Healing Hearts: A Second Chance, Small Town Romance Novel

Chapter 1

Sage

"Fill her up." I tell the attendant at the gas station. It's been a long drive from Michigan and I'm beat. What I need to do is find a place to stay for the night and get some shut eye. Only, I'm hell bent on making the drive to Willowbrook, nestled amongst the mountains of Virginia. It's a twelve hour drive and I've been on the road for nearly eight of those. Don't misunderstand, it's only the long drive I want to get out of the way. Not actually be back in my hometown, there was a reason I left it. It's small not like Michigan.

"Sure thing ma'am. Anything else you need?" He asks with his wide smile, rugged face and sticky up ginger hair. A very different sort of man to those I'm used to seeing in Michigan. The place I thought was the hub of my life, where I belonged, the place I thought I'd end up dying. Only that wasn't to be.

I wipe the sweat off my forehead with my right hand. "Sure is hot today." He continues. He's got that right. It's sweltering, I don't even want to gauge what the temperature is today. Suffice to say that having to leave Michigan for a twelve hour road trip to my old hometown of Willowbrook, which wasn't on my life agenda; has come at the wrong time of year. Who enjoys driving in these conditions even with the a.c. on. Summer sucks here, it's too hot to move.

"I'm good." I tell him.

"As you say ma'am." He finishes filling my blue Audi up and places the pump back in its holder. I follow him into the small garage where there is an array of sweets and chocolates greeting me on the first aisle, to the left are some road maps. Crikey, I've not seen a roadmap since forever. I think back to when. Ah that's right. When I was a child. My folks used to take us on long road trips all the time and dad loved to plot his route on the map days in advance.

That makes me smile and takes me back. We used to love our road trips. My sister, Ali short for Alison and I used to make up all sorts of games in the back of the car to idle away the time. One of my favourites was counting the number of cars in a certain colour. I'd always win because, Ali being a couple of years younger than me would get bored very easily and want to move on to the usual I spy.

"That'll be sixty-five dollars ma'am." Says Bob whose name I can now see on his name badge firmly fixed to his yellow shirt with the company logo on it.

"Thanks, Bob." I take my card out of my purse and hold it over the card reader.

"Now you have a good day ma'am and drive safe." He beams at me. I could pinch his cheeks, he's adorable. All ruddy faced and at least sixty years of age. I bet he has a Mrs Bob at home who bakes him cherry pie on a weekly basis and ensures her husband never goes without his hot pot or roast on a Sunday.

That pulls at my heart and all of a sudden, I feel a sense of longing, emptiness and engulfing loneliness. Only, this was the life I thought I was going to be having back in Michigan.

Dragging my feet, not something I usually do only I'm not in a rush to get back to Willowbrook, it's a case of necessity more than anything else. I get to my car, open the driver's side and scoot into my seat. Hook my seatbelt on, turn over the engine and start to ease the car out of the garage.

I contemplate whether to drive the next four hours or to find a place to stay in West Virginia. Stopping in Columbus had been an option but to be honest, I wanted to give myself a lot more distance between what I had called home and where I'm heading.

Life can really suck sometimes, and today it sucks a whole lot and then some.

Some love song is playing on the radio. That's the last thing I want to listen to. Some mushy clap trap that only saddens me more. Instead I press the button on my steering wheel, the one that controls the radio and search desperately for a different channel. There's a talk show, some heavy rock, country music and a gospel channel. Country is definitely out, that's all about heartache, sorrow or falling love with your childhood sweetheart.

Well love has let me down in a big way. Let's say that again. Love. Has. Let. Me. Down. That and Miles. Yes, Miles. Let me tell you a bit about him. As much as I want to hate him I can't. He stole my heart ten years ago when I moved to Michigan at the age of twenty-five. I'd just graduated from med school and done my internship and was assigned my first placement in Michigan State hospital. Was that a big deal? You want to bet it was. A huge big deal. Especially since I was still so young, but I was an outstanding student and worked hard to succeed.

Being a doctor is all I wanted to do from the young age of five. My favourite game to play with Ali was doctors and nurses. My parents even bought me the whole white coat, stethoscope, watch. You get the picture. Ali bless her had to be the patient. Always. She would have bandages around her arms, slings with the pretence she had a broken arm. I tried to make a cast once but the less said about that the better.

I digress. I was talking about Miles. My heart lurches, it feels as if it is about to drive its way out of my mouth. My stomach gnarls, I'm in physical pain. It hurts so damn much that tears begin to roll down my face.

Instead of taking in the scenery around me, the trees ranging from firs and pines to oaks I'm driving along almost ugly crying with a snotty nose. And I don't have any tissues. Who has a break up and doesn't have tissues on them? Me that's who.

Instead I use the back of my right hand to wipe them away and sniff loudly for all the gunk that is dribbling from my nose. We've all done that ugly crying thing, right?

On my first day at Michigan State I was so nervous that I'd forget everything I'd been taught. My stomach was in knots, my hands were sweaty and I wanted to run back out the sliding glass doors. Only I couldn't. Saving lives, making people feel better, putting them on the track of health and happiness, that was all I wanted to do. So there I found myself with first day jitters standing in the reception area of ward 9 waiting for someone to come and take me under their wing.

And who was that? You've got it. Miles. I swear the first time I set eyes on him I almost swooned. You see he's tall, sandy coloured hair and pale blue eyes. If I had to compare him to someone, I'd go for an early Robert Redford kind of look.

"Hey, you must be Sage." He extended his hand. I noticed the long fingers as they made contact with mine as we shook hands and felt an electric shock right though my arm into my chest. I knew then that I was going to be in trouble.