AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At A Dreamwalkers Mercy
CHAPTER1
MELANIE
She really needed another bag.
Looking down at the remaining pile of notebooks, containers from lunch, and her coat that she still needed to manage to stuff in, she was second guessing her choice of picking one of her smaller purses this morning.
It never ceased to surprise her how much stuff she ended up going home with at the end of the day.
Or maybe it was that it was unorganized. Whereas her job was keeping the office in order and running smoothly, she never seemed to be able to do it for herself and her own stuff.
It didn’t really matter, she guessed.
Nothing really mattered lately.
Her stomach churned as her thoughts turned dark.
She had been fighting her tears and thoughts all day.
Four Years.
That was how long she and James had been married.
The number didn’t seem real, though, because over the last four years that he had been deployed, they had spent less than six months together.
Six months.
Four years of high school together, practically attached at the hip, and then when they got married and were supposed to be starting a life together, they got six months.
For four years she had been carrying this and this year she figured that it just might break her.
This year brought a new worry.
With one more glance around the office where she worked, she grabbed her bag and what she could hold in her hands. The rest would have to wait till tomorrow.
After locking the door, she threw everything in the front seat of her truck. Granted, it wasn’t actually her truck. As she climbed inside, she had to use the side railing to help her up, and immediately turned on the heater.
When James had left for deployment, he had demanded that she drive his truck. Saying that her little car wasn’t safe to be driving in the mountains. They both knew he was talking out of his ass, though, since her car was less than two years old, and her Pop had gone with her to buy it. But he had seemed desperate, and she hated to admit it, but she did feel closer to him when she was driving it.
Especially when it had been months since she had even talked to him.
She rubbed at her chest where the ever-present ache shot through her and reminded herself to breathe. Wearily, she looked down the main street of the little town, Savage Valley, that she lived in, and wondered if she should splurge for a takeout from Tracey’s Diner.
It would be the second time this week, so she probably shouldn’t, but cooking had no appeal when it was just for her. And at the moment, a microwave meal was sounding even less appealing.
Not to mention that her father owned the only grocery store within an hour’s distance. If she showed up there to try and find something for dinner, it would be nonstop questions.
She just couldn’t deal with that today.
Her phone rang, and she blindly reached for it. “Hello?”
“Hey, sweetheart.” She clenched her eyes shut.
“Hey, Dad.” Just the sound of her dad’s voices often made everything better, but today was not an average day.
“You doing okay?” Why did people ask her that when they knew she was far from okay.
