The Reunion Read online

  PRAISE FOR MEGHAN QUINN

  The Wedding Game

  “Readers won’t have to be reality TV fans to get a kick out of this fun, quirky rom-com.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  That Forever Girl

  “A terrific read.”

  —Once Upon a Book Blog

  “A heart-tugging, slow-burning, second-chance romance . . . This is a couple that I couldn’t help but root for.”

  —Red Cheeks Reads

  “If you love small-town romances that are rich in scenery, packed with sweetness, heat, and fun, and [are] looking for an easy reading escape, look no further.”

  —TotallyBookedBlog

  “Filled with emotion, laughter, and loads of sexual tension . . . I dare you to not fall in love with Harper and Rogan!”

  —Nightbird Novels

  “Sweet, sassy, sexy, and sentimental.”

  —Harlequin Junkie

  “Second-chance enemies-to-lovers romance at its finest.”

  —Bookishly Nerdy

  “I’m a sucker for second-chance romances, and add in the small town and I’m hooked. And who better to give me all the feels with a little humor and a mix of sexiness than Meghan Quinn.”

  —Embrace the Romance

  That Second Chance

  “With each book I read by Meghan Quinn, I become more in awe of her writing talent. She truly has a gift! That Second Chance was simply perfect!”

  —Wrapped Up in Reading

  “A sweet, sexy, swoon-worthy, MUST-READ romance from Meghan Quinn, and I would HIGHLY recommend it! I fell head over heels in love with the quaint and charming small town of Port Snow, Maine, and all of its residents.”

  —The Romance Bibliophile

  “I’m basking in the HEA goodness of That Second Chance, which gets five stars.”

  —Dog-Eared Daydreams

  “I adored the small town of Port Snow and the fabulous tight [bond] the Knightly family have not only with each other but their community as a whole.”

  —Book Angel Booktopia

  OTHER TITLES BY MEGHAN QUINN

  All her books can be read on Kindle Unlimited

  GETTING LUCKY SERIES

  That Second Chance

  That Forever Girl

  That Secret Crush

  That Swoony Feeling

  BRENTWOOD BASEBALL BOYS

  The Locker Room

  The Dugout

  The Lineup

  The Trade

  The Change Up

  The Setup

  The Strike Out

  The Perfect Catch

  MANHATTAN MILLIONAIRES

  The Secret to Dating Your Best Friend’s Sister

  Diary of a Bad Boy

  Boss Man Bridegroom

  THE DATING BY NUMBERS SERIES

  Three Blind Dates

  Two Wedding Crashers

  One Baby Daddy

  Back in the Game (novella)

  THE BLUE LINE DUET

  The Upside of Falling

  The Downside of Love

  THE PERFECT DUET

  The Left Side of Perfect

  The Right Side of Forever

  THE BINGHAMTON BOYS SERIES

  Co-Wrecker

  My Best Friend’s Ex

  Twisted Twosome

  The Other Brother

  STAND-ALONE TITLES

  The Modern Gentleman

  See Me After Class

  The Romantic Pact

  Dear Life

  The Virgin Romance Novelist Chronicles

  Newly Exposed

  The Mother Road

  The Highland Fling

  The Wedding Game

  BOX SET SERIES

  The Bourbon series

  The Love and Sports series

  The Hot-Lanta series

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2022 by Meghan Quinn

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Montlake, Seattle

  www.apub.com

  Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

  ISBN-13: 9781542034982

  ISBN-10: 1542034981

  Cover design by Caroline Teagle Johnson

  To all the nonperfect families that are actually perfect in their own way.

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE FORD

  CHAPTER TWO COOPER

  CHAPTER THREE NORA

  CHAPTER FOUR PALMER

  CHAPTER FIVE COOPER

  CHAPTER SIX PALMER

  CHAPTER SEVEN DR. BEAU

  CHAPTER EIGHT FORD

  CHAPTER NINE PALMER

  CHAPTER TEN COOPER

  CHAPTER ELEVEN FORD

  CHAPTER TWELVE LARKIN

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN PALMER

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN DR. BEAU

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN COOPER

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN FORD

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN COOPER

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN LARKIN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN FORD

  CHAPTER TWENTY DR. BEAU

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE PALMER

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO NORA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE COOPER

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR FORD

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE PALMER

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX COOPER

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN LARKIN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT DR. BEAU

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE NORA

  CHAPTER THIRTY FORD

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE LARKIN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO PALMER

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE DR. BEAU

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR NORA

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE COOPER

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX FORD

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN FORD

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT COOPER

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE PALMER

  CHAPTER FORTY LARKIN

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE DR. BEAU

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO NORA

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE FORD

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR PALMER

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE COOPER

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX FORD

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN COOPER

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT PALMER

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE FORD

  CHAPTER FIFTY COOPER

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE FORD

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO PALMER

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE COOPER

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR LARKIN

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE DR. BEAU

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX NORA

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN LARKIN

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT NORA

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE PALMER

  CHAPTER SIXTY DR. BEAU

  EPILOGUE FORD

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Preview: TURN THE PAGE FOR A SNEAK PEEK FROM THE SECRET TO DATING YOUR BEST FRIEND’S SISTER

  PROLOGUE BRAM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  PROLOGUE

  TO: Family and Friends

  FROM: Cooper Chance

  SUBJECT: 50th Wedding Anniversary

  You’re invited to celebrate the 50th wedding

  Anniversary of Peggy and Martin.

