Made for Us Read online

  contents

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  Preview

  Chapter 1

  Also by Samantha Chase

  ABOUT SAMANTHA CHASE

  Copyright 2022 Samantha Chase

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  Previously Published in 2015

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  All Rights Reserved.

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  No part of this book, with the exception of brief quotations for book reviews or critical articles, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Cover Design: Kari March Designs

  Edits: Fedora Chen

  praise for samantha chase

  “If you can’t get enough of stories that get inside your heart and soul and stay there long after you’ve read the last page, then Samantha Chase is for you!”

  -NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Melanie Shawn

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  “A fun, flirty, sweet romance filled with romance and character growth and a perfect happily ever after.”

  -NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips

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  “Samantha Chase writes my kind of happily ever after!”

  -NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Erin Nicholas

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  “The openness between the lovers is refreshing, and their interactions are a balanced blend of sweet and spice. The planets may not have aligned, but the elements of this winning romance are definitely in sync.”

  - Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

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  “A true romantic delight, A Sky Full of Stars is one of the top gems of romance this year.”

  - Night Owl Reviews, TOP PICK

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  “Great writing, a winsome ensemble, and the perfect blend of heart and sass.”

  - Publishers Weekly

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  “Recommend Chase to fans of Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Well-written and uniquely appealing.”

  - Booklist

  prologue

  SIXTEEN YEARS AGO…

  The smell of roses was overwhelming.

  Not that the aroma was surprising—there had to be at least fifty oversized arrangements around him, each filled with different colored roses. The funny thing about it was that the flowers were all wrong. Roses had never been his mother’s favorite flower; it was just what she had told people because whenever she’d shared her actual favorite flower, people looked at her as if she were a little off.

  Daisies. Daisies were her favorite.

  Aidan Shaughnessy stood alone at his mother’s gravesite. Everyone had left hours ago and gone back to the house to eat and to do their best to support the family after losing its matriarch. It was more than Aidan could bear to deal with, so he stayed, all day, alone.

  The cemetery was less than a mile from home, so he didn’t mind walking back later. Looking down at the freshly laid dirt, he felt both numb and overwhelmed with emotion at the same time. He didn’t want her to be alone.

  Stuffing his hands into his trouser pockets to try to ward off the chill as the sun started to set, Aidan wondered how he was supposed to move on. His mother was his rock; she was his biggest cheerleader, his toughest critic, and the only person with whom he felt comfortable sharing all of his hopes and dreams. Thinking back to his early teen years, a conversation came to mind.

  “Girls are stupid,” Aidan said, coming in the back door after school and throwing his backpack on the ground. His mother was in the kitchen washing some fruit, watching him expectantly.

  “Are you making an apple pie?” he asked hopefully.

  She nodded. “I know it’s your favorite,” she said with a serene smile as she wiped her hands on her cherry-patterned apron. For a few minutes, she said nothing. She waited out her fourteen-year-old eldest child until he was ready to talk.

  “I asked Lisa O’Rourke to go to the homecoming dance and she said yes. Then I got to school today and she told me she didn’t want to go with me. Mark King had asked her and since he’s captain of the varsity football team, she’d rather go with him.” Aidan sat down on one of the stools at the counter, looked up at his mother, and willed the tears he felt threatening to stay put.

  “Seems to me you should be celebrating.”

  He looked at his mom as if she’d lost her mind. “What? Why would you even say that?”

  She shrugged and began to peel the apples. “A girl like that? One who would make promises to one boy and then go off with another? Well, good riddance, I say. Plus, let her go off with Mark King. We all know he’s the captain of the team only because his uncle is the coach. He’s not very good.”

  Now it was Aidan’s turn to shrug. “He’s not so bad.”

  Lillian Shaughnessy carefully placed her paring knife and the apple she was working on down on the counter and leaned toward her son. “You’re going to run circles around him. Mark my words. When you make varsity next year, you are going to make everyone forget Mark King ever existed in that school. And when you graduate high school with a football scholarship and go on to the NFL? Well, you’ll look back on this and laugh and be thankful you didn’t get tangled up with a girl like Lisa.”

  The thought of being in the NFL put a smile on Aidan’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a more contemplative look. “But how will I know, Mom? I mean, I thought Lisa was cool. I really thought she liked me. How am I going to know the difference between a girl I can trust and one that…you know…I can’t?”

  A wide smile crossed Lillian’s face. “I’ll let you know.”

  Aidan rolled his eyes. “Mom,” he said with a mock whine. “No guy lets his mom pick out his girlfriend. Sheesh!”

