by Dan Kolbet
“So what news do you have for us today,” Elvin asked Luke.
“As you know, all of Professor Kirkhorn’s work has been turned over to the medical research lab at MassEnergy, along with a hefty cash infusion to keep them afloat,” he said. StuTech now owned a majority share of MassEnergy, courtesy of StuTech’s generous new CEO.
“It’s very early on,” Luke said, “but they seem to be making progress, now that StuTech has provided them an unlimited supply of the ARC rare earth element to work with.”
Loretta smiled, “I have no expectations about the work benefiting me, but I’m glad to hear its going well. There are many more people, younger people, who need help first.”
“MassEnergy has hired a new lead researcher who is experienced in the field,” Luke turned to the man on his left. “I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Estevan Rigau.”
For the rest of the morning Luke and Estevan told Loretta stories about Blaine, helping her piece together parts of his life she never knew about. When it was time to leave, Estevan promised to keep Loretta current on the research.
Luke had to go too. If he hurried he could get to Mill Creek by morning. New breathing treatments and access to reliable power meant better medical care for Tilly. This year she might actually have enough breath to blow out the candles on her birthday cake. He wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Acknowledgements
There were many people who helped me complete this novel. First and foremost, I want to thank Katie, who above everyone else, never once wavered in her support of this project. There were several times when I doubted my script, my determination or myself – she never did. Thanks, Katie for helping me find my way to the end.
I got lucky when my first choices for beta readers said yes. Jessie Wuerst, Latisha Hill and Dan Absalonson provided welcome feedback and very often stopped me from looking silly. I hope you understand how much your thoughts were taken to heart in the finished product. Kudos also to Karen Caton for her copyediting.
Thank you to my friends, family and co-workers who supported and encouraged me during this process. Your kind words meant the world to me.
To you, the reader, I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed creating it. I appreciate you spending some time with my words. I’d love to hear from you too, good or bad – just visit www.facebook.com/DanKolbetBooks and drop me a line. You can catch me at [email protected], too.
Finally, to Allison and Felicity, this book is proof that you can make your dreams come true.
Excerpt from Don’t Wait For Me
Available for Kindle or in print through Amazon Published Oct. 2012
Book Description
Edwin Klein’s iconic downtown toy store is hanging by a thread. The end is near, but he won’t accept it. The store is all he has left of his wife and he can’t let it go. Failure and loss have led him to a dark place.
After a chance encounter with a shoplifter, he stumbles upon the help of Amelia Cook, who is struggling with her own loss. Through one holiday season the two of them hatch a plan to save the store and in turn touch the lives of everyone they know.
What follows is a wonderful, but tragic tale of love, loss and new beginnings.
“Don’t Wait For Me”
Chapter One
Black Friday: 30 days until Christmas Eve
Edwin sat behind his desk in the windowless back room of his toy store, Mr. Z’s. His antique wooden chair squeaked with his every movement. A bare bulb illuminated the jumbled room. His coffee cup, a red mug with a snowman painted on it, sat before him. He took gentle sips and let the burn of the bourbon sting his throat. He’d ditched the coffee at noon and it was now well past seven o’clock.
The store’s daily receipts were in four neat piles on the desktop. Small piles. Very small piles. Today was not his Black Friday and he resented the common notion that this one blasted day was the one that would bring his store out of the red and back into the black. Back into the black? The store was losing money hand over fist.
But today’s terrible showing wasn’t a surprise. Not a surprise to Edwin or for the handful of customers who came into the store today. The regulars knew it shouldn’t have been him behind the glass display case, ringing up their precious purchases.
One exceedingly talkative customer happened to ask the question he dreaded, but expected every day.
“Where’s Mary and Mr. Z?”
His reply gave no satisfaction to the customer buying an electric train set. But of course, the answer gave Edwin no satisfaction either, so it all balanced out in his mind. He’d been asking the same question for 10 months and two days. Where’s Mary?
