A Life Worth Living

A Life Worth Living Monica McCallan Contents By The Author Copyright Acknowledgments Dedication Synopsis Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Epilogue About the Author A Quick Note By The Author Better than a Dream Back to the Start Sweat Equity Charm City Good Spin Perspective Tapping into Love Then & Now Vesting Period The Flaw in Our Design When I’m With You Back in Your Arms Cuffing Season A Life Worth Living © 2023 By Monica McCallan. All Rights Reserved. First Edition: February 2023 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared, or given away as it is an infringement of the copyright of this work. Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share. Acknowledgments Haley, Lucy, and Erica, thank you for listening to me agonize over anything under the sun—including my long overdue return to writing. Your friendship and support means the world to me. To Breezy and Deej. You’ve both become wonderful friends this past year, and I don’t want to think about what my life would be like without you. Dedication This book is for anyone who sometimes feels overwhelmed by the world and their place in it. Synopsis Nora Gallagher can begrudgingly admit that she and Gray Ferris are both stellar Philadelphia real estate agents, but that’s the beginning and the end of the similarities between them. Nora’s life has been in a self-imposed holding pattern for half a decade. Depending on people in her personal life only leads to disappointment, and she has no plans of making that mistake again. Gray Ferris is extroversion personified. Bubbly. Conversational. Vibrant. She’s trying to make the best of life, even if it hasn’t always gone her way. When the two women begin to learn that maybe they’re not as different as they think, they may finally figure out the most important thing they have in common when it comes to finding a life worth living. Chapter One Nora was on her feet the second the meeting ended. Curious brown eyes caught hers as Gray Ferris loitered in the conference room but made no move toward Nora. At least the woman had some sense. Nora’s heels clicked across the hardwood floors, carrying her out of the meeting space and through the open floor plan that made up the Philly Finds real estate office. The situation Nora found herself in was truly her own personal version of hell. Why Cynthia wanted to torture her was unclear, but it was also irrelevant. An explanation wouldn’t change the fact that her boss had just announced in front of their ten-person company that Gray would also be going on the trip. If there was ever a time for takebacks… Storming into her boss’s office, she didn’t let out a breath until she felt the soft thud of the door. “Seriously, Cynthia. What was that about?” If Cynthia Lennox, her boss, mentor, and sometimes friend, was surprised to find Nora in her office, she didn’t let on. She was already seated at her desk, peering down at her computer through glasses she wore when staring at a screen. Her blonde hair had streaks of silver, the only sign that she was on the other side of fifty. The sleeveless navy wrap dress she wore hugged her frame and long, toned arms were balanced on the edge of her desk. “What was what about? Also, I like that jacket,” Cynthia said with an appraising look, brown eyes now focused on Nora. Nora refused to fidget. Purposefully, she walked over to the window that overlooked their Philadelphia office on Frankford Avenue. She wouldn’t give Cynthia the satisfaction of watching her squirm. “Don’t flatter me.” “Glad you’re getting some use out of it now,” Cynthia said, giving her jacket another appraising stare. “You won’t need it when you’re ‘funnin’ and sunnin’.’” “Why is Gray going on this trip?” There was no point in prolonging the inevitable. This year, partly to celebrate the company’s five-year anniversary, the real estate agency had instituted an all-expenses-paid trip to Bermuda for the agent with the highest value in home sales. Nora had known since it was announced she’d be the winner, but hey, a little healthy competition never hurt. “Because she won, too?” had to be the most half-assed answer she’d ever heard come from her boss’s mouth. She hoped that Cynthia could see the clench in her jaw. Nora ran her hands over her lapels, smoothing the navy garment before fiddling with a gold button. It was a nice jacket. At least Cynthia recognized that, even if she was intent on driving Nora insane. “Except those weren’t the rules. It was supposed to be one person going on this trip, and now it’s two. For some bullshit category that I didn’t even know existed until you announced it at the meeting.” A quick look at Cynthia was all it took to know that she was loving every second of this. “Gray’s closed more hard sells than anyone else at the company. More deals, in fact. She may not be putting up your sales profit numbers, but she’s been invaluable in making connections within the city and bringing us a bigger client base.” Nora turned around and squared her shoulders, standing ramrod straight. This was bullshit, and they both knew it. Whether Cynthia was willing to admit it remained to be seen. “So she gets rewarded