by Alesha Cary
"Here's the thing. When he kissed me, it was like we were one person. I knew he was my soulmate. But my soulmate wouldn't just disappear without telling me where he was going, would he?"
"Well, I don't know. Did you tell him you felt that way?"
"No. I didn't get a chance." Sarah sighed. "I wanted to tell him, but it didn't seem right to do that at work, so I was waiting until he came back."
Carrie watched her niece over the top of her coffee cup as she took a sip. Sarah was turning into quite a young woman. She still remembered how excited Sarah had been that time when she was seven or eight and had come to visit her in the hospital.
All she could talk about that day was the candy stripers... and now here she was, almost a nurse. She'd be a good one, too, once she gained a little more perspective. Carrie was glad she had this chance to spend time with Sarah.
"So you think he's your soulmate, but you've never told him? And you're upset but you don't know if he feels the same way about you?"
"When you put it that way it sounds immature and childish. But I know how I felt when he held me and kissed me. Maybe I can't explain it very well, but I can't imagine that he didn't feel the same."
"Sarah, honey, you have to stop torturing yourself. How can you expect someone else to understand what's going on for you if you don't share it with them?"
"I can't imagine he doesn't feel at least some of the same things I felt."
"So now you're expecting him to be a mind reader? Is that fair? You never shared your feelings with him but you expect he's going to feel the same way you do and you're angry when he doesn't act the way you think he should?"
Sarah sat looking at the fire for a few moments.
"No, you're right. That's why I came to talk to you. I don't want to second guess what's going on. I'm more worried that something bad may have happened to him or his family. Being alone has its drawbacks." She smiled wryly.
"I never told him. There's no way I should expect him to know how I feel. So here's my worst thought: what if he never comes back? What if I don't see him again?"
Carrie raised her eyebrows, "I doubt that will happen. I'm sure he hasn't disappeared from the face of the earth."
"Well I hope you're right, but at this moment it sure seems like that to me," Sarah sighed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Monday. Again. This time getting ready for work wasn't as much fun.
It had been a long and emotional week. She had spent an exhausting Sunday trying to figure out a way to find out what had happened. She had thought long and hard about what she would do without Bradley in her life. She didn't want to think about that as a possibility, especially since she was still convinced that he was her soulmate. But, what did that mean, really? Especially if she was the only one who felt that way?
She was still upset that he had disappeared so suddenly, but she wasn't feeling so abandoned or desperate after talking with Aunt Carrie.
Sarah hurried out the door. She'd been so emotionally drained that she had overslept - not something she normally did. She started the car and pulled out of the driveway.
It was such a relief to have someone like Aunt Carrie to talk to. Sarah was grateful that her aunt had chosen to move close enough that she could use Aunt Carrie as a sounding board when needed.
If Sarah had dared to talk with anyone at school or the hospital, it would probably have ended up in a "pity party". But that wouldn't happen with Aunt Carrie. Even after a nasty divorce, her aunt wasn't anti-men. And if anyone had a right to resent men, it would have been Aunt Carrie.
Sarah reached over and turned on the radio. This morning she wanted something to distract her. She surfed through several stations, looking for something besides the early morning talk shows. Music. It was time for music. Nora Jones. Okay, that would do for now.
Sarah knew there would be a huge hole in her life without Bradley. If he didn't show up soon, then she would just have to figure out how to find him. The Personnel office had his P.O. Box number, and she was confident that she could find a way to get that information. At that point, Sarah could either track him down or at the least, send him a note and ask what happened. Even if they wouldn't give her the address, she could convince them to mail her letter to him.
She pulled into the hospital parking lot, jumping out of the car and heading for the entrance.
Everything had happened so quickly, and maybe she was fooling herself. Or maybe she was being overly dramatic? God, she hated whiners, and she certainly didn't want to be one. If he was truly out of her life, it was probably better that he had disappeared early on, instead of after she had fallen head over heels.
Like she hadn't already. So why did this have to happen to her? Oops, she stopped herself. No need to think like a victim, there was always an option if you looked hard enough. Well, at least she had a plan now - such as it was. And that made her feel a little better.
~ # ~
Sarah had avoided the lunchroom for the past week. Too painful, she decided. But she had the slightest niggle of a headache, and a coke sounded like just the thing to make it better. She grabbed one from the vending machine at the end of the hall.
Heading back to her Monday afternoon duties, Clara waved her down.