  Food and drinks.

  Music.

  Fun.

  Party is at the original Watchful Wanderers store.

  Sunday, June 2nd.

  RSVP to Cooper Chance—just reply to this email

  No presents.

  TO: Cooper Chance
, Ford Chance

  FROM: Palmer Chance

  SUBJECT: Re: 50th Wedding Anniversary

  Bro,

  Please do not tell me you just sent a wedding anniversary invite through an email? Did that just happen?

  Palmer—your not-so-happy sister

  TO: Palmer Chance, Ford Chance

  FROM: Cooper Chance

  SUBJECT: I Did

  TO: Cooper Chance, Ford Chance

  FROM: Palmer Chance

  SUBJECT: Re: I Did

  You know I hate it when you respond in the subject line. It’s more work to delete the subject line and type in your response, than to just reply in the body of the email.

  But ignoring that, what happened to the beautiful linen invites I picked out? You can’t just send an email for Mom and Dad’s 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. We look so . . . uncultured.

  TO: Palmer Chance, Ford Chance

  FROM: Cooper Chance

  SUBJECT: Re: I Did

  The invites you wanted to purchase were going to be twelve dollars a pop. TWELVE dollars, Palmer. That’s a waste of money, a waste of resources, and just a useless way to kill more trees. Also, while you’re out galivanting around the world, who do you think was going to have to address all of those?

  Me.

  So, I did what was easiest. Sent an email. If you don’t like it, too bad.

  TO: Cooper Chance, Ford Chance

  FROM: Palmer Chance

  SUBJECT: Re: I Did

  You realize the family owns a multi-billion dollar, franchised, outdoors store, right? Twelve dollars an invite is a blip in the pool of gold Mom and Dad are sitting in. Now we look like cheap asses who send out a wedding anniversary invitation through email. You’re an editor, but you didn’t even beef up the text. You made bullet points.

  Food.

  Drinks.

  Music.

  Fun.

  ^^^ Yup, screams fun, Coop.

  TO: Palmer Chance, Ford Chance

  FROM: Cooper Chance

  SUBJECT: Re: I Did

  Once again, if you’re not here, you can’t have an opinion.

  TO: Cooper Chance, Palmer Chance

  FROM: Ford Chance

  SUBJECT: Re: I did

  Just catching up.

  The invitation is less than ideal, especially for such a large and monumental event in our parents’ lives, parents who have given us every opportunity to succeed in life. I think we need to treat this anniversary with a little more appreciation and a little less complaining about the time and effort we have to put forth in order to make it happen.

  I just spoke with Larkin and she is ordering the linen invites, having them shipped overnight, and we will have them sent out ASAP. We will treat the email as a funny save the date. I will reply all and tell everyone to expect a formal invitation in the mail.

  Larkin and I will be flying out to Washington on Tuesday. We will be working up until the anniversary party on some very time-consuming tasks. Please be conscious of our time and energy.

  I’ll be sure to have Larkin schedule in some meetings to go over all party arrangements as well as time with the family, but we won’t be staying with Mom and Dad. We booked two rooms at the Marina Island Bed and Breakfast, one being the attic suite so we can conduct business in private.

  Please send your itineraries to Larkin and any requests so she can schedule them in.

  Thank you.

  Ford

  CHAPTER ONE

  FORD

  “Larkin, did you get the invitations sent out?” I call from my desk as I type out a quick email to our head of marketing. I was supposed to receive mock-ups for our rebranding by end of day. It’s end of day, and there are no mock-ups.

  “I did.” Larkin sweeps into my office, tablet in hand and blue light–blocking glasses perched on her nose. “They were sent out at lunchtime. The calligraphist did an impeccable job on the addresses. And as an added touch, I took one of the pictures from your parents’ recent photo shoot and made it into a stamp.”

  I smile. “Did you make sure to send them one?” Larkin nods with a knowing glint in her eye. “They’ll get a kick out of that.”

  “I also got word from your housekeeper that your bags are all packed, your suits are freshly pressed, and the remaining food in your fridge has been taken care of so nothing goes bad while you’re gone for the next month.”

  “Great. And have you heard from marketing about the mock-ups? I drafted an email to ask where they are but thought I would check with you first.”

  She clutches her tablet to her chest. “Yes, they brought them to me early this afternoon, but they were missing color swatches and a few other things I knew you would ask for, so I asked them for a redo. I told them I’d stay late to grab them so we can bring them with us on the trip tomorrow.”

  “I can stay late—you don’t have to. I’m sure you have to go home and pack.”

  “I woke up this morning and packed in preparation for late mock-ups.” She smiles, and I can’t help but shake my head.

  Larkin Novak is one of a kind. I hired her four years ago, and I’ve given her significant pay raises every year just to keep her. She’s efficient, incredibly intelligent, vastly organized, and can anticipate what I’m going to need before I even know it. She’s such an integral part of this company and my day-to-day that I don’t know what I would do without her.

  “Do you ever sleep, Larkin?”

  She pushes her ice-blonde hair behind her ear. “Who needs sleep when there’s so much to do?”

  “You need sleep.” I stand from my desk and walk up to her. Carefully, I take her precious tablet from her hands. “Go home. I’ll wait for the mock-ups.”

  She eyes the tablet in my hand and then looks back up at me with those intensely blue eyes. “I get plenty of sleep. A solid eight hours every night.”

  “Then you need a life. Go home.” I chuckle and walk past her to her desk, where I slip her tablet in her work bag, pick the bag up by the strap, and drape it over her shoulder. “Go, Larkin. We have a strenuous month ahead of us with the rebrand and the anniversary party. Have a second to yourself before you’re forced to be at your boss’s side for precisely every second of every day for twenty-nine days.”

  The rebrand is the first business-altering project I’ve taken on since my dad retired, and I’m spending every waking hour working toward perfection—if there’s something I never want to do, it’s let my dad down, especially after everything he and my mom have done for me, for my siblings.

  “You do paint an awful picture of what’s to come. If that’s the case, I’m going to go grab some dinner, which will be ice cream, and drown my sorrows in my one and only night to myself before I’m inserted into apparent hell on Marina Island.”

  “Yeah.” I grip the back of my neck. “Are you prepared to be around my family? They can be a bit much.”

  “You act as if I haven’t met them before.”

  “But you haven’t been in the same space with all of them together.”

  “Nervous I’ll quit after a week?”

  “Yeah.” I let out a dry chuckle. “I am.” Folding my arms across my chest, I lean against the doorframe of my office and take a second to relax. I’m constantly wearing the CEO hat, and it can be exhausting after a while. Larkin and I have a good enough relationship that she knows when I need to “kick my shoes off” and take a second to breathe.

  “It’s going to take more than your family to drive me away. You know I can’t find a benefits package quite like yours anywhere else.”

  “Ah, the true reason you stick around,” I joke.

  “You had me at four weeks’ paid vacation and bonus structure.” She lets out a familiar chuckle.

  “At least I know what will keep you around now.” I sigh deeply. “Okay, I should finish up some work before we head out tomorrow.” I push off the doorframe and head back into my office.

  “Can I order you anything for dinner before I leave?” she asks, tailing after
me.

  I shake my head. “I have a protein bar in my desk drawer that’s been begging to be eaten all day.”

  “Thrilling.” Her sarcasm seeps through, which it seems to do more often after hours. “I have a car coming to pick you up tomorrow, eight in the morning. I’ll have a breakfast burrito waiting for you.”

  “You’re perfection. Thank you.” I wake up my computer by moving my mouse around. “See you in the morning.”

  “Bye, Ford.” She takes off, and I turn to my computer, focusing on the emails in my in-box. The worst part of the job is sitting in front of me: answering questions from department heads. Oddly, I prefer the mundane tasks like numbers and projections, and I’m good at them.

  So good at them that we’ll be opening fifty new stores in the coming year, which is the direct reason for the rebranding. We’ve stuck with the same storefront, color blend, and aesthetic ever since we franchised. Walking into one of our stores, you get a sense it’s slightly outdated, with its oak timber logs, forest-green linoleum floors, metal bracket shelving, mustard-yellow accents, and outdoor adventures from a photo shoot nearly fifteen years ago. The stores are successful, but they’re not capturing every consumer . . . like the young crowd. In order to keep up with the competition, which dominates the Gen Z market, we need to make sure we’re keeping the stores fresh. We have the funds to do so, but we need to make sure we have the right research and development in place to appeal to our customers and make them not just enjoy what they’re buying from Watchful Wanderers but to enjoy the experience as well.

  Because if anything, the young crowd is always about the experience, something Larkin has been drilling into me since the moment we started the rebranding process.

  After I’ve made a decent dent in my emails, my phone buzzes with a text message. Mom.

  When I was seven and Cooper was five, our biological mom overdosed and our grandma became our legal guardian. We lived with her for a few months until she couldn’t physically take care of us anymore. At that point, we were placed into foster care. We bounced from house to house for a few more months until we met Peggy and Martin. The minute I met them, I knew—I knew we were going to be a family. I felt it in my soul. And after a year of living with them on Marina Island, a small island off the coast of Seattle, they sat us down and asked if we wanted to be a part of their family permanently.