Second Chances - a romantic short story

Melody Adams, four-time National Barrel Racing Champion, has retired to a tiny Oklahoma town to see where the rest of her life would go. Her husband’s death two years ago knocked the pins out from under her, a situation that seemed as though it might be remedied by retirement. But now she’s not so sure.

Melody is determined to do some good works with her newly-found freedom from the rigors of the show circuit and, possibly, help her deal with the memories. She learns of a Indian orphanage school in dire need of support, so she sets out to organize a fund-raiser using her famous name as the draw.

Randolf “RJ” Vance, recently home from Afghanistan and more than slightly the worse for wear, inherits his uncle’s feed store in quiet, off-the-beaten-track Red Hill, Oklahoma. All he wants is to be left alone to figure out if this is the lifestyle that will help him forget the horrors of the past.

Not accustomed to handling her own programs, Melody runs into problems with the small town modus operandi and, in the process, tangles with the owner of the only feed store in town. As she works toward the big charity event, if anything can go wrong, it will.