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About the author

Shari Low has published twenty novels over the last two decades. She also writes for newspapers, magazines and television. Once upon a time, she got engaged to a guy she’d known for a week, and twenty-something years later, they live in Glasgow with their two teenage sons and a labradoodle.

Follow Shari

Twitter: @sharilow

Facebook: @ShariLow

About the book

Have you ever made a life-changing decision and then wondered if you made the right one…?

A clever, captivating and bitterweet story of what might have been. Perfect for the fans of Jo Jo Moyes and Marian Keyes.

When Liv and Nate walked up the aisle, Liv knew she was marrying the one, her soul mate and her best friend.

Six years later, it feels like routine and friendship is all they have left in common. What happened to the fun, the excitement, the lust, the love?

In the closing moments of 1999, Liv and Nate decide to go their separate ways, but at the last minute, Liv wavers. Should she stay or should she go?

Over the next twenty years we follow the parallel stories to discover if Liv's life, heart and future have been better with Nate… Or without him?

Buy links:

Amazon: mybook.to/WithorWithoutYou

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2IK5SvK

iBooks: https://apple.co/2siBm2w

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2IUdJI7

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Extract

Chapter One

One Minute After Midnight.

1st January 2000

It felt like one of those arty black and white prints, where a couple stands in the middle of a room full of people, the crowd’s expressions rapt with excitement and celebration, while the man and the woman in the centre face each other, lost in the moment, frozen in time, oblivious to all around them.

Everyone who looked at the picture had a different perception of what those two people were thinking, of what was going on in their lives that was so startling that it completely detached them from their surroundings.

Now I knew.

The bloke had just told his wife that he wanted to call off their separation.

And the woman wanted to cry. Or scream. Or fall into his arms. To be honest, she wasn’t one hundred per cent sure.

Actually, that’s not true. She was one hundred per cent sure about what she should do, she just wasn’t one hundred per cent sure she had the courage to go through with it.

‘Nate, I…’

Before I could answer, the others crowded around us.

Sasha smothered me in kisses. ‘Happy New Millennium gorgeous!’ I hugged her tightly. ‘You’re going to be great without that boring fart,’ she whispered in my ear. Sasha came from the ‘in your face’ school of life. She said what she thought, was completely fearless and, with her Morticia Addams hair and vampish make-up, you just knew that she was never going to be fluffy or dippy. It made some people run a mile from her, but I loved that she made no apologies for saying what she thought and living her life the way she damn well pleased. She’d supported my decision to call it a day with Nate right from the start, which sounds brutally harsh, but as one of my two closest friends, I knew she was only taking that stance because she truly believed it was the right thing for me.

‘He wants to try again,’ I hissed.

‘No surprise there. I knew he’d change his mind.’

She had a point. In his working life as a PE teacher, Nate was organised and structured, but outside of the professional environment, my horizontally laid-back husband liked consistency and tended to avoid anything that could involve drama or uncomfortable situations. He’d have stayed married forever despite knowing it wasn’t right, just to avoid the hassle of splitting.

Chloe moved in next and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. ‘Happy New Year!’

If Sasha was Morticia, Chloe was her arch-nemesis in the fight for good, always looking for the positive in any situation and giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.

If I ever decided to switch sexual preferences, then Chloe would be my perfect woman: funny, caring, smart, and tough enough to handle just about any situation. Having a friend like her could make a girl feel inadequate, but she would find that thought hilarious because she had absolutely no ego or awareness of her brilliance at all. She was beyond beautiful too. Thanks to the genetic mix of her Jamaican mother and her Irish father, she had a stunning Afro, piercing green eyes and the most banging, curvy body I’d ever seen. My 36B’s and apple-shaped figure just couldn’t compare.

‘Are you okay?’ Chloe’s mouth was still at my ear, so her words couldn’t be overheard, and neither could my reply.

‘He’s just said he wants to try again.’

‘I knew it! Say yes. Please say yes. You two belong together.’