Of Mr. Z, he was more certain—he’d been dead for years, but people still asked.
But the receipts and the annoying customer questions weren’t dominating his disdain at this exact moment. It was the shoplifter sitting in the folding chair directly across from the desk.
“When can I go home?” the boy asked for the third time in the last five minutes.
“I told you,” Edwin said. “The police should be here any minute. Now keep quiet I’m trying to count.”
“You’ve got a lot of crap back here. You should really clean up,” the boy said.
“That’s quite a recommendation from a thief,” Edwin said.
“I told you I would pay for it.”
“It’s customary to pay for something at the time it leaves the store, not halfway down the block.”
The boy had entered the store about 5:30 p.m. The bell above the door gave a ring as he walked right by Edwin, who was straightening a shelf of puzzles near the register. The boy’s green canvas jacket, with large pockets, immediately drew Edwin’s attention away from the puzzles and toward the boy, who was probably no older than 10. With his dark cap, covered in fresh snow, Edwin couldn’t judge his age very well at all.
Big pockets. No parents. Shifty eyes. Did he have shifty eyes? Of course he did. They all do. If it wasn’t the damn economy, big box stores or websites stealing his customers—it was shoplifters who would certainly be the end of this business. And he caught one—finally.
But the joy of catching the little thief in the act was spoiled by the long wait for the police to show up. No doubt there were bigger crimes that needed investigating, but he had the criminal in the back room. Caught him red-handed. If the cops would just show up and arrest him already, Edwin could go home or to the Satellite Diner for a late dinner.
It wasn’t lost on Edwin that this little boy was the only person he’d had an actual conversation with in months. Excluding his few customers, he couldn’t recall the last time he had spent so much time together with another person inside the store since Mary had gone. A sad state of affairs, indeed. Edwin desperately wanted this day just to be over.
If he hadn’t turned the corner just in time to see the boy drop a Barbie swimsuit and surfboard combo pack into his coat pocket, he wouldn’t still be sitting at his desk right now.
“What do you want with a Barbie anyway?” Edwin asked the boy.
“None of your business,” the boy said.
“Actually it is my business. All 2,100 square feet of it.”
“And what a great job you’ve done with the place,” the boy deadpanned.
Great, even this little punk knows I’m a failure, Edwin thought.
* * *
After several more calls to the police department it became apparent they weren’t coming to haul the kid to the slammer. He didn’t even know if they did that anymore. Probably they would just give him a stern talking to and take him to his parents.
Edwin figured he could be just as imposing as a police officer – especially one who never showed up. He could scare this kid straight. So he decided he’d get the boy to his parents and let them decide his punishment. He could imagine the embarrassment on their faces, finding out their sweet little boy was a future master criminal. He was actually looking forward to it. He didn’t really like kids, at least not re
cently.
“Put on your coat, you’re going home.”
“Hold on there, man, you can’t take me to my apartment.”
“So, it’s an apartment? That’s a good start. What’s the address?”
“No really. I’ll do anything. Please don’t take me home.”
The kid, with his pleading, seemed to grow younger the more he begged Edwin to not return him home. For a split second Edwin thought he had detected fear in the boy’s eyes. Good, I’m still intimidating, he thought.
“It’s either the police station or your parents, kid,” Edwin said, in his best authoritative tone. “There are no other options. Besides, I couldn’t just kick you out onto the street now anyway, it’s dark and snowing and you’re a little kid.”
“Hey, I’ll be 11 in January,” the boy replied, as if his age was the deciding factor.
“Eleven-year-olds are still little kids.”
“It beats being a hundred like you,” the boy said.
“Good one, kid. Now put your coat on. I’m taking you home.”
Find Don’t Wait For Me by Dan Kolbet at http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Wait-For-Me-ebook/dp/B009XHO66U
Table of Contents
Novels by Dan
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Excerpt from Don’t Wait For Me