  “I’m not saying I’m going to pick her out for you,” she said diplomatically as she went back to peeling the apples. “I’m just saying I’ll be able to help you see if she is the girl for you. If she is someone you want to share your…someday with. If she is worthy of someone as amazing as you, Aidan Shaughnessy.”

  The two smiled at one another as Lillian finished assembling the pie and Aidan felt a surge of confidence in his future—all because he had the greatest mom right there at his side.

  Standing in the middle of the cemetery, Aidan wondered about that future. That conversation had taken place four years ago. As if she had seen into his future, he had made the varsity team the following year and, even now, was in college on a football scholarship. Football was his life. It was supposed to be his future, but it wasn’t right now. Right now, there didn’t seem to be any point in the future.

  Why had this happened? Why had his family been destroyed like this? Aidan had no idea how he was supposed to move forward, how any of them were supposed to move forward. This wasn’t supposed to happen to the Shaughnessys! They were supposed to be together—always! Looking up at the heavens, Aidan wanted to curse, but his mother had taught him better than that.

  “What am I supposed to do, Mom? What are any of us supposed to do?”

/>   The responsibility of raising the kids had all been on Lillian, and everyone knew she loved it. But Aidan’s father now had six kids to raise on his own. Aidan had no idea how that was going to work, because while his dad was an amazing man, he was the breadwinner, who worked hard and sometimes long hours.

  Aidan thought of each of his siblings—Hugh, Quinn, Riley, Owen, and…Darcy. He felt his heart squeeze in his chest. Darcy was just a baby. She was never going to know her mother. And his mother was never going to get to see her baby girl grow up. Lillian Shaughnessy had wanted a daughter in the worst way after having five boys, and even though there were ten years between Darcy and the youngest boys, twins Riley and Owen, everyone had been thrilled by her pregnancy. A small smile crossed his face even as tears began to fall.

  It wasn’t fair. None of it.

  Once more, Aidan looked to the heavens. “I need you, Mom. We all need you.” A small breeze blew, yet Aidan didn’t feel it. “I still have so many questions. You promised to help me with the answers.”

  Turning, he pulled a rose from one of the many arrangements. Looking at it for a moment, he kissed it and then placed it on top of the grave. With a heavy heart, he began the walk back home.

  Alone.

  one

  PRESENT DAY

  Why were people so incompetent? It was a question Aidan Shaughnessy asked himself far too many times a day. How difficult was it to follow instructions? How hard was it to read the damn directions?

  “Clearly, it’s beyond anyone’s comprehension,” he muttered to himself as he walked through the model home of the new subdivision his company was working on.

  The trim was crooked, the ceiling looked wavy, and the paint job was horrendous. Not only that, but when he reached the master bedroom, he saw the paint colors were completely wrong. Pulling out his phone, Aidan called his assistant and left her a message to get the designer on the job to meet him first thing Monday morning. It was already after seven at night, so Aidan knew no one would be around to clean up the mess now. With a weary sigh, he shut off all the lights and was locking up the house when his phone rang. Looking at the screen on his smartphone, Aidan felt some of the tension ease from his body.

  “Hey, Dad,” Aidan said into the phone. “I’m running a bit behind, but I promise to have the pizza there by the time the game starts.” He smiled at the thought of having a couple of hours just to unwind and relax with his family. Most men would cringe at spending a Friday night at home with their father and teenage sister, but it was something Aidan looked forward to.

  “See that you do,” his father said with a chuckle. “Darcy is having a fit that you’re not here yet. She’s threatening to eat all the brownies herself before you get here!”

  That made Aidan laugh because although his seventeen-year-old sister loved to bake, she loved taunting her brothers with her delicious creations even more. “Tell her if she does that, I’ll make sure neither of the pizzas have pepperoni. I’ll load them with mushrooms and anchovies before I let her take away my dessert!”

  Ian Shaughnessy laughed hard. He loved that the age difference between his youngest child and his oldest didn’t deter them from bantering with and teasing one another. “Oh, I’ll tell her, but be prepared for her wrath if you are one minute late.”

  “Deal,” Aidan said and then called in their order to the local pizzeria.

  “Hey, Aidan,” Tony said as he answered the phone. “Your usual?”

  Shaking his head, Aidan couldn’t help but laugh. Small-town living. “Hey, Tony,” he said with a smile. “What do you think?”

  “Two large pies, one with extra cheese and pepperoni and the other with sausage. Gimme twenty minutes, okay?”

  “You got it, Tony. Thanks.” Disconnecting, Aidan turned and looked at the house he had just locked up. At least it was beautiful from the outside. Between the stonework, the colors, and the craftsman style, it made for a very appealing home. Aidan had spared no expense on the materials for the model. Everything was top of the line, and he used every upgrade available inside and out to dazzle potential buyers.

  Taking a couple of steps back, he admired the landscaping. The grounds looked ready for a Home and Garden photo spread. Everything was perfectly manicured, and all the greenery was acclimating to its new soil and cooperating by staying green and in bloom.

  If only the inside were up to the same caliber… “Okay, I have got to let that go for tonight,” he reminded himself as he walked over to his truck and climbed in. “Dad will have my hide if I spend the night complaining about work.”

  You would think that at age thirty-four, parental disappointment wouldn’t faze a man, but Aidan was different. His father had been through so much in his life, had struggled so much after Aidan’s mother had died unexpectedly, that Aidan swore he would never do anything to cause his father any extra grief.

  He left that to his siblings. And they were good at it.

  In the years following his mother’s death, Aidan had wanted to do more to help his family out. The day after the funeral, Aidan told his father he wanted to quit college and come home, but Ian had put his foot down. Aidan knew his mother wouldn’t have wanted him to leave college, but at the time, he’d felt so helpless.

  When he blew out his knee in his junior year, it officially ended any dreams of a career in the NFL. But he wasn’t disappointed about that now; his life was exactly where it was supposed to be. He had a construction business he had built up all on his own, and he was surrounded—for the most part—by his family.

  Some of his brothers had moved away from their small North Carolina town, but Aidan didn’t resent them for it. Quite the opposite. He encouraged them to follow their dreams because that was exactly what their mother would have done. With their father preoccupied with raising a teenage girl after a houseful of boys, Aidan had taken it upon himself to be “the encourager” in the family.

  Did he date? Sometimes.

  Was he looking to settle down? Maybe.

  Were there any prospects on the horizon? No.

  Maybe he should do something about that, he thought as he drove through town to pick up dinner. The streets were crowded, but that was nothing new. It was Friday night and everyone was out and about. As his truck crept along Main Street with the windows down, Aidan was able to smile and wave to many familiar faces. This was what he did, who he was. But for some reason, tonight it bothered him.

  Why wasn’t he walking along the street holding hands with a woman? When exactly was the last time he had done that? Searching his memory, he couldn’t even remember when. Was it with Amber or Kelly? Hell, he couldn’t even remember their names or their faces. That was a surefire clue it had been too long.

  “Nothing I can do about it tonight,” Aidan muttered and pulled into the last spot in front of the Italian restaurant. There was a line out the door and Aidan was relieved for the side entrance reserved for takeout orders. As he walked in, he was greeted by the same faces he saw in there every Friday night. But by the time Aidan had paid and was walking back out to his truck with the pizzas, he was feeling a little down for some reason.

  Aidan had had too long a day to puzzle out the source of this sudden depression, however; for tonight, he vowed to enjoy himself. He loved catching up with what Darcy was up to and hearing about how she was doing in school. And even though Aidan and his dad saw each other on a daily basis because Ian Shaughnessy was in charge of all the electrical inspections on new construction in the county, Aidan knew his dad always just liked having him around.

  Ian was dedicated to his children, and it didn’t matter how old they got or how far away they moved: Ian Shaughnessy wanted nothing more than to see his children happy.

  Just as Lillian would have wanted.

  Pulling up to his childhood home, Aidan felt a lot of the tension leave his body. This was his haven. No matter what was going on in his life, he still enjoyed coming back here and spending time. Not to mention that right now, the scent of hot pizza
was practically making him drool and he had no doubt his little sister was pacing the floor waiting for him to get inside and feed her.

  His suspicions were confirmed as soon as he walked through the door.

  “It’s about time, Aidan!” his sister cried, grabbing the pizza boxes from his hands. “Honestly, a person could die of starvation waiting for you.”

  “Excuse me, Duchess,” he said with a chuckle, “but some of us have to work for a living. We can’t all have food delivered on our every whim.”

  She rolled her eyes at him as she placed the pizza on the kitchen table. “I would love to have a job, big Brother. But you and Dad and the rest of the Shaughnessy bullies won’t let me.”

  “Bullies?” he asked with a laugh, washing his hands and winking at his father as he walked in from the living room where the pregame bantering was on. “There are Shaughnessy bullies? Why wasn’t I told of this?”

  “Oh.” Darcy swatted his arm playfully. “You’re the captain of the bully squad.”

  “Now we’re a squad?”

  “Aidan!” she huffed, and plopped down into her seat at the table. “You know darn well you have been the biggest voice in keeping me from getting a job. If you would—”

  “Darce, we’ve been over this before. You don’t need to work right now. You need to focus on your schoolwork so you can get into a good college.”