by T. K. Chapin
Finding Love
By:
T.K. Chapin
www.tkchapin.com
Copyright © 2015 T.K. Chapin All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
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Version 2015.05.15
ISBN: 1512209228
ISBN-13: 978-1512209228
Available Books
By T.K. Chapin
(Inspirational Christian Romances)
Love’s Enduring Promise Series
The Perfect Cast (Book 1) FREE
Finding Love (Book 2)
Claire’s Hope (Book 3)
Dylan’s Faith (Book 4)
Embers & Ashes Series
Amongst The Flames
Out of the Ashes
Up in Smoke (Fall 2015)
After the Fire (Winter 2015)
Stand Alones
Love Again
Love Interrupted
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Dedicated to my loving wife.
Table of Contents
Prologue
CHAPTER 1 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 2 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 3 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 4 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 5 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 6 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 7 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 8 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 9 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 10 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 11 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 12 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 13 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 14 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 15 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 16 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 17 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 18 ~ Rebecca
CHAPTER 19 ~ Michael
CHAPTER 20 ~ Rebecca
Epilogue
Sneak Peek
Other Books
Bonus
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Author’s Note
Prologue
Some people spend a lifetime searching for true love. Some never find it, while others are lucky enough to discover it earlier in life. I was one of those people who took a while to find it, and it almost passed me by.
After I turned thirty, and was still a single lady in a city with over a quarter million people, I became increasingly worried I’d never find someone. I would think certain things like, How could a woman be so old and have no children or previous marriage? What’s wrong with me? Then I would wonder what others thought of me. There wasn’t anything wrong with me, well, actually there was a lot wrong with me at the time, but figured out this thing called life.
Life isn’t about finding a knight in shining armor who has a perfect smile, says all the right things, and always makes you happy. Life is about finding someone who can love you for who you are, and you for who they are. It’s about finding someone who can make your day better just by being around.
CHAPTER 1 ~ Rebecca
Staring into the bathroom mirror in her one bedroom apartment, Rebecca was hoping that the date that night would go differently, as she applied her mascara. She held onto the glimmer of the hope of “the one” still being out there for her, even though she knew every year she grew older, it decreased her odds significantly.
Three years ago last month, she and Hank had broken up after a four-year relationship because he needed to focus on his career. Rebecca found that hard to believe, when a week after their split, she saw him with a younger gal and they were out to dinner.
After discovering Hank had moved on, she decided to try her hand again at dating and began signing up for dating websites and meeting all types of interesting men across Spokane. Some were socially awkward; others were still married and going through divorces, and a big percent were only interested in sex.
As she finished her makeup that evening, the doorbell rang. It was her date. Glancing at her phone, she saw he had arrived five minutes early. That was a nice change from some of her past experiences. Most dates either cancelled the date entirely, or ran late.
Shutting off the bathroom light, she grabbed her little black purse and baby blue scarf from her bed before heading out into the main living area of her apartment. Walking up to the door, Rebecca took a deep breath.
Please let this guy be different…
Opening the door, she was pleasantly surprised to find her date actually had a close resemblance to the profile picture on the dating website. Rebecca learned early on that people on those sites were often using profile pictures that were either an entirely different person or some manipulated photo that made them look way better than they actually were. She wasn’t superficial by any means, but she liked it when the person actually looked like their picture. After all, the profile picture is the first thing you learn about a person, so what’s it say when it’s fake or manipulated?
“Rebecca?” her date asked.
“West?” she asked, smiling.
“Oh, thank goodness, I knocked on your neