about shit and feeling sorry for yourself. You need to get out of the house and talk to somebody besides a six-year-old. Besides, Kinsey will have a good time with Bobby and the grandparents. It’ll be good for both of you.

So here he was.

Mike wiped his fingers on a napkin and finished the rest of his soda. The pizza had been a much-needed pick-me-up after spending most of the day placing and spiking set pieces, some of which were damned heavy. While not particularly eager, he was refueled and ready to do whatever the crew did on their first night of tech week rehearsals. He made a pit stop to the lobby restroom and was headed back to the auditorium when he spotted Brian coming in the front door in the company of a young woman Mike had never seen before.

The woman was blonde and delicate, with big green eyes and finely chiseled features framed by hair in a pixie cut. She was petite and nearly ethereal in her beauty.

He stared, riveted, as she and Brian stopped to speak to an attractive couple who looked vaguely familiar. The blonde beauty seemed uncomfortable and wasn’t interacting much with the others, speaking when spoken to but damned little else. He watched them for a minute before Brian looked in his direction and motioned him over.

Mike wasn’t in the mood to meet anyone, but this entire exercise was supposed to help him get over himself, and meeting new people was part of it. He plastered on a smile he wasn’t feeling and crossed the lobby, his eyes again drawn to the blonde standing next to Brian.

He and Brian shook hands and Brian turned to the others. I have someone I’d like you all to meet. This is Mike Werner, my brother-in-law and fellow cop. Mike, this is Letti and Kevin Summerset. You may’ve already met Letti. He turned to the blonde. "And this is Sasha Fontenot. These three are our leads in Hello, Dolly. He gestured toward the couple. Letti’s playing Dolly at our benefactor Ernest Navarro’s request. Kevin’s playing Cornelius, and Sasha’s playing Irene Molloy."

Mike quickly masked his surprise. He wouldn’t have thought this quiet woman would be playing one of the leads.

Letti and Kevin murmured, How do you do, and offered their hands. After a moment, Sasha shook hands as well, although she said nothing.

Letti looked at him curiously. Jessica’s brother-in-law? Her smile slipped a bit.

And Kinsey’s father, Mike added. Have you met my daughter?

Letti’s smile warmed. I have. She’s precious.

A gorgeous dark-haired woman came in the front door and strode through the lobby, followed by an equally energetic woman with bouncing curls and a clipboard in her hands. Uh-oh, the slave drivers are here, Brian said loudly, his eyes snapping with amusement. He turned to Mike. Rachel’s our director and Miranda’s our production manager. Their entrance is our cue to get down front for the rehearsal.

The three actors joined the rest of the cast in the front rows of the auditorium, and Mike went back to the stage where the crew was moving set pieces into place to rehearse the first act. They’d scurry around during scene changes, rearranging the stage in the dark for each scene. He stood to one side of the stage and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans. He reminded himself it was only a rehearsal, and he wasn’t in charge. Besides, with the placement of each set piece and prop spiked onto the stage floor, there wasn’t much room for error.

Rachel and Miranda gave thorough instructions to the cast and to the band upstairs in the balcony. An unsmiling Sasha listened intently. He still couldn’t picture the withdrawn woman acting at all, no less playing a lead. Maybe she’d landed the part based on her looks. For the rest of the actors, he hoped that wasn’t the case.

The first scenes went well. Letti and Kevin as Dolly and Cornelius were impressive. Brian as Barnaby was properly young and innocent. George Ortega, the older actor playing Horace, and the young man playing Ambrose were doing a fantastic job. Then they rearranged the set for the first scene in Irene Molloy’s shop. Sasha took her place on the stage and before his eyes transformed from the unsmiling, withdrawn woman introduced to him in the lobby, to the warm and engaging character, singing about how she’d attract a man wearing a hat with ribbons down her back.

Mike was amazed. Sasha could act. And sing. And hold her own with the other actors in the production.

She finished her first scene and then another, retreating into herself as she stepped out of character, and then becoming Irene during her scenes. It was the damnedest thing Mike had ever seen.

The other actors did it too, of course. But the change wasn’t as striking. He watched her, fascinated and more than a little attracted. He didn’t know what to make of it. He hadn’t been this drawn to a woman since he’d spotted Heather across a packed bar his senior year of college. He’d acted on the attraction to Heather right then and there. But he was no longer a randy college kid. He was a thirty-six-year-old widower with a little girl to think of.

Still, he might speak to Sasha after rehearsal. Strike up a conversation, see if she would talk to him. It was worth a try.

They made it through the first act with no major glitches. As he and the rest of the crew readied for the second act, placing the tables and chairs for the Harmonia Gardens restaurant, he glanced out at the auditorium and spotted his sister-in-law Jessica seated on the front row. He wondered briefly why she hadn’t come with Brian before he remembered something about her son Bobby and a birthday party.

The crew set up the restaurant and the heavily male ensemble launched into the waiters’ dance, complete with the obligatory spinning trays. They’d almost finished the number when one of the younger dancers got tangled up in a chair and went headlong into the plywood set wall stage left.

The wall came crashing toward the table and chairs where Sasha, Kevin, Brian, and Joyce, the girl playing Minnie, were seated. Mike tried to stop the fall of the huge set piece, throwing himself between the big slab of plywood and the actors. But the piece was too heavy and came down on top of him, knocking him on top of Sasha, who immediately began to kick and scream, pummeling him with her fists as he tried to get them out from under the piece.

Stop it, she screeched in his ear. "Get off me. Don’t touch me. Leave me alone. Oh noooo."

Mike tried wiggling them both out from under, but the huge plank had them trapped. Damn it, lady, I’m trying, he ground out into her ear as he felt the piece being lifted off them.

One of the crew members took him by the shoulders and pulled him away from the terrified woman. She scrambled out from under him and crab-walked halfway across the stage before looking at him with sheer terror on her face.

What the fuck is her problem? he wondered as some of the crew lifted the heavy piece off the other actors. Kevin and Brian got to their feet and pulled Joyce off the stage floor. All the while Sasha sat on the floor, trembling.

Rachel and Letti leapt to the stage and offered Sasha their hands, but she shook her head violently and struggled to get to her feet.

Rachel called a fifteen-minute break and she and Miranda began an inspection of the fallen wall. The actors milled around backstage, and the crew began picking up the knocked-over set pieces.

So much for talking to her after the rehearsal, Mike thought. He shuddered at the close call. He’d dealt with one unstable woman in his life and had absolutely no desire to get tangled up with another.

The crew managed to get the wall put back in place, and the set was put to rights. Mike watched as Rachel examined the wall, talking animatedly on the phone to somebody named Harlan.

Brian limped over and stood beside him. Close call. It’s a good thing you jumped in. Sasha could’ve been hurt.

Mike shrugged. She wasn’t exactly thankful, was she? Jesus, you’d’ve thought I’d attacked her or something. God spare me from loony women.

Brian looked over Mike’s shoulder and an odd expression crossed his face. Uh-oh. Mike glanced behind him. Sure enough, Sasha was standing a few feet behind him looking mortified, and from the pissed-off glares Letti and Jessica gave him, Sasha wasn’t the only one who’d heard what he said.

Mike could feel his face start to redden. He started to apologize, but the woman had behaved strangely and he wasn’t sure what he could say that wouldn’t make it worse.

Thankfully, Rachel ordered them back in place and the rehearsal resumed. The rest of the rehearsal was uneventful, and after a postmortem that felt like it took forever but probably only lasted a half hour, the cast and crew were dismissed for the evening with instructions to report promptly the next evening at seven. Which would give him time to feed Kinsey her dinner before bringing her with him for her acting lessons.

If he came back tomorrow evening.

He trudged tiredly to his five-year-old crossover and was almost to the car before Brian caught up with him. So, how’d you like it? Have fun?

Not really. If I didn’t think the crew chief needed me so badly, I wouldn’t bother.

Brian’s face fell. But she does need you, he reminded quietly. Jenny and most of her crew are young and female. You and Justin are the only two big enough to wrestle some of the heavy furniture into place. You quit and Justin will be fucked without the help. So will Jenny.

