Waiting Forever
by
Romance Writers of America®
Golden Heart® Award-winning author
Laurie Kellogg
Waiting Forever
By Laurie Kellogg
Copyright 2012 Laurie Kellogg
This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locations are used only to provide authenticity and are used factiously. All other characters, places, incidents, and dialogue are products of the author’s imagination and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance between the novel’s characters and setting and actual individuals or places is completely coincidental. All inaccuracies or mistakes are the author’s fault and accidental. The author apologizes for any factual discrepancies or typographical errors. If you find any, please contact the author so she can correct them for future copies.
https://www.LaurieKellogg.com
Acknowledgements
Dedicated to the soldiers and their families who’ve sacrificed so much for our country.
I’d like to thank Ron Victor for his help and New Love Stories magazine for allowing me to offer this short story that was first published by New Love Stories magazine in the May/June 2009 issue and will soon also be available for digital download, along with the magazine’s other stories, at https://www.apple.com/itunes/
Waiting Forever
We’re all just a small piece in life’s giant jigsaw puzzle
Kathy Sullivan’s heels clacked against the marble floor, chipping away her last good nerve as she paced the hotel’s lobby. She massaged her jaw to relieve the ache from her constant teeth grinding since that phone call from Vegas.
At the very least, her daughter could’ve waited until Kathy had met Jennifer’s newest heartthrob before she ran off and did something as reckless as marrying him.
The tantalizing aroma of charbroiled steaks wafted from the nearby restaurant, making Kathy’s stomach rumble louder than a commuter train. Apparently the frustration with her younger child had restored the appetite she’d lacked since Kevin was killed ten interminable months ago.
It wasn’t the first time she’d lost a man she loved, so by rights, she should be a pro at the grieving process. Except, for some inexplicable reason, this time she’d stalled in the anger stage. Probably because she felt, in all fairness, it should be someone else’s turn to have her heart broken.
She blew out an exasperated breath at the imaginary dark cloud that insisted on hovering over her and checked her watch for the umpteenth time. What could have possessed her normally levelheaded daughter to marry a man after dating him only a few months? Acting so impulsively was more her older daughter Ashley’s style.
A likely answer took root in the back of Kathy’s mind and a wave of nausea swept over her. Oh, good Lord—not that.
Despite how well everything had worked out for her in the end, she didn’t want her daughters repeating her mistake. So during her girls’ high school years, Kathy had made herself hoarse lecturing them about safe sex and birth control.
On hearing her cell phone’s perky chime, she checked the caller ID and heaved a sigh of relief at seeing Jen’s name. Kathy cupped a hand over her free ear to block out the haunting strains of the piano in the adjacent bar. “Where on earth are you? You were supposed to be at the hotel over half an hour ago.”
“Sorry, Mom. Our plane got in late. And you know what rush-hour is like in Philly.”
Bad excuse. If her daughter thought about it for two seconds, she’d realize her neurotic mother would’ve checked to make sure her baby’s plane had landed safely and would know it had actually arrived ten minutes early. Kathy could call her daughter on her whopper, but she didn’t really want to know what Jennifer and her can’t-wait-a-second-longer groom had been doing rather than driving to meet her.
“Listen,” Jen continued, “Zach’s dad is coming from New Jersey to join us for dinner, so he’s meeting us in the lobby, too. His cell number keeps going to voicemail, so would you mind tracking him down and explain we’ll be a little late?”
“Sure. What’s he look like?”
“Picture Zach in his mid-fifties. Oh, wait.” Jenny chuckled. “I just remembered, you don’t have a clue what he looks like, either, do you?”
Heck, Kathy didn’t even know her daughter’s new last name yet—assuming she was changing it.
“Zach says his dad’s about six-foot, medium build, dark hair with a little gray in it. Get a table. We’ll see you in twenty.”
“What’s his na—” The line clicked in her ear. “Darn it.” The girl was always in such a doggone hurry.
Waiting Forever Page 1
