Second Chances

Valentine “Val” Green is a forty-year-old divorced mom of two who teaches kindergarten in
her small hometown of Camden, South Carolina. She swears she will never find love again
living in a small town until the day she bumps into substitute teacher Jack Dean.

Jack is a single dad of a seven-year-old daughter, Rose, who he shares custody with his ex-
wife Jane. Jane decides she doesn’t want to be a mother and Jack eventually gets her

parental rights taken away and gets full custody of Rose. Jack owns his own construction
company, which puts him and Val in contact with Val’s ex-husband and wife, Wilson and
Elise Montgomery, as Wilson is an electrical sub-contractor who Jack uses on his building
projects.
Val’s two daughters, Kathryn (Kate), age 21 and Elizabeth (Lizzie), age 15, live primarily with

her, but Kate and Lizzie stay with their dad on occasion. Lizzie doesn’t have a good
relationship with her dad because he never wanted a second child and told her as much.
Kate is the apple of his eye and can do no wrong.
Lizzie was only two when Val left her now ex-husband, so seeing Val with Jack caused Lizzie
great anxiety. She struggles with her mom dating another man and feels that she will be
ignored even more since Val will have a man in her life. Little do they all know that Lizzie’s
insecurities are the least of their worries, as Rose has more insecurities when it comes to
her dad showing any sort of interest to another woman and makes no bones about her dislike
of Val.
To add to the crazy mix that is the Green/Montgomery household, Kate tells her mom that
she is pregnant. Kate asks if her boyfriend, John, can move in with them so he can be around
for all the pregnancy firsts and to be there for her and the baby. Val agrees and makes the
adjustment to having a man in the house again.
Val and Jack have a few dates, but Val ends things with Jack because of Rose, as she didn’t
want to cause any further anxiety for Rose. Unfortunately, Jack didn’t see that Rose had an
issue with Val and didn’t understand why she blew him off. Val felt it would be better to just
let bygones be bygones until they ran into each other again when Jack was subbing at the
school.
They talk and work things out as Jack finally sees that Rose needed professional counseling.
It helped that Lizzie created a bond with Rose, as they both were dealing with a parent who
didn’t want them and both were seeking therapy.
All is good in the world of soon-to-be grandparent, Val, when Kate’s water breaks and they all
head to the hospital. Val tells Lizzie to call her dad and John to call his parents while she calls
Jack. Jack asks if he and Rose can come to the hospital, but Val doesn’t want things to be
awkward for the kids with Wilson and Elise there.