Strangers
Author
Mandy M.
Reads
212K
Chapters
37
Two years after a heartbreaking loss changes her life forever, Lynn is still learning how to carry the weight of grief while moving forward. She keeps her heart carefully guarded, convinced that some wounds never fully heal. Then an unexpected stranger enters her world and gently challenges everything she believes about second chances. As new feelings begin to bloom, Lynn finds herself caught between the safety of the past and the possibility of something beautiful ahead. With tender emotions, quiet hope, and a touch of fate, this heartfelt romance explores healing, resilience, and the courage it takes to open your heart again when life offers an unexpected new beginning.
Chapter 1
LYNN
It’s been two years, a hard two years, since my accident. I have a rod in my leg, and I had to learn to walk again. It took me three months, and I was back at work with a cane, but I was there.
At first, I was angry, angry with the world. I didn’t understand why this happened to me. Is happiness something that I don’t deserve?
Max recommended counseling, so I went for a while. At first, it didn’t make me feel better. If anything, it made me feel worse, always talking about it, but then it really started to help. I’m trying to get back to the person I was before, but I think this is the new me.
Nearly every night, I dream of what my baby girl would have been like. Would she look like me? She’d be almost two, walking and talking.
Some nights there’s a man in my dreams as well. I can’t really see his face, but his voice sounds familiar and comforting.
My work family has been wonderful to me during all of this. I don’t know what I would’ve done without them. When my building manager was trying to evict me, they helped. Nic went over his head to the owner. It worked. She understood and moved me to a better building, plus gave me free rent for as long as I live there.
I’m closer to work, and it’s a secure building, not that I had any issues with that before. I’m comfortable with the amount that I have in the bank.
“How are you doing?” Max walks up to me.
Forcing a smile, I say, “I’m good,” though I’m really not. Today is two years. Two years since I lost my baby. Lost everything I loved.
I’ve gotten better. I still lock myself in the storage room and cry after I treat any baby girl.
“Why don’t you take a few days off?”
“I’m off until Wednesday. I’ll be fine.”
“Go away for the five days, recharge.” He hugs me and walks away.
It is a long night, and I am thankful to be home and in my bed. After a nap, I’m up and showered. As much as I would like to spend the entire weekend in bed, I can’t. I pack up an overnight bag and put it in the car, wondering whether I should go away like Max said.
Instead, I spend the rest of the morning at my daughter’s grave. Isabella Grace. The sun is out, and we haven’t had any snow for a week.
I decide to take a drive and clear my head. I end up at the same spot as always, where I crashed.
The bark has grown back on the trees. It makes me happy to know I didn’t kill them. I did enough damage. I walk down the steep embankment, looking around at how much worse it could’ve been.
Another five yards and I would’ve gone over the edge. The tree stopped me.
I decide it’s time to go back home. I don’t, though. I keep driving until I find a little hole-in-the-wall diner that I never knew was here. I park and decide to get something to eat. It’s small but quaint, a nice homey feeling about it.
An elderly woman greets me. “Take a seat, honey. I’ll be right with you.”
Bringing me a cup of coffee, she says, “You look like you could use this.”
“Thank you.”
“What will it be?” She pulls out her pad of paper.
“Meatloaf sounds good.” I glance at the menu.
“Coming right up.”
She returns a short time later with a plate full of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It looks good, more than I could eat, but I find myself finishing my plate.
“Anything else?” asks the woman with a smile.
“No, thank you, I’m fine.”
“Let me know if you change your mind. Our biscuits and gravy are pretty good.”
When she returns to refill my coffee, she also brings me a container and a slice of pie. “On the house, honey,” she says.
I pay my bill, tip, and make a mental note to go back. It is good food.
Before leaving, I finish my cup of coffee. I stare out the window, deciding what I should do. A part of me wants to move away, get a fresh start, and pretend this never happened. I can’t. I can’t leave my family.
I feel like a failure as a person and a mother. I couldn’t keep my baby safe. If I hadn’t been so headstrong, this would’ve never happened.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wish I had never woken up.
I get in the car and drive, but I find myself heading farther away from home. The time blurs by.
I guess I am taking Max’s advice after all. I drive until I find a hotel and check in. It is only a few hours away, but still, it is away.
I don’t think I could ever find a place where I would feel like me again. That headstrong, social, outspoken person I was is gone. In her place is a timid, quiet shell of a woman.
The man at the hotel counter brings me back to the present. “Welcome,” he says with a smile, presenting me with a room key.
“Thank you.” I smile at him. It’s not a full smile though.
He nods, and I go to my room, barely taking in my surroundings. I sit on the bed and stare out the window at the snow, trying not to go down the hole again.
