The Brightest Star - Fern Michaels

Prologue

October 2016

Santa Maria Island, Florida

Lauren Montgomery opened her second box of tissues and sneezed into the cushiest brand she’d found at the drugstore; she’d been dealing with a nightmare of a cold for the past three days. All the snowbirds must be bringing extra germs with them this year, she thought. She hadn’t felt this rotten in ages. Probably not since she was four, fell off the slide, and broke her collarbone. “No, this is worse,” she said to herself as she poured another glass of orange juice.

Taking her glass outside, she sat at the small table and chairs on the balcony of her beachside condo overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. It was early, yet the beach was already filled with tourists toting beach chairs, brightly colored umbrellas, and the bags of paraphernalia one required to spend a gorgeous winter’s day on a Florida beach.

Lauren had just finished writing a biography on one of the hottest stars of social media, Albert Grossman, CEO and founder of Shout Out. If she had to be honest with herself, she hadn’t been taking good care of herself during these past two months as she finished work on the manuscript. She put heart and soul into her work and, in doing so, often neglected her own well-being. Lauren told herself that as soon as she was over this cold, she’d get back into a stable routine. She enjoyed tinkering in the kitchen. She’d make pots of homemade chicken-noodle soup and freeze them, just in case. This was the start of the cold and flu season, so it couldn’t hurt to be a bit more prepared.

She downed the last of her juice and went inside. Lauren liked the relaxed lifestyle that came with living on the beach and was grateful she didn’t have to deal with snowstorms and other such weather-related issues that sent the snowbirds flocking to the Sunshine State every winter. Her life was peaceful, and she liked it that way.

She thought about Eric, and their relationship, which had gone sour. With a wry smile, she knew she’d done the right thing when she broke it off with him. He wasn’t the one for her, and she was okay with that. At thirty-two, she knew the years were passing her by, and she did want to settle down one day, get married, and have a family. But no way was she going to settle for just “so-so” in a relationship. She’d rather be alone than with someone she did not love with all her heart and all her soul.

Deciding a hot shower was in order, she put her juice glass in the dishwasher. She was sitting on the side of the tub in the master bathroom about to turn on the water when her cell phone rang.

This was a critical time in the publication of Albert Grossman’s biography. It could be her editor needing some sort of change or other.

She answered with a cheerful, “Hello.”

The voice on the other end was familiar. There was no “Hello,” no “How are you, honey.” Not from her mom. Her mother never stopped to think how her words affected someone, anyone, even her one and only daughter. Nope. Good old mom just went full bore. “Lauren, it’s your dad. He’s been diagnosed with a rare disorder. I need your help right now,” her mother blurted shrilly. “I need you to come home. Now!”

Jolted back to Fallen Springs, North Carolina, Lauren knew her time on the beach had just ended.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, Mom.”

The next phase of her life had just begun.

Chapter 1

Black Friday, 2019

Lauren Montgomery’s eyes blurred as she viewed the day’s final sales figures. Try as she might, there was no way she could deny the results. She’d added, subtracted, and multiplied the numbers a dozen different ways and could come to no other conclusion: this was it. If sales didn’t improve in December, there would be no choice. Razzle Dazzle Décor would have to file for bankruptcy.

Razzle Dazzle Décor had first opened its doors way back in 1935 when her great-grandfather, Alfred Montgomery, was a mere twenty-two years old. At the time, it was called the Montgomery General Store. Centrally located on the main street of Fallen Springs, North Carolina, West King Street, MGS, as it had been called by the locals, started out as just what its name implied. It generally supplied a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and everything in between. From potbellied stoves to Big