The Game Changer, стр. 73

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About the Author

Jennifer Brown is the award-winning author of young adult novels Bitter End, Perfect Escape, Thousand Words, Torn Away, and the Shade Me series. Her acclaimed debut young adult novel, Hate List, was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA Perfect Ten, and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Jennifer is also the national bestselling author of several women’s fiction novels, including The Sister Season and The Accidental Book Club, under the pseudonym Jennifer Scott. She lives in the Kansas City, Missouri, area with her husband and children.

Sneak Peek of Out of the Picture

Turn the page for a sneak peek of

Chapter One

Savanna Shepherd breathed deeply, closing her eyes for a moment to savor the crisp fall air that was somehow sweeter on this side of Lake Michigan. Those vast blue waves with beautiful whitecaps made it seem more like an ocean; she’d never tire of it. It was good to be home.

Savanna let the small poodles lead her down the sandy sidewalk. They knew the way by heart. Even though she’d grown up here, Savanna was still acclimating to her little beach town after spending over a decade in Chicago. At the age of thirty, it was strange to think about her old life, due west across the lake. Her twelfth-floor apartment, her job as art authenticator for a prestigious gallery, and her fiancé Rob had been replaced with a small pink room at her sister’s house in Carson, an art teacher job at an elementary school, and her Boston terrier Fonzie as her most constant companion.

It wasn’t that Savanna missed her old life. It was more about the whiplash feeling from so many changes in such a short time. She knew she was lucky to fall into the teaching position just as the schoolyear was starting. And wow, had she ever missed her sisters.

The three girls had been inseparable growing up. As the middle sister, with Skylar two years older and Sydney two years younger, Savanna had fully embraced returning to her family. It was kind of a bonus that Syd was totally fine with giving her a place to stay while she figured things out. The time she’d spent lately hanging out with her sisters made Savanna acutely aware of all she’d missed over the last several years.

As they approached Caroline Carson’s house, Duke pranced in circles around Princess. Savanna bent to untangle the leashes. The poodles were primped and fluffed and smelled like a flower shop, courtesy of Sydney’s grooming salon, Fancy Tails and Treats. Along with the poodles, Savanna was delivering a little paper sack of gourmet dog biscuits Sydney had made herself. After Savanna’s very first day at Carson Elementary School, she’d stopped by the salon to bring her sister a coffee and had ended up volunteering to return the poodles to Caroline.

The Shepherd sisters had grown up thinking Caroline was their grandmother. Even after they were old enough to understand that the families were just close friends, Savanna remembered spending Sunday afternoons and long summer days on Caroline’s wraparound porch. Spotting the pillars of the wide front entrance, Savanna could almost smell the lemonade and sunscreen from her youth. The Carson mansion was gorgeous and stately, the rear of the house overlooking the lake and its rolling dunes.

Princess and Duke were having trouble containing their exuberance as Savanna tried to sidestep them on the wide stairway to the porch. She hadn’t seen Caroline in almost five years. She’d wanted to come home for the funeral when Mr. Carson had passed last year, but she hadn’t been able to get away from work. She was equally excited and nervous to see Caroline again, and she also couldn’t wait to see what had changed in the Carson art collection.

The beautiful pieces on the walls of this house had inspired Savanna to go into art authentication. She’d always enjoyed doodling and painting, but she’d learned about the Masters program while she was an undergraduate in college, minoring in early education but majoring in studio art to earn her BFA.

The poodles scrambled wildly onto the porch, pulling Savanna smack into a tree. Well, not a tree, but a tall stranger who’d just stepped out the front door. Savanna looked up to find herself staring into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. She watched them crinkle at the corners, making her suddenly aware she was standing there, gawking, mute. He had a shock of unruly black hair, cut close but longer on top, and a few faint freckles across his cheeks.

“Hello.” His voice was deep and quiet. He placed one large hand lightly on her upper arm, steadying her as she stepped back.

After tripping over a leash, Savanna regained her balance. She looked down and found the poodles had taken the opportunity to weave themselves in and around both hers and the stranger’s ankles.

She laughed, trying to extricate herself. “Here.” She finally scooped up Duke. “Would you mind?” She handed the poodle to the man and he took it, smiling at her and making her more flustered. What was she doing? How did she know this man would just hold a random dog? Too late now, she thought, unclipping Duke’s leash and unwrapping it from their legs while Princess sprung into the air, pawing at Duke.

“Oh, gosh,” Savanna murmured, capturing a squirming Princess and glancing up at the man again. “I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t be.” He laughed. “I love these two.”

She frowned at him without meaning to. She thought she knew everyone in town; who was this man claiming to know Caroline’s poodles? And why was his smile