Another Chance: Love in Vacationland, #1

By Chelsea M. Cameron

When Farrah tells her three closest friends that they should all take off to a small town in Maine for a month, they have no idea how it's going to work. But Farrah doesn't like taking no for an answer, so soon all four of them are staying together in a cottage near the beach. It's everything Farrah needs to get away from her life, which has been a little rocky as of late. At least she has her best friend, Spencer, to lean on. The two of them were high school sweethearts who went their separate ways for years before ending up in the same city again and reconnecting as friends. Only friends. Well, except for that one steamy night when they had a few too many drinks and one thing led to another…
The one night that would change everything.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chelsea M. Cameron
• Release date: May 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223913894

Chelsea M. Cameron

CHELSEA M. CAMERON is a contemporary romance/New Adult author from Maine. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono, that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is. For the latest updates and more about Chelsea, visit her website at www.chelseamcameron.com, find her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @chel_c_cam.

Book preview

Chapter One

Farrah

I need a freaking vacation, I muttered to myself as I opened my inbox and saw multiple emails from one of my problem clients. I’d only been on the clock for ten minutes and already I needed a break. I shut my computer and took a deep breath and got up to make myself another cup of coffee. When I’d originally envisioned my freelance career, I didn’t envision so much crying and cursing at my computer and lost hours of sleep when a client decided to be difficult. 

I pulled out my phone and scrolled my social media for something to make me laugh and set me up for a good day. Most mornings I tried to meditate for a few minutes before I sat down at my computer and turned my work brain on, but I’d skipped today. Rookie mistake.

As my coffee brewed, I took a deep breath and told myself that I wasn’t a brain surgeon. I was a freelance copy editor. No one was going to die if I delayed reading an annoying email for a few hours. The perfectionist side of my brain howled in frustration.

I need a vacation immediately I texted my best friend, Spencer. 

She responded right away, even though it was still early. Knowing Spencer, she was probably still lounging in bed. Spencer was also a freelancer, but she was a lot more casual about her working hours than I was. More often than not, I could show up at her apartment and find her lying in bed with her laptop still wearing her pajamas and chowing down on a breakfast taco she’d had delivered. That kind of chaos would make me have a breakdown, but it worked for her. She’d built an incredible business as a freelance book marketing strategist helping all kinds of authors break out and sell millions of books.

Oh really? What have I been saying for the past six months? She sent and I could literally hear her saying the words in my head as I read them from my phone. 

Spencer and I went all the way back to high school. She had seen the good, the bad, the ugly. Even though we’d only reconnected a year ago when she moved to Boston, it was like no time had passed.

Go ahead and say it I responded.

Say what? She sent.

Say ‘I told you so.’ I know you want to I replied.

Someday you, my dear Fare, will realize that I am always right and you should just listen to me the first time she sent.

There it is I responded.

My coffee was waiting for me, so I carefully sipped my cup and tried to turn my brain off for a few minutes, but all I could think about was my inbox. It was best to tackle the dragon head on, so even before I finished my cup, I was opening my laptop again, cracking my neck, and opening the emails.

One of the best parts of working from home was that you couldn’t get in trouble when you cursed your clients out. I was sure my neighbors had heard me more than once.

If you’re really serious about this trip, and I think you are, you should tell Colette and Hope. They’re going to want to be in on it Spencer sent after I’d responded to the most pressing client emails.

Spencer, Hope, Colette, and I had been close friends for almost a year, but it honestly felt like decades. They three of them were my support system, my shoulders to cry on, the people I reached out to when I had news, good or bad. Some weeks I felt like I spent more time at their apartments than my own. If I was going on vacation, I had to have them come with me.

While I agreed with Spencer, I needed to completely focus on work right now, so I put my phone on silent and would slide into the group chat during my scheduled lunch break which couldn’t come soon enough.

When I checked my phone again, I had a number of messages and silly things from Spencer, as usual. She knew my schedule, so she wasn’t upset when I didn’t respond for hours at a time.

I ran downstairs to grab the salad I’d ordered and brought it back up, huffing as I ascended the stairs. I really did need to get out and walk more. I’d turned thirty a few months ago and I knew if I sat at my desk too much, my back started to ache, and my knees had recently started doing this weird cracking thing. 

I ate my lunch on the living room couch with a true crime show on in the background as I caught up on the group chat. Hope was always bursting with interesting stories, and today was no exception. She worked as a freelance ghostwriter and had even penned several celebrity memoirs. Hope was the kind of person who somehow knew everything about everyone, and if she didn’t know, she knew how to find out. She was a one-woman celebrity gossip site.

After feverishly scrolling through an update about a reality show relationship cheating scandal, I decided to pitch my idea.

Let’s go on vacation this summer. All four of us I sent.

The responses were immediate.

YES! Finally. I have needed a vacation forever Hope sent. 

For how long? I have so many deadlines Colette sent, predictably. If there was one person who was more obsessed with work than me, it was Colette.

Come ON, Colette, you have to take a break sometime. You’re going to work yourself into the grave Spencer responded.

Some of us have bills to pay, Spence Colette fired back. 

I pay my bills. Mostly on time Spencer sent.

This was getting out of hand.

Listen, I think it would be good for all of us. Since we all freelance, we can still work while we’re there. Wherever we go. What does everyone’s schedule look like? I sent to get everyone back on track.

Once we decided when and for how long we’d go, we could then narrow down a location. I didn’t think we should go anywhere too exotic or expensive. Someplace quiet, where we could take walks. Maybe somewhere by the ocean, so we could go to the beach.

The rest of my lunch break was eaten up with back and forth, everyone sharing when they could and couldn’t go.

Miraculously, we agreed that we could each go for a month, and we narrowed down dates. A month seemed like an incredibly long time, but then I remembered that I hadn’t taken more than a weekend off in three years. We were all overdue. We’d earned this.

What is the name of that town you grew up in, Colette? Spencer asked.

Castleton Colette responded. I haven’t gone back since I graduated high school, though.

Maine. That was far enough away from Boston to feel like we were somewhere different, but still close enough that we wouldn’t have to fly, which would cut down on travel time and expense.

Wow, it’s really pretty Hope sent, along with some pictures she’d found online. Not only was there a beach, but there was a lighthouse and the cutest little downtown you could find. And a food truck that served lobster rolls? I was completely sold.

I love it I sent, and everyone, except Colette agreed. Even though I needed to get back to my desk, I did a quick search for rentals in Castleton and found a ton, including a cottage right by the beach with three bedrooms and a deck that looked out over the water. We’d be within walking distance of the best Castleton had to offer. I could already picture myself getting sunburned on the sand of the beach while I read a good book from start to finish.

It was perfect.

Chapter Two

Spencer

Maine wasn’t my first choice for vacation paradise, but I quickly warmed up to the idea. Ever the planner, Farrah had sent a number of listings of potential places to rent by the week, and