Dear Readers, Writers, and Precious Patrons,
Blurb:
It only took one look into his eyes for her to know she was in trouble.
Adam Bricklin has heard the melody in his head for
years, the melody that told him if a decision was right or wrong. When he met
Ragan Newlin the song told him she was the one. He was devastated when
circumstances tore them apart. It has taken three years for Adam to finally
move past the heartbreak he suffered when Ragan left town in the middle of the
night. No note, no email, no text. She was just gone. Now he has a new
girlfriend, a new album in the works, and his daughter is doing well in school.
Until the day Ragan returned to Fairfield Corners.
Ragan came home to celebrate her parent’s anniversary
hoping they would forgive her for not telling them about her marriage or her
son. When she discovered that Adam was still living in Fairfield Corners she
hoped her secrets were safe; secrets that drove her away three years ago,
secrets that could change their lives forever.
Excerpt:
Last week, from the comfort of her London flat, going home to Indiana sounded like a good idea. Today the snowstorm seemed to be mocking her and all her secrets.
Ragan’s gaze
darted to the rearview mirror, checking on Skylar in his car seat in the back. The
snowstorm didn’t seem to bother him a bit. She wished she could have said the
same; visibility had deteriorated rapidly due to the wind whipping the snow
around. The swish of the wipers was hypnotic as they tried to clear the snow
from the windshield. It was the beginning of March and had been a sunny spring
day when they left Indianapolis almost three hours ago, but the weather
steadily worsened as they drove north. The snowstorm blew up out of nowhere,
making roads slick and hazardous.
I should have stopped when the snow started,
but I didn’t think it would get this bad so soon. Her hands cramped from
holding the steering wheel tightly so she uncurled her fingers and turned up
the radio. Singing along to “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere,” she tried to convince
herself that they would make it to Fairfield Corners any minute. Between the
darkness and the snow, she couldn’t tell how far it was to town. Ragan wasn’t
even sure she was still driving in the right direction.
Faint tire
tracks were the only sign that she remained on the road and even those were
rapidly fading under the snow falling in clumps from the sky. Focusing on what
she assumed to be the edge of the road, she didn’t see the deer standing in the
middle of the road until the car was almost on top of it. She panicked and
stomped on the brakes and wrenched the steering wheel, swerving towards the
side of the road. The rear tire clipped the guardrail, spinning the car as it
careened down the hill, flipping over and over.
Blinding pain caused
her head to throb as it hit the window. Then only darkness. Memories, visions,
and dreams started to play on the screen of her mind.
A white dress.
Kisses in the kitchen.
Deep sorrow at the cemetery.
Images overlapping with no beginning and no
end.
Somewhere in the
back of her mind, she heard Skylar screaming, crying out for his mama as the
world spun out of control, physically and mentally. Ragan’s car finally stopped
rolling, landing with a bone-jarring thud on the driver’s side… in the river.
The passenger side tires spun as icy river water rushed into the car, chilling
her to the bone and then…
Gray clouds swept across the sky, dropping a
full load of rain onto the group who gathered around a freshly dug grave. They
huddled close under umbrellas at the cemetery. His daughter clung to Ragan’s
hand as she wept for her love who was being lowered into the cold, soggy
ground.
“No one knew the stalker would kill him,
Ragan. It’s not your fault,” James said from behind her as her heart shattered
into a million pieces.
The scene changed and she was running
through the hospital, eventually finding Cassie in the ICU waiting room. Ragan
first spotted him when he was sitting next to Cassie with his head in his
hands. He looked up and his eyes, those deep blue eyes that held so much pain,
stared straight into hers. She was lost in the depths of them that promised
love and devotion and a life worth living.
Those were
memories. This was real, and the silence returned along with the pain in her
head. She tried to open her eyes as the numbing cold of the rising river water
caused her to shiver, further aggravating the throbbing. Ragan tried to pull
herself up out of the water, but the seatbelt kept her pinned to the seat.
Reaching down for the seat belt buckle, it dawned on her… it was too quiet. The silence was wrong. Why can’t I hear him?
“Skylar,” she yelled. Panic started to crowd all other thoughts out of her
head. “Skylar, baby, answer me.” Losing her son would kill her in ways that no
one could understand. His car seat was on the passenger side in the back seat
so he wasn’t in the water. Why couldn’t she hear him?
A hand touched
her shoulder as a voice cut through the fog of her mind.
“Shhh, he’s
okay. He’s up in my truck. He’s safe.” She recognized the voice. It was the one
voice that she hoped to never hear again as she prayed that the vision would
never come true.
She turned her
head and looked into the eyes of the one who still held her heart.
About The Author:
L.A. Remenicky ~ Love Stories With A Twist
L.A. Remenicky is a forty-something wife and mother of three fur kids. A
payroll professional by day, she writes out the stories in her head by night.
An avid reader all her life, she finally put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) during NaNoWriMo in 2012 and has never looked back. When she’s not typing away on her latest story with music playing in the background, she can usually be found spending time with her family and friends.
An avid reader all her life, she finally put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) during NaNoWriMo in 2012 and has never looked back. When she’s not typing away on her latest story with music playing in the background, she can usually be found spending time with her family and friends.
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