Accidentally on Purpose Read online

  Quinn sucked in a breath as something occurred to her. “Beth. Was she adopted too?”

  “No,” her mom said. “We’d tried for years and were told we couldn’t have our own. So we set an adoption in motion. When you came along, we were so grateful, but then the unbelievable happened. I got pregnant when you were two months old.”

  Quinn’s heart squeezed hard.

  “I’m more grateful to Carolyn than you could ever know,” her mom said. “But she signed a confidentiality agreement. We could sue her for talking about the adoption.”

  “Too late,” Quinn said. “She’s dead too. And apparently she left me an inheritance.”

  “What? She had nothing to speak of.”

  “I don’t know. I was so shocked I didn’t ask.” She drew a careful breath. “Why didn’t you tell me? Were you sorry you’d adopted after Beth came along?”

  “No.” Her mom came around the island and took Quinn’s hands in her own. “No,” she said again more firmly. “It was a happy accident. The truth is, we didn’t want to take away from either of you so we just kept it quiet. It didn’t matter to us, and I know this is asking a lot, but I wish it didn’t matter to you.”

  Her dad nodded.

  Quinn let out a breath and took a step away from them. “I need to think.”

  “But why?” her mom asked. “It doesn’t matter, none of this matters. Let’s just look forward to you marrying Brock and getting on with your lovely life.”

  “Mom—” Quinn broke off and closed her eyes. “I’m not getting married. How can I? I don’t even know who I am.”

  “Okay,” her dad said. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

  Quinn let out a low laugh. “You know what, Dad? You’re right. It is. And now I’m going to take my dramatic ass home. I need some time.”

  “Time?” her mom asked. “But you’re still coming over next week for dinner, right?”

  Quinn had gotten to the door. She turned around to find them standing in the same position at the island, looking shocked at her little temper tantrum. “Let me get this straight,” she said. “You can’t keep my surprise party a secret, but you were able to keep my adoption one?”

  Her mom bit her lower lip. “There’s no party.”

  With another low, mirthless laugh, Quinn left. She drove home to her cute, quiet, comfortable condo and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She was in shock, adrift, sad, angry . . . so many, many things.

  It was more emotion than she’d felt in two years.

  She’d meant it when she’d told Cliff that she didn’t want anything to do with any inheritance, especially not from someone who’d apparently thrown her away without so much as looking back.

  Not that she was happy with her parents right now, either. They should have told her the truth a long time ago. Instead they’d hidden it, and even now had tried to underplay it, encouraging her to get on with her nice, comfortable life.

  But it suddenly didn’t feel so nice or comfortable anymore.

  Feeling shockingly . . . alone, she looked at her phone. She wanted to call her sister. God, how she wanted that, but instead she called Brock.

  “Hey,” he said when he picked up, his voice brisk and rushed. “I’m in a meeting. Can I get back to you?”

  Disappointment washed over her. “Yes, but—”

  “Great, thanks.”

  And then he disconnected. She tried to let that short connection be enough, tried to tell herself that just hearing his voice helped. But her heart was racing and it didn’t seem to fit in her ribcage. Everything felt tight and she couldn’t breathe because she had no one else to call.

  Well, except one person.

  Harry Potter, a.k.a. Cliff Porter.

  About the Author

  New York Times bestselling author JILL SHALVIS lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

  By Jill Shalvis

  Heartbreaker Bay Novels

  Sweet Little Lies

  The Trouble with Mistletoe

  Accidentally on Purpose

  Lucky Harbor Novels

  One in a Million

  He’s So Fine

  It’s in His Kiss

  Once in a Lifetime

  Always on My Mind

  It Had to Be You

  Forever and a Day

  At Last

  Lucky in Love

  Head Over Heels

  The Sweetest Thing

  Simply Irresistible

  Animal Magnetism Novels

  All I Want

  Still the One

  Then Came You

  Rumor Has It

  Rescue My Heart

  Animal Attraction

  Animal Magnetism

  Cedar Ridge Novels

  Nobody But You

  My Kind of Wonderful

  Second Chance Summer

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Excerpt from Lost and Found Sisters copyright © 2017 by Jill Shalvis.

  accidentally on purpose. Copyright © 2017 by Jill Shalvis. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  EPub Edition FEBRUARY 2017 ISBN: 9780062448071

  Print Edition ISBN: 9780062448064

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