Chapter One
Kiera
When it rains, it pours and right now; it is pouring down on me.
Pretty sure those are lyrics to a song I used to love, but today they’re very fitting. Standing on the corner in front of the burned-out remains of my former apartment, I tip my head to the skies as torrential rain pours down. If I were crying—which Iam—you could never tell.
This rain is more than a soggy end to a shit day. In moments, it becomes a catalyst. A cleansing. My apartment is beyond repair. A fire started while I was at work, because of the ancient wiring in the beautiful colonial home. While my home was burning down, my life was going up in flames with it.
Just before I got the call that everything I owned was burning to ash, I got called to my boss’s office. At forty-five, I am established in my career as an accountant for a marketing firm. It is as boring as it sounds, but I am good with numbers. It would seem I am not good enough because I missed the ones for next year’s budget without my pay scale on it.
“Fired? I am being fired. For what reason? What have I done?”
“Oh, no, you have done nothingwrong, Kiera. We’re moving in a new direction. We will give you a glowing letter of recommendation.”
Ten years and five superiors later and all I am worth is some words on paper saying I know how to do my job. Not well enough, it would seem, to go in thenew directionwith the firm I gave a decade of my life to.
Now I stand on the corner with the few things not destroyed in the fire. Not counting myself becauseI amdestroyed. Sighing,I grab my bags as I clutch the ticket for a few nights’ stay at a hotel given to me by the apologetic landlord. I have nowhere else to go. If I don’t find a job, I might end up on the street once the landlord’s kindness wears out.
Still, standing on the corner in the rain, I am smiling. Because there is nothing holding me here in True Ridge. I can go anywhere. My parents passed a few years ago, romantically within days of each other. I was married once for about six weeks after a mistake one wild night in Vegas.
With no job, no family left, and no real friends, there is nothing stopping me from going somewhere else. Anywhere else. Starting something new. It is something I have thought about often. I have never had the courage to take a chance. To pack up my things and hit the road. With no things to pack, no ties to True Ridge, nothing on the horizon, leaving feels right.
Somehow, I wind up at the small airport, with a one-way ticket to Sunset Springs. I have one bag containing what remains of my possessions; I am soaked from the rain, but I still have a smile on my face. Past the safety checks, boarding the plane, and taking the tiny, pricey bottle of whiskey, I am still smiling.
“You heading home to Sunset Springs or just visiting?”
“You know what,” I say to the attendant with that same smile on my face. “I am not sure yet. I might just make it home.”
“There is not a nicer place to call home. They call it a tourist trap because it gets so overrun during the summer, but it is so beautiful.”
“It was a coin toss between Sunset Springs or Heart Harbor.”
“I just bet you will have a good time. Lots of handsome men, lots of cute little bars and shops. It’s a perfect place to sneak away to for a while.”
That is just what I am doing. Sneaking away for a while to give myself a break. It has not just been a bad day; it has been aterrible year. Hell, afewterrible years. I won’t say I have had a bad life. Until I lost my parents, I had a charmed life.
Growing up in True Ridge meant learning the value of hard work and being grateful for whatever you have. We were never poor, but we struggled. My father was a trucker who spent a lot of time on the road. He always came home for weekends and never forgot to bring little trinkets from his travels.
They met at a New Year Eve’s party and were married before Valentine’s Day. Their love proved to me you can find your other half. A soulmate who stays true to you and loves you through all the struggles of life. Sadly, I have never experienced that kind of love for myself.
I used to believe it existed, but now I have some doubts.
Staring out the window as we sail over the mountains towards the shores of Sunset Spring, I am tired. Tired if just getting by. Just existing. I was never someone who made waves or craved attention. I never stirred the pot or spoke out against anything or stood up to anyone.
At forty-five, I am all alone, with literally nothing to show for my life. All the survived the fire was a small box of precious mementos. That is all I have. One box of my entire life. It is not enough. I should have boxes and boxes full of laughter, of special moments, of special people from my life. On a plane to paradise, I realize I have yet to really live life.
“Now is the time to start living, girl,” I whisper to myself as I empty that tiny bottle of liquor and wave the flight attendant over for another.
Pulling out a new notebook covered in silver and pink stars and cute little quotes, I click a pen to jot down a list. A list of all the things I want to do with my life. All the things I have put off or said I would get to someday, things I was afraid of or unsure of. It is time to get to the list, to cross each of these things.
“Swim in the ocean. Skinny dip. Sex with a stranger,” Iwhisper the last one as if I am telling myself a secret. “Eat some lobster. Go on an ice cream date. Get drunk. Go out on a boat.”
By the time the list is done, about forty to-dos later, I am excited. I am going to start a new life once this plane lands in Sunset Springs. Gazing out at the small beach town as we soar over it for our landing, I am all smiles.
I could have fallen apart after all that had happened in the past few days. To be honest, I did a little. On my first night in the hotel, I ordered some macaroons and some wine and let myself have a rough night. Waking up the next morning, I was excited not to have to go to that office, not to have to trudge through another day at a place I now realize I hated. Not to go home to an empty apartment to spend another night alone.
“Become a brand-new person in Sunset Springs. Be whoever you want to be. Find out who you truly are inside, Kiera.”
