Excerpt from OTHERWISE ENGAGED by Susan Mallery:
SHANNON VAN HORN pulled into a parking space in front of the construction trailer that was the main office of her boyfriend’s gardening business. She clutched the steering wheel tightly and gave in to the scream that had been building for the better part of the morning. Unfortunately the cry that echoed through her ten-year-old Corolla did little to make her feel better.
She was a mess. A total and complete disaster of a person. Sure, she was basically nice, and if she ever used public transportation, she would absolutely give up her seat for someone in need—although this was Los Angeles, and everyone drove, so it was more of a spiritual assessment than a reality, but still. She would do it.
But being a nice person didn’t make her any less of a mess, and wasn’t that a kick in the head?
She grabbed her bag and the folder she’d brought from work, stomped up the three steps to the trailer and flung open the door.
“My life is chaos,” she announced to Aaron, her boyfriend of eleven months. “Why do you date me?”
Aaron, a tall, rangy guy with curly brown hair and one of those cute mischievous smiles, rose and started toward her. “Because I think you’re sexy and I feel good when I’m around you.” He kissed her. “I can give you more reasons, if that’s why you stopped by. I’ve got about a million.”
While she appreciated the kind words, they weren’t going to help. Not when things were so awful.
“Look,” she said, flinging the folder on his desk. “Look! It’s so horrible.”
He gave her a slightly confused look but opened the folder and stared at the single sheet of paper inside.
“This is a . . .” He glanced at her. “Help me out here.”
“It’s an actuarial table.” She waved toward the chart. “Like for insurance and stuff. They updated the employee plans at work for profit sharing and our 401(k).” She pointed at the offending document, wishing she had the power to laser it with her eyes and turn the paper into ashes on demand.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “I’m still not getting the problem.”
“That shows how much money I’ll have in profit sharing and my 401(k) when I’m sixty-five.” The last four words came out in a shriek. “That’s forty-one years from now, Aaron. The actuarial table assumes I’m going to keep working there for forty- one years. I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that. But time is marching on, and somehow I forgot that. I left college over three years ago. Three!”
Technically she’d flunked out, but she wasn’t comfortable using that particular F-word.
“I took the job working for my mom because I didn’t know what to do with myself. I thought I’d be there a few months while I figured it all out, but it’s been three years, and I’m still there. I tell myself I can’t live my life like this, and yet I do nothing to change.”
She threw up her hands. “I need to pick a direction, but then I don’t. I’ve been drifting. I’m a drifter. And saying that should galvanize me, but somehow it doesn’t. I lack direction and purpose, and I work for my mom.”
She paced to the end of the trailer, then turned to face him. “I love my mom. She’s great. And she’s a really good boss, but this isn’t my life. It’s an interim. I’m living an interim. I’m twenty-four. I should be all-in with the goals and plans and dreams. And you know the worst of it?”
He waited, knowing an answer wasn’t expected.
“The one person I want to talk to about this is my mom. But I can’t because we both know what will happen.”
“Cindy will come up with fourteen plans.”
“Yes, she will. The second I tell her there’s a problem, she’ll try to fix it because she’s a wonderful mother and that’s what she does. You know what else?”
Because he was one smart guy, he shook his head. “Not a clue.”
“I’ll let her. This is me, letting her. That’s what I do. I claim I want independence, then I run to my mother to help me. She comes up with a plan, and while it’s a good one, it’s not for me. So I don’t do it, and then I end up not doing anything, and suddenly I’m staring down an actuarial table that tells me how much money I’ll have in my 401(k) when I’m sixty-five!”
She crossed to one of the guest chairs and sat down. “I’m so screwed up. You shouldn’t even look at me. What if I have a disaster aura and somehow you catch it? You’re a successful guy. You don’t need a disaster lurking in your aura.”
“Now you’re all about the crazy talk.” He sat next to her and took her hand in his. “You need to breathe.”
“I’m breathing. If I wasn’t, I couldn’t talk.” She groaned. “You know how I know that? Because I have panic attacks, and when I do, I feel like I can’t breathe, so I start talking out loud, because if I can talk, I’m breathing.” She pulled her hand away and pressed it against her rapidly beating heart.
“I’m a directionless person who is overly dependent on her mother, and I have panic attacks. And I hate my hair, but that’s not relevant.”
He straightened. “Hey, I love your hair. It’s really pretty.”
“I have cowlicks so I have to straighten it all the time. You remember how bad it is when it’s foggy and my hair frizzes. Which isn’t the point. Why are we talking about my hair?” She groaned. “See? Disaster. Shannon Disaster Van Horn. Call me that from now on.”
“I can’t. I love you, and you’re not a disaster.”
How she wanted to believe him. Her day would go so much better if she could simply pretend she was fine and get on with her life. Only that was exactly what she’d been doing for the past three years. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to suddenly be really old—like forty—and still be working for her mother.
“I need direction,” she said. “I need to figure out what I want
to do with my life and then do it.” She sucked in a breath. “Do you know that when my mom was my age, she was raising a six- year-old daughter on her own and caring for her disabled father? She got pregnant at seventeen. Did she drift? No. Did she wait around to be rescued? Not even close. I need to be more like her.” She groaned. “No, I need to be a better version of myself.”
She looked at the man sitting across from her. “You’re seeing me at my worst.”
He smiled at her. “Babe, if this is your worst, sign me up.”
“You’re too accepting. Why aren’t you disappointed in me?” “Now that I know what you’re going to be worth when you’re sixty-five, I’m thinking I should be in it for the money,” he teased.
She laughed, then suddenly had to blink back tears. “Thank you for being such a good guy.” And while she appreciated the support, she had to admit she was more than a little scared, because right next to her inaction sat her ability to just drift along.
