Long Time Coming
by Edie Claire
Summary
Veterinarian Joy Hudson used to love her small Kentucky hometown--until her lifelong best friend Jenny was killed in a tragic car crash. For 18 years Joy has avoided both the town and the turmoil of emotions it still incites within her. But when her elderly father falls ill, she must return to the place and people who haunt her, and conquer her still-burning hatred of the boy, now a respected doctor, who had been behind the fated wheel. But the gaping holes in Joy’s memory hide a truth she can’t discover without him--a truth she can’t bear to face alone.
Excerpt
Chapter 2
I slipped outside and trudged through the wet grass toward my Honda… A glance over my shoulder revealed my mother watching me from the front window, and I let out a guilty sigh. She had been practically ecstatic when I had arrived the day before yesterday; already she had backtracked clear to angst. All because I was buying Jenny’s house.
But it wasn’t her house anymore, I told myself firmly. The only person living there would be me. The embrace I had imagined upstairs was nothing but a fluke?brought on by weeks of stress and not enough breakfast. Some stray neurons had misfired, and my brain had mistaken the signals. That was all.
Whatever had happened, the fact was this: unlike virtually everything else in Wharton, Jenny’s house did not make me sad. Upstairs in that bedroom, I had finally felt warm again. Optimistic. Even happy. After the last few weeks, the feeling was like a drug to me.
I started up my Honda and took off… Houses of old friends passed by on either side… I had not kept up with any of my old friends, which was probably wrong of me. But what could they possibly say? “Oh, hello. Joy. I haven’t seen you since...when? The funeral?”
My fingers felt like ice, and I realized that I was gripping the steering wheel as though it, too, were trying to escape. Such was the effect this town had on me, ever since those long, dark summer months between Jenny’s death and my departure for college. That time had been the closest thing to hell I’d ever experienced, and it remained in my mind as no more than a blur. A blur of pain, sadness, and?in some way I still resisted thinking about?fear. I had been happy here, once. I could remember that. But those dark days had successfully stained my memory of every rock, tree, and living soul in Wharton.
Including the garden-like library grounds that I was currently driving past. One sideways glance… and an unbidden flash of memory assaulted my brain. Jenny and I had loafed around here after school one Friday, trying to decide how to wear our hair for graduation. I could see her clearly as she sprawled along the ornate bench seat, her long legs flung over the backrest, her wavy red hair flowing nearly to the ground. When we were children, I was the cute one, but puberty had reversed things. Jenny’s skinny frame had morphed into a tall, lithe body that drew looks even from grown men. All I had acquired was a bad case of acne.
“I think I’ll wear it up”, she had said for the fourth time, running a hand through her shining locks. “Unless you want us both to wear it the same?” She had been unable to reach a decision, and she had asked me to stay over Saturday night.
By Saturday morning, she was dead.
I peeled my frozen fingers from the wheel and shook them, cursing myself for letting my mind wander where it shouldn’t go. If I could be in Jenny’s house without feeling pain, there had to be hope for the rest of Wharton, too. But only if I concentrated on the good times?
Chapter 4
I have no way of knowing how long I stood there, trying to digest the hideous fact that my hand at the wheel might have killed an animal…
I heard rapid footsteps approaching behind me, but didn’t bother to look around. The sound of heavy breathing followed, and a man crouched roughly by my side. “Bear! Oh, God! What the hell were you doing driving through here so fast?” he yelled, evidently at me. “Kids play on this street!”
I didn’t even bother to look at him. Ignoring the frightened hysteria of pet owners had long since become second nature to me, and I responded mechanically while continuing to examine the dog. “I wasn’t driving that fast, it was foggy, and it won’t help to yell at me now. So calm down, please.”
My request was met with silence, and an uncanny feeling crept over me. I raised my head, and we faced each other.
The light cast by my headlamps was dim. But I would have recognized him even in darkness, and the ability seemed mutual.
“Joy,” he whispered.
Most of his face was in shadows, but I could still see his eyes. They were kind, friendly eyes, and the unexpected tenderness I saw in them pierced me with an almost physical shock. No, my mind pleaded. Not you. Not now.
“It is you,” he said softly. His voice was deep and mellow; even more so than it used to be. But the mildness was the same, and the familiar tone vibrated painfully through my brain, threatening to jog loose memories from every corner.
No! My face turned to fire, and my stomach lurched. Keep your distance. I drew in a breath and shuffled roughly away from him, but the heat in my face only intensified… The fear whose resurrection I had dreaded was now in full force, and I hated myself for it. I didn’t know what I was afraid of. I just knew I didn’t want him near me.
I closed my eyes for a moment, and thought of Jenny. My fear turned to anger, and I faced him again, emboldened.
“I’m not going to stay in this street and argue with you, Jeff.” I said icily. “The dog needs to be treated” I hit him; I’ll take care of him. I just need to get him to my clinic. I have everything I’ll need there....
My coldness stung him. Even in shadow, I could sense it. The eyes that had been so unnervingly tender widened briefly, then turned hard. A second, unwelcome jolt shot through me at the transition, but I fought it with resolve. His expression turned bitter then, every bit as determined as mine…
Reviews
"A remarkably well blended romance and mystery, with fascinating shades of the paranormal” Top Pick--Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine
"ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! ...a wonderful novel about friendship, love, guilt and death… Utterly riveting....” Rating: 10/10--Contemporary Romance Writers
"Emotionally gripping, suspenseful and superb...a positively splendid tale from start to finish” Reviewer’s Choice Award--Road to Romance
Author's Biography
Edie Claire is a doctor of veterinary medicine, a scientific/technical writer, a Lamaze childbirth educator, and a happily married mother of three whose goal is to write absorbing, uplifting, realistic, and intelligent fiction that touches readers hearts and minds--without the use of explicit sex or violence.
Visit Edie Claire’s website at http://www.edieclaire.com