I won’t quit, Mike said. But I don’t see how this is supposed to help me get my head on straight. It’s not going to bring Heather back or fill the gap in my daughter’s life.

Brian’s lips tightened. No, it won’t. But it will get you and Kinsey out of the house. You’ll talk to some adults other than cops and perps. Kinsey will have some time with both her grandmothers and her cousins. You’ll get out of your recliner and away from the booze and it’ll give you both something to do besides sit in a house full of crappy memories and a ghost.

Mike winced. Tell me what you really think.

Brian’s face softened. I didn’t mean to be so harsh. But it’s the truth and you know it. Give it some time, man. You might find yourself liking it.

I doubt it. I’ve already put my foot in my mouth with that little actress. Your wife and her friend weren’t too happy with me.

Jess and Letti will live. Sasha will too. So will I see you tomorrow night?

You’ll see me tomorrow morning at a seven a.m. roll call.

Not what I asked.

Yeah, yeah. You’ll see me tomorrow night. Speaking of roll call, we both need to get home.

They said their good nights and Mike got in his car. Heather’s car, he thought as he pulled out of the parking lot. He’d sold his pickup a month after her death, the same weekend he’d moved back into the house with so many haunting memories. But changing houses would cost a bundle and take more energy than he could muster, plus it was the house his daughter had shared with her mother. If Kinsey had any real memories of Heather, they’d be of her in that house.

On the other hand, considering the shape Heather was in the last few months of her life, maybe those memories would be better forgotten.

Late Sunday evening traffic was sparse and it didn’t take him long to get to the sprawling ranch house his in-laws kept. He’d asked Jean why they didn’t move somewhere smaller with less upkeep and she’d gestured to the three spare bedrooms down the hall. Each of the grandchildren has a room of their own. As often as they stay the night, the house is worth keeping for that reason alone.

Jessica and Brian were pulling out of the driveway as he made the corner. Brian waved as they passed on the street, but Jessica still didn’t look too pleased. But then she never was and hadn’t been since Heather’s death.

Eddie and Jean Baumann were no better. The only one in the entire family who was halfway decent to him was Brian, and if it’d been only himself to consider, Mike would’ve cut ties with them a long time ago.

But they did too much for Kinsey for him to cut them off. Jessica had gotten her a scholarship at the Durango Academy and took her for playdates with her cousins. Jean and Eddie were marvelous grandparents, doing their best to fill the gap Heather’s death had left in Kinsey’s life. Mike would rather put up with the devil himself than take his daughter away from her extended family.

But they were still a pain in the ass.

He pulled into the driveway and met Eddie at the door. Did Kinsey have a good time today? he asked as his former father-in-law held the door for him.

They all did. She’s been asleep for over an hour. I hope you can get her to her car seat without waking her.

So do I. He followed Eddie into the toy-strewn family room where a tired-looking Jean was embroidering a pillowcase. Eddie tells me Kinsey had fun.

She put down the pillowcase and stood up. She did. Although she was starting to get tired. Are you sure you have any business doing this show? Jean asked. It’s a mighty big commitment for a single parent.

She sees little enough of you as it is, Eddie added.

Ah, the knife between the ribs. He’d wondered how long before one of them said something negative. No, I’m not sure, he agreed. I wouldn’t be doing it at all, except Brian leaned on me. He thinks Kinsey and I need to get out of the house and talk to someone besides each other in the evening. I owe Brian and hated to turn him down. But I’ll share your concerns with him when I explain why I’m not going back. I’m sure he’ll understand.

Eddie and Jean looked at one another. No, don’t do that, Jean said quickly. If Brian thinks it’s a good thing, I hate for us to get in the way.

Eddie carried a sleeping Kinsey out to the car. As she snuggled down into the car seat, Mike thanked Eddie, and then backed out of the driveway. He was almost sorry he’d played the Brian card. It would’ve been the perfect excuse to bow out. It was almost comical the way those two put Brian up on a pedestal. Not that the man didn’t deserve it. In an incredible act of bravery, he’d saved Kinsey from certain death, grabbing her out of the day care that Heather was threatening