“Aaron, this is bad.”
“It’s not. You got a wake-up call. That’s a good thing. It reminds you to pay attention to what you want. Once you have a path, you follow it.”
He made it sound so easy, she thought glumly. And for him, it was. He and his brother had started their gardening business out of high school, going door-to-door in their neighborhood, looking for business. Two years later, John hadn’t been interested in continuing, so Aaron had taken it over. He’d contracted with a local commercial nursery and had started offering plants and trees to his clients. Today he had nearly a dozen crews working for him and was growing the residential construction landscaping side of his business. Aaron knew all about following the path.
“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “Part of me wants to let my mom fix it.”
“How’s that working for you so far?”
“Not well.”
He stood and walked around to his desk, then paused and looked at her. “Maybe I can help.”
“You already are.” He was being great. She didn’t know why she had such a wonderful boyfriend, but there he stood, in the flesh.
“I was thinking of something a little bit more direct. Especially when it comes to your future.”
She didn’t understand. Was he going to suggest she change jobs or go back to college or find a meaningful hobby?
He took something out of his desk and walked back to her, then drew her to her feet and stared into her eyes.
“Shannon Van Horn, I love you.”
She appreciated how he’d left out the Disaster middle name. “I love you, too, Aaron Jason Williams.” She smiled at him. “You’re really sweet to me. I appreciate that more than you know.” He was always so patient, and he listened to her. Plus the sex was really good.
“I had a whole thing planned,” he told her, his gaze oddly intense. “And we can still do that later, if you want. But this seems like the right time.”
She had no idea what he was talking about, but before she could ask, she realized he looked incredibly nervous, which was so strange.
“Okay, this is harder than I thought.” He smiled at her, then shook his head. “I’m just going to say it. I love you, Shannon. You’re amazing, and I’m hoping we can spend the rest of our lives together. Will you marry me?”
What? WHAT!
She stared at him unable to comprehend what he’d just— “Did you propose?”
He grinned. “Yeah, I did. Pretty cool, huh?” He held up a perfect, sparkling diamond ring.
She looked from him to the ring, waiting for the punch line. About two seconds later she realized that he’d not only asked the question, he’d meant it. On the day when she felt like the world’s biggest failure, the man of her dreams had proposed.
“But I’m unformed clay,” she told him. “I don’t have a life plan or know what I’m supposed to be doing, and it’s possible my mom and I are codependent.”
“I know, and we’ll figure it out together.” He smiled at her. “I love you, Shannon, and I’m totally fine with your mom. Cindy’s great.” He waved the ring. “Did you want to comment on my taste in jewelry?”
“Oh my God!” She flung herself at him and kissed him, then drew back and snatched the gorgeous solitaire from his fingers. “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you!” She slid the ring into place where it winked up at her. “It’s perfect.”
And so was he, she thought dreamily as they kissed again. Okay, sure, she didn’t know exactly what came next, but maybe that was okay. Maybe she and Aaron would figure it out together.
The kiss got a little hotter. Still keeping her against him, Aaron moved toward the front door and carefully locked it.
She laughed. “Seriously? On the desk?” He grinned. “It won’t be the first time.”
“Nor the last.” She started unbuttoning her blouse, then stopped and looked at him. “We can’t tell anyone.”
“That we had sex on my desk? I agree.”
“About the engagement. Not for a while.”
She thought he would ask why, but instead he grinned at her. “Because Cindy’s getting married in a few months, and if she knows about us, she’s going to want a double wedding?”
The man knew her mother, she thought with gratitude. “Exactly. I draw the line at matching wedding gowns and a shared experience.”
“I promise, I won’t say a word.”
Excerpted from OTHERWISE ENGAGED by Susan Mallery, Copyright © 2025 by Susan Mallery Inc. Published by MIRA Books.
OTHERWISE ENGAGED by Susan Mallery
A Novel
A twisty, tender and wise look at how secrets can transform the powerful—and sometimes problematic—bond between mothers and daughters, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery.
When Shannon gets engaged, her beloved mom, Cindy, is the first person she wants to tell—and the last. Cindy’s engaged, too, and has already hinted at a double wedding. The image of a synchronized bouquet toss with her mom fills Shannon with horror. She’ll keep her engagement a secret until Cindy’s I-dos are done.
Victoria has never been proper enough for her mother, Ava, so she stopped trying. She lives on her own terms and amuses herself by pushing Ava’s buttons. Ava loves but doesn’t understand her stuntwoman daughter. When a movie-set mishap brings Victoria home, Ava longs to finally connect.
Chance brings the four women together at a wedding venue, where a shocking secret comes tumbling out. Twenty-four years ago, desperate teenager Cindy chose wealthy Ava to adopt her baby—then changed her mind at the very last second. The loss rocked Ava’s world, leaving her unable to open her heart to the daughter she did adopt, Victoria. As Shannon and Victoria deal with the fallout from the decisions their mothers made, they wrestle with whether who they are is different than who they might have become.
Women’s Fiction [ Mira Books, On Sale: November 4, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780778387268 / eISBN: 9780369761347 ]
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About Susan Mallery
Susan Mallery is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—romance, friendship, family. With compassion and humor, Susan keenly observes how people think and feel, in stories that take readers on an emotional journey. Sometimes heartbreaking, often funny, and always uplifting, Susan’s books have spent more than 200 weeks on the USA Today bestsellers list, thanks to her ever growing legions of fans. Susan lives in Seattle with her husband, two ragdoll cats, and a tattletale toy poodle. Animals play a big role in her books, as well, as she believes they’re an integral component to a happy life.
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