"Sarah, someone was asking about you," She said with a smile.
"Really, who?"
Clara grinned and gestured with her head.
"Sarah," came the voice behind her.
Bradley! She swung around and there he was, all six feet of blond hunk, grinning like it was yesterday.
"Why are you looking so surprised?" he laughed at her. "Aren't you glad to see me?"
"Where have you been?" she demanded. She didn't know whether to be relieved or angry with him. She felt her knees go weak and she grabbed the counter for support. "And why didn't you call or something?"
"I was visiting my folks, you knew that."
"But why didn't you call me? Why did you disappear? You made me worry about you!"
He looked surprised and confused. "Sarah, what are you talking about?"
"You never came back. You were supposed to be back on Monday and you never came back. I had no idea where you were. I thought something awful had happened to you, or even worse, that you didn't want to be with me." She had tears in her eyes.
"Oh Sarah, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."
He put an arm around her and led her over to the patient chairs in the hallway. "Look, my job here was only temporary. After I graduated last fall, this was the only thing available. I've been waiting for a job to open up at GeoTech Engineering, that local firm that builds "Green" Buildings.
"They called me while I was in San Francisco. I decided to go ahead and take care of things while I was there. So I called the hospital and quit. That way I could get my stuff out of storage and bring it up." He reached over and wiped away the tears from her cheek.
"But why didn't you call me? How could you forget about that?" she took a deep breath, relieved and trying to let go of the hurt she had felt.
"I couldn't call you directly because I didn't have your cell number - remember? But I tried to reach you when I called to quit. They couldn't find you, though. No one told you I had asked about you?"
"You asked about me?" She looked up into his deep blue eyes. There it was, that instant connection - like an audible click - she was home again. "And you're back now?"
"Yes, I'm back now. I start my new job on Wednesday,"
"Oh Thank God!" she exclaimed, "I was so upset, I kept having these really awful thoughts that something bad had happened to you and that you weren't coming back!"
"Sarah, my sweet little Sarah!" He picked her up and swung her around in his arms, covering her face with kisses, finishing with one long, full, smoldering kiss before he set her down again. "You don't have to worry about me leaving again, I'm not going anywhere. I intend to be around for a really long time."
Good thing he was still holding on to her - otherwise she'd
have collapsed into a pile of jelly on the floor as he let her go. She chuckled at the image of Bradley trying to mop her up - Safety First and all that.
Sarah couldn't have asked for a better reunion.
She had questions. Lots and lots of questions. But now they had time. Time to think about the future and to figure out what was next. Time to fit the individual pieces of their lives into a whole that encompassed them both.
"Bradley!" she laughed up at him, "I guess we won't ever have to worry about that silly dating rule again."
<<<< >>>>
ABOUT CAROLINE DAWSON
After a messy divorce, Caroline Dawson pulled up stakes in Boulder, Colorado, and moved to the isolated Northern California coastal town of Dungeness Cove. The only person she knows when she gets there is her niece, Sarah Kingman, a 22 yr old nursing student working at the local hospital.
Before arriving in California, Carrie (as she prefers to be called) was a handwriting expert, working for the District Attorney's office and various local attorneys. Thanks to the divorce, Carrie is semi-retired. She plans to take a year off, but her handwriting analysis skills are in demand, and she gets dragged into helping to bring closure to cases including blackmail, forgery, murder, and affairs of the heart.
BOOKS WHERE CAROLINE DAWSON
MAKES AN APPEARANCE
Made For Another - Sarah Kingman is a 22 year old nursing student who has recently returned to school. She is far from home and lonely for friendship. Until she starts going out with Tony. Maybe her luck has just changed!
1 Script 2 Many - An apparent suicide - with too many questions and too many notes. Police Chief Jack Caldwell makes a special request for Carrie Dawson's help. But is his interest more than just professional?
Release date Spring 2013
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alesha Cary grew up reading mysteries and she still loves a good who-dunnit. But she's also a romantic at heart and believes we all deserve our own happily-ever-after -- we just have to find the right person. She writes her books with a bit of romance and a bit of mystery. The mixture is different for each book, but you can expect to find some of each in every story.
Just like her characters, Alesha lives on the Pacific Northwest Coast with her husband and two cats. Their neighbors are deer, raccoons, skunks, foxes, mountain lions and bear, and far too many birds to list. From her window she gets to watch the whales playing as they migrate.
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE