Table Of ContentPraise for the work of
Susan Mallery
Someone Like You
“When you think of passion, drama and heartwarming stories, think Susan
Mallery. As always, she delivers a top-notch story.”
—Romantic Times (4 ½ stars, Top Pick) The Marcelli Sisters Trilogy
“This trilogy looks to be a real winner with Mallery’s delightful humor,
believable characters and an unusual couple….”
—The Best Reviews on The Sparkling One
“[Susan Mallery] tells an exceptional story with rich characters and a hot love
story.”
—Amazon.com on The Sassy One
“Affectionate and emotional…Reading a Susan Mallery book is always a
marvelous experience.”
—Romantic Times on The Seductive One
Married for a Month
“Temptation Island meets Oprah in [this] contemporary romp…[This] sweet
story will delight as it provides food for thought.”
—Publishers Weekly
Sweet Success
“A wonderfully fast-paced delight! You can never go wrong with Ms. Mallery’s
fascinating storytelling.”
—Romance Reviews Today
“Witty dialogue, plenty of romantic tension, and delicious characters.”
—Publishers Weekly
Susan Mallery
Susan Mallery makes her home in Southern California, where the eccentricities of a writer are actually
considered normal—what a relief! When she’s not busy working on her latest novel, she can be found
cruising the local boutiques in her quest for yet another pair of shoes. Susan would love to claim to be a
fabulous gourmet chef, but she is not. She does, however, do fabulous take-out ordering and always serves
said take-out on lovely china.
THERE’S
ALWAYS
PLAN B
Susan Mallery
THERE’S ALWAYS PLAN B
copyright © 2005 Susan Macias-Redmond
isbn 978-1-5525-4336-8
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in
part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden
without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don
Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation
whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any
individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States
Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
TheNextNovel.com
To Gail Chasan who said
this would be a great idea,
and who turned out to be right.
Contents
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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
COMING NEXT MONTH
CHAPTER 1
“I
don’t know why you always have to torture me,” fifteen-year-old Tiffany
Spencer said as she folded her arms over her chest and stared out the passenger-
door window. “Some moms actually like their children. Some moms care about
their happiness. Why can’t you be like that?”
Carly Spencer tightened her grip on the steering wheel and tried to figure out
why she’d ever complained about her daughter asking, “Are we there yet?”
when she’d been younger. Given a choice between that question and the one
currently on the table, “Are we there yet?” seemed amusingly simple to deal
with.
“I care about your happiness,” she said, even though she knew it was a huge
mistake to engage her daughter. At this point it was obvious Tiffany simply
wanted to be the martyr to all decisions parental.
“Ha! Oh, sure. Because dragging me away from all my friends and my
school and Justin Beakly, who looks just like Matt Damon and who was
probably going to ask me to the Spring Carnival dance, is going to make me
faint with happiness. Here I am. Fainting.”
Tiffany collapsed against the door. Carly hoped her daughter would stay
mock-unconscious for at least ten minutes or until the headache remedy Carly
had popped a few minutes before had a chance to kick in.
But it was not to be.
“And if we had to leave all that because you’re so determined to ruin my
life,” Tiffany said seconds later, “you could have at least let me get my belly
button pierced. I mean what’s the big deal? It’s my body. I bet I’ll be the only
high school girl here, too, without one. Although maybe not. Have they heard
about piercing at the ends of the Earth?”
Her daughter was certainly bright enough, Carly thought, as she desperately
searched for a silver lining in what felt like the world’s largest dark cloud.
Eventually Tiffany would learn to use her highly developed verbal skills for
good instead of mother abuse.
“I don’t know what they’ve heard,” Carly said cheerfully. “It’s possible
they’re still existing with horse-drawn carriages and cooking on an open fire.
Maybe we’ll be so modern, they’ll think we’re aliens from another planet and
they can worship us like goddesses.”
Tiffany rolled her eyes. “You’re not helping.”
“Ditto.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re not helping, either,” Carly said. “This move is tough on me, too.”
“But it’s your fault we have to go.” Tiffany sounded outraged. She turned in
her seat and glared. “If you hadn’t made Dad leave, we wouldn’t be doing this.”
Carly drew in a deep breath and counted to ten. When that didn’t work, she
counted to twenty, then promised herself no matter what, she would go to the
grocery store later, buy a pint of Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream and eat
the entire thing by herself.
Tiffany was still a child, she reminded herself. Under the carefully curled
blond hair, the formfitting clothes and too much makeup lurked a young
teenager not yet prepared to deal with the realities of the world.
“Your father and I divorced by mutual decision,” she said slowly, going for
an “I’m so calm” voice instead of the shrill tone that lurked just beneath the
