Life by Design

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CHAPTER 1 | FIRST DAY JITTERS CHAPTER 2 | SLIGHT CHANGE OF PLANS CHAPTER 3 | MISHAPS & MISCOMMUNICATIONS CHAPTER 4 | NOBODY COULD’VE SEEN THAT COMING CHAPTER 5 | THE FRAGILE MALE EGO IS EXHAUSTING CHAPTER 6 | WHEN GOOD DAYS GO BAD CHAPTER 7 | FIRST, WE MAKE THE PLANS CHAPTER 8 | INTERRUPTED BY THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER CHAPTER 9 | WHEN PLANS CHANGE … FOR THE BETTER CHAPTER 10 | SOMETIMES THE CALM COMES AFTER THE STORM CHAPTER 11 | GOING ON A NON-DATE WITH MY BOSS CHAPTER 12 | TRYING (AND FAILING) TO CLEAR THE AIR CHAPTER 13 | WELL THAT WAS UNEXPECTED CHAPTER 14 | MY SISTER, THE MEDDLER CHAPTER 15 | WHERE DO MEN KEEP ALL THEIR AUDACITY? CHAPTER 16 | THE MORNING AFTER CHAPTER 17 | CAUGHT WITH OUR PANTS DOWN … KINDA CHAPTER 18 | ROMANTIC NIGHT-TURNED-CLUSTERFUCK CHAPTER 19 | JUST A COWARD IN A CLOSET CHAPTER 20 | IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING CHAPTER 21 | ECHOES CHAPTER 22 | MEET THE PARENTS CHAPTER 23 | COMPLETELY OUT OF LEFT FIELD CHAPTER 24 | BIG STEPS & OMINOUS THREATS CHAPTER 25 | ONE STEP FORWARD … INTO THE UNKNOWN CHAPTER 26 | CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG NOW CHAPTER 27 | COULD THIS BE IT? CHAPTER 28 | WHEN DID MY WORLD START TO FALL APART? CHAPTER 29 | TAKING THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE CHAPTER 30 | SO THAT’S IT, THEN CHAPTER 31 | AFTER THE DARKNESS COMES THE DAWN CHAPTER 32 | EVERYTHING IS LOOKING UP CHAPTER 33 | OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME CHAPTER 34 | I NEED TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT CHAPTER 35 | MAKING UP & MAKING OUT … IN THE RAIN EPILOGUE | COUNTING DOWN  By Addison Ryan S TANDALONE NOVELS Life by Design A-List Tryst (Coming 2023) LIFE BY DESIGN . Copyright © 2023 Addison Ryan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical terms, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be mistaken as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Ryan, Addison Life by Design / Addison Ryan ISBN 9798847299039 Text and Cover design by Angela Schmuhl ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The list of people to thank seems never-ending, but it seems only right to start with my incredibly supportive husband, without whom, this story would not exist. The two-decade journey we’ve been on has been nothing short of incredible and full of so much passion and love that bleeds out onto the pages of every story I write. To my children (two of whom aren’t old enough to read my work), you’ve been amazing little cheerleaders and offer up your honest opinions when I show you the cover art progress. I love you to the moon and back and super-duper appreciate your willingness to avoid me and pretend to favor your video games. I know deep down you hate them and you’d rather spend 100% of time with your parents. To my editors, beta readers, and street team, the ones who see my work in its roughest form: your feedback and attention to detail is precious, as you are my target audience, and it really allows me to figure out if what I want to write is even going to be enjoyed by anyone. Thankfully, you all seem pretty keen to want more, and that’s usually a good sign I’m on the right track. Each and every one of you inspire me in some way, and there’s a little bit of my real life thrown in to each one of my novels. Again, thank you all for everything. Without you, none of this would be possible. I love you all. Cheers.  CHAPTER 1 | FIRST DAY JITTERS  Isla M y parents once told me we design the life we want to live, and while I may have had to erase and re-sketch my design quite a few times, their words are a constant source of inspiration as I chase my dreams. I may not be where I want to be in life, right this second, but I ’ m also not ready to give up on my dreams and let the tens of thousands of dollars I put into school go to waste. Excited to see my latest creation, I pull the crisp white shirt off my serger, trim the excess thread, and hold it up to critique my work. I turn it around to check my lines and make sure they aren ’ t crooked, and just as I ’ m about to give it a pass, I notice a pucker in the fabric. Given how small it is, I probably could ’ ve let it slide, but I ’ m just not wired that way. With a sigh of irritation, I grab my seam ripper and pull every stitch along the seam, grumbling the entire time. I smooth out the crease, pin the fabric in place a little more securely, and push it through the machine again, this time achieving the perfect lines I want the name Isla Winters to be known for and passing my final inspection. “ What do you think, Chanel? ” I turn and hold the shirt up. From under the window across the room, the two-year-old Dalmatian opens her gorgeous eyes, one brown, one blue. She can ’ t even be bothered to lift her head as she stares at me, unimpressed that I dared disrupt her majesty ’ s slumber from her spot in the sunlight. Her spotted ears twitch before she closes her eyes again, her coat gleaming in the light that she ’ s bathing in. “