by Rachel Hanna
While in college, she met Nick, her now ex-husband. He was a premed student planning to go into family medicine, and her mother and father were thrilled that she’d met this man. She didn't really love Nick, but he was nice enough at the time and seemed to have a good career path ahead of him. When she'd come home one summer from college to see her boyfriend, she remembered the painful look in his eyes when she had to explain that she was dating someone else and their five year relationship was now over. Her heart ached as she drove away, leaving him standing in his driveway with that shell shocked look on his beautiful face. And the sad part was that she knew it was a mistake, but she just couldn’t stand up to her parents.
Jenna had given up most of her dreams long ago. The idea of being an artist when she had a daughter to raise on her own was pushed to the back burner. Instead, she worked her fingers to the bone as a waitress for as many hours as she could get each week, which was never enough. Her ex-husband had fought her tooth and nail about paying alimony and even child support. Dragging her through the court system, he’d used every trick in the book to avoid paying anything even though he caused the divorce with his infidelity in the first place.
She just didn’t understand how this man could have a daughter that he rarely saw and then not want to support her financially either. What had she missed in his character and personality that allowed her to make a baby with someone like him?
As with most mornings, Jenna dissolved into tears on her patio, putting her empty coffee cup on the table beside her and throwing her romance novel on the ground. Living life as a single mother with no money was even harder than she’d assumed it would be.
Chapter 2
Kyle’s morning had started off good with his mother fully understanding his intentions to build his investment business. Next on his agenda was lunch with his twenty-seven year old brother, Aaron.
Aaron ran another part of Adele’s booming real estate business in January Cove - the RV campground. The property was popular all over the Southeast with people coming from miles around to enjoy the quaint beach and fun family activities.
The campground had grown a lot over the years, especially once Aaron took it over three years ago. Aaron stood out as being different in his family with his white blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. He was also the one that everyone thought would be married by now. After dating Natalie Jenkins for three years, there were plans to wed next summer. Unfortunately, Natalie ended up sleeping with a co-worker and breaking Aaron’s heart.
Aaron had only been two years old when their father died, and he was the one that Kyle worried most about. He seemed to crave love, even though he’d always had plenty from their mother. He was an outdoorsy guy, always involved in hiking some mountain or rafting down some raging river. He loved to be outside, which was why the campground was such a godsend for him. It kept him gainfully employed after he quit college, and it allowed him to enjoy the great outdoors.
But, still, Kyle worried about his baby brother. He’d been pretty angry since his breakup with Natalie just three months ago. He’d developed a real dislike of women and had no interest in dating anyone anytime soon.
As he pulled into the Crystal Cove campground, Kyle noticed Aaron doing some work on the small miniature golf course they’d installed about nine months ago.
“Hey, bro!” Kyle called out to Aaron as he walked toward the third hole on the golf course.
“Hey, man,” Aaron said as he waved his brother over.
“Whatcha doing?” Kyle asked as he shook his brother’s hand.
“We had a little mishap with a sick kid. Trying to clean vomit out of green carpet is not so easy. Or pleasant,” he said with a laugh.
“Don’t you have cleaning guy that does this stuff?”
“Yeah. Paul. But, he’s out of town this week. Lucky me,” Aaron said shaking his head. “Ready for some lunch?”
“I’m starving. Let’s go,” Kyle said as he and Aaron made their way back to the campground’s lodge. Made to resemble a log home from the mountains, the lodge was a popular spot for campers who wanted a good meal and reasonable prices. Aaron had come up with the idea right before he took over from the previous manager, and the lodge had become a money-maker for the business.
The two men ordered their food from Betty Sue, the resident lodge waitress, and relaxed into the oversized log sewn chairs.
“So, what’s been going on with you?” Aaron asked his older brother.
“Well, I told Mom this morning.”
“How’d she take it?”
“Perfect, as we both knew she would,” Kyle said with a smile.
“Yep, we lucked out in the mother department,” Aaron said holding his glass of sweet tea up as if to toast his mother.
“That we did. So, how are things going with you, baby brother?” Kyle asked as he looked outside, careful to avoid eye contact with Aaron.
“Nice try.”
“Seriously, man. I’m worried about you…”
“Well, don’t be. I’m fine. It’s just going to take some time, that’s all.”
“I know you really loved Natalie, Aaron. It’s okay to grieve that loss,” Kyle said looking at his brother.
“She cheated on me, Kyle. Why would I grieve losing a woman like that?”
“Because you dated her for three years and had a future planned with her.”
“Well, it’s over now,” Aaron said shifting uncomfortably in his chair.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Kyle asked.
“When were you elected the Dr. Phil of our family?” Aaron asked with a wry smile.
“Point taken. But if you want to talk, you know you can always come to me,” Kyle said putting his napkin in his lap as Betty Sue brought their lunch.
***
“I understand that I’m behind, but isn’t there any way to hold off on the foreclosure for another couple of months? I might be able to get enough extra hours… Yes, I understand it’s been five months… So there’s no way that I can get some help to catch things up?”
Jenna begged and pleaded with the representative from her mortgage company, but they were no help. She’d called them at least once a week for months now, but she didn’t qualify for any plans that would help her catch the mortgage up.
When her sorry ex-husband had run out on her and her daughter to be with a hot, young nurse at his hospital, Jenna had been left holding the bag. The house was in her name, and there was no way she could pay for it alone. It wasn’t a huge home, but it was nice for the area. With a rocking chair front porch and a view of the ocean, it was her dream home. She had wanted to raise Kaitlyn there and show her all that life had to offer. Now, she’d be lucky to find a studio apartment in some rough area of town.
Jenna put her head down on the cold, wooden kitchen table and sighed. She was all out of tears after her normal morning crying session, but her stomach churned with acid as she thought about telling her daughter that they had to move soon. Kaitlyn loved their home. From her frilly pink room to the fenced backyard, that little girl adored where they lived.
Not only was her best friend, Lila, right next door, but her school was just a block away. In fact, Jenna walked her to school each day before leaving for her first shift at the diner. Today, there were no hours to be had, so Jenna was stuck at home trying to figure a way out of her tight jam.
She sat up and looked around her kitchen, remembering all of the work she’d done to make it perfect. The beach theme was subtle with seafoam green walls and stark white cabinets. She didn’t want it to look like a vacation home, but she wanted to bring the ocean colors indoors. Her eyes scanned the walls, the counters, the small accessories she’d bought, trying to etch them into her mind for the day when she wouldn’t have them anymore. She tried to avoid looking at the stack of mail on the breakfast bar. She could see the bright pink late notices peeking through the clear plastic windows of the envelopes. No need reading those late notices as she didn’t have the money to pay t
hem anyway.
Jenna had long ago given up on a lot of things. Given up on having a healthy marriage. Given up on having a stable home for Kaitlyn. Given up on ever being in love with a man who put her first. Given up on being able to earn enough money to keep her dream home from foreclosure. She was just getting by day to day, putting one foot in front of the other when what she really wanted to do was curl up in a ball wearing her comfy yoga pants. She wanted to hide in her bedroom, lose all responsibilities in her life and just be still. Quiet. Peaceful. But that wasn’t to be. She knew at any moment, her home was going to be taken from her and there wasn’t a darn thing she could do about it.
Her sorry ex-husband had only given her two real gifts during their marriage. One was Kaitlyn. The other was agreeing to allow her to buy a home in Ridge Cliff, a small town outside of January Cove. While Jenna would loved to have lived back in her hometown, she knew that prancing around with her husband and child in front of her ex and his family wasn’t right. She’d broken his heart, and he would never have wanted to see her again. So, she moved far enough away to not be a burden in his life, yet close enough to enjoy the beach that she loved so much.
In her effort to stay out of the limelight, she’d started going by the name J.A. Watson, using her initials and her married last name. She didn’t want to be found by anyone from her previous life, especially not now that she was a washed up single mother, wanna-be artist whose house was being foreclosed on.
Chapter 3
A lot of Kyle’s day was made up of knocking doors and looking for homeowners who were in trouble. His bread-and-butter was finding people who were behind on their mortgage payments and needed him to bail them out. Then, he would pay that past due balance and take over ownership of the property allowing the homeowner to avoid getting a foreclosure on their credit report. The homeowner would move out immediately, and he would have a property to fix up and flip or lease out to a tenant.
Of course, sometimes he purchased properties through real estate agents who had foreclosures listed. Other times, he worked directly with the bank to get them to sell the house for less than the payoff. One thing was for certain, Kyle was a whiz kid when it came to real estate investment properties.
On the flipside of that, he’d had to learn to be non-emotional about it. Homeowners could be in trouble for a variety of reasons from divorce to death, but he couldn't get tied up in that part of it. He had to look only at the numbers. That was the only way to survive in the real estate investing business.
Most of the time, he just knocked the doors around January Cove, but he was finding that it was a limited supply of properties for him. If he was ever going to grow his business, he had to get out into some of the outlying areas around January Cove. For that reason, he also hired a bird dogs. This was someone who sought out investment opportunities and then passed those leads along to Kyle. If he closed on one of them, he paid the bird-dog a fee. Sometimes, his bird dogs found him the best leads because they were out driving around in the surrounding areas that Kyle couldn’t always get to.
The worst part about knocking doors was that he often ran into very angry homeowners who were losing their houses. Maybe they didn't know that their home was in foreclosure or they were trying to deny it, and he would have to walk up to their door and face them. Often, this could lead to a confrontation that Kyle didn't want. If the person wasn’t interested in his help, that was fine with him. He didn't have any interest getting into an argument about it, however. Even though he had to lack emotion about the deal, the homeowners couldn’t do that. They always had emotions whether they felt sad, angry or desperate.
On this particular morning, he was becoming more and more frustrated by the people he was encountering. Everyone seemed to be mad on this particular Tuesday morning, so he decided to stop into his favorite coffee shop and take a break. As he walked in, he heard a high-pitched squeal from across the room as a woman came running to him and threw her arms around his neck.
“Kyle Parker!” the woman said with a big grin on her face. He only vaguely recognized her, so he must've looked very confused. “You don't remember who I am?”
"Actually, you look familiar…"
"Sylvia Turner. We went to high school together. Remember?”
"Oh, Sylvia, of course I remember." He didn't remember her at all, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings.
Kyle had been very popular in high school playing on the baseball team and working in the student council. A lot of people knew him that he didn't necessarily know. But, he learned one thing from his mother. Always be nice to people whether you like them or not. And this applied. He didn't know if he liked this person or not, but he was going to make her feel like he remembered her nonetheless.
“I just stopped back in town to see my parents, and I’ve enjoyed seeing some of my old high school friends here too. I had no idea you were still here. I figured you and Jenna moved away from January Cove a long time ago,” she said still grinning from ear to ear.
Kyle looked down at his shoes for a moment and tried to gather himself. It’d been a while since he had heard Jenna's name spoken by anyone, although he thought about her every day of his life. His soul stirred at the mention, but he quickly regained his composure and took a deep breath.
“Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?”
“No, it's fine. Jenna and I broke up many years ago. She actually met someone in college and married him, I believe. I haven't seen or spoken to her in a long time.”
“I'm so sorry to hear that. I had no idea. I always assumed that you two would live happily ever after because you were such a great couple. I'm sorry to hear that things didn't work out.”
A moment later, the woman behind the counter called out Sylvia's name and handed her a coffee cup.
“Well, I better go. I'm going shopping in town with my mother today. It was so nice to see you again, Kyle,” she said giving him a quick peck on the cheek before she walked out the front door.
Kyle took a deep breath before walking up to the counter to order his coffee. He didn’t like to think about Jenna and what they’d had. And what he’d lost. It made him sad and angry at the same time. He would never forget what she’d done to him, and he’d never forgive her for it either.
As he picked up his coffee and found a seat, Kyle started looking over some paperwork. His phone rang, and he immediately recognized the number as Jimmy, one have his bird dogs.
“Hey, Jimbo,” he said.
“Hey, Kyle. Listen, I've got a hot lead for you.”
“Great, because I'm striking out all over the place today.”
“This one is actually foreclosing on the courthouse steps today.”
“It's foreclosing this morning?” Kyle asked.
“Yes. Sorry for the short notice, but it's outside of town. It's not in January Cove, but it looks like it might be a really good deal.”
“Give me the address and I'll go take a look at the outside. If I like it, I’d love you to go ahead and bid on it for me today at the courthouse. If we win it, I’ll bring the money over before the end of the day.”
When Kyle hung up the phone, he took the address and put it into his pants pocket and headed out the door. Jumping into his Jeep, he started the trip over to see the outside of the home. If he could get a good deal on it, he knew that he could resell it. That was a great part of town, and he hadn't bought anything over there yet.
***
Jenna decided to get up and get ready for the day. Although she didn't have any hours to work that day, she was volunteering at Kaitlyn’s school. She got ready and began the walk to the elementary school. This was one part of her day that she looking forward to. The kids were going to be having a class party, and she was bringing the cupcakes. Thankfully, the ingredients were inexpensive and she and Kaitlin had had a fun time decorating them last night.
As she walked into the school, she looked around at all the happy children with their moms and dads visiting. It w
as a day that parents could visit and eat lunch with their kids, and she hated the thought that her child wouldn't have that. Her child's father had no interest in being a father. It made Jenna mad at herself when she thought about it. How could she have missed all the signs that the man she was married to was a complete and total jerk?
She walked into Kaitlyn's class and saw her sitting at her desk, smiling and coloring as usual. She was so thankful that her daughter was resilient and seemed to be moving through the process of losing her family unit easily. Of course, she knew there would be fallout one day. One day, Kaitlyn might look back at her and wonder why she hadn't tried harder to save her marriage, her family.