The Flip Side of Heartbreak

the flip side of heartbreak meg bradley Copyright © 2023 by Meg Bradley All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover Photography: Wander Aguilar Cover Model: Landon “Hearts live by being wounded.” ― Oscar Wilde contents The Flip Side of Heartbreak 1. Nathan 2. Quinn 3. Nathan 4. Quinn 5. Nathan 6. Quinn 7. Nathan 8. Quinn 9. Nathan 10. Quinn 11. Nathan 12. Quinn 13. Nathan 14. Quinn 15. Nathan 16. Quinn 17. Nathan 18. Quinn 19. Nathan 20. Quinn 21. Nathan 22. Quinn 23. Nathan 24. Quinn 25. Nathan 26. Quinn 27. Nathan 28. Quinn 29. Nathan 30. Quinn 31. Nathan 32. Quinn 33. Nathan 34. Quinn Epilogue The Other Side of Ever After About Meg Bradley the flip side of heartbreak What’s the only logical thing to do when you find out your wife is pregnant with another guy’s baby? You buy a house—sight unseen—in a town you’ve never set foot in, just so you can tear the whole thing down to the studs. Seclusion and sledgehammering are my kind of post-divorce therapy. Problem is, the feisty next-door neighbor is some best-selling romance author with a bad case of writer’s block. When she asks me to be a critique partner for her latest novel, I know I shouldn’t agree to it. She needs a muse and I have ways to inspire her I don’t want anyone else reading. But I need her help, too. Demolition I can handle; it’s the renovation part that isn’t in my wheelhouse. Suddenly, she’s got me rebuilding more than just my fixer upper—she’s working on my trust. But after being with the same woman for the past decade and then getting hurt beyond repair, I don’t know how to let anyone else in. Or even if I want to. That’s the flip side of heartbreak, right? You have a say in how your heart gets pieced back together. I came to this town to break something. I won’t let it be my stupid heart again. The Flip Side of Heartbreak is an age-gap, neighbor romance with steamy scenes and heart melting moments that will have you laugh-crying one minute and fanning yourself the next. It’s the first in a series of standalones including swoon-worthy heroes and guaranteed HEA’s. 1 nathan Each time my eyes inadvertently flick up to the rearview mirror and glimpse the assembled crib in the back of my truck, I feel the weight of my misjudgment. I should’ve left it. The only reason it’s wedged between a rusted toolbox, five cardboard moving boxes, and a rolled-up, inflatable mattress is because I thought it might make my ex-wife feel something to see me pull away with it in my truck bed. A visual reminder of the path she chose to deviate from when she decided our marriage vows were optional. That to have and to hold garbage? I can’t even remember the last time I held her in my arms, let alone had any part of her. When I told Archie and Logan that Sarah had been having an ongoing affair with her coworker over the last two years, my buddies just twirled their amber beer bottles on the bar, absorbed by the wet circles the bottoms left on the sticky surface. They couldn’t look me in the eye because they already knew. We all knew, even if we never said it. Logan likened the separation to watching the San Francisco Shot Clocks in the first round of the playoffs years back. We knew they didn’t stand a chance—that it was miracle level luck they even made it that far in the postseason—but we still rooted for them with all we had because, as he said, “How sweet would it be if they were able to pull it off?” Even after a decade of matrimony, Sarah and I weren’t able to pull it off. Unlike NBA sports teams, we wouldn’t have another season. We had failed big time and sweet redemption wasn’t an option for us. In the end, Sarah kept the house and furnishings, and I got the equivalent in our savings, which I promptly used to purchase a fixer-upper in a town I’ve never even been to. After all, Donovan had been staying in our house more frequently than I had lately, so I figured it already felt like home to him. That’s what happened when you slept in someone’s bed and ate breakfast at their table and had sex with their wife. Being comfortable doing the wrong thing doesn’t suddenly make it right. But I’m not sure if what I’m doing is right, either. I mean, who bids on a house they’ve never even seen? The realtor promised it has good bones, and I’ve looked at comps of recently sold homes in the area. I figure I can easily net upwards of fifty grand in profit with this remodel. That is, if I can get it fixed up and on the market by fall. Once winter comes, it’ll be a dead zone for sellers. I don’t plan to stick around when the snow begins to fall. Dragging my gaze from the rearview mirror, I bump my blinker with my knuckle and when the traffic light turns green, I punch the gas and take the turn faster than I should. Instantly, I recognize I should’ve spent a few more minutes strapping things down because I hear the scraping of the wooden legs as the crib shifts, teeters over the side of the truck, and then plummets to the street. My foot slams against the brake pedal. Breathing hard, I veer toward the curb before I throw the truck into park. “Looks like it’s still in one piece,” a man who appears to be around twice my age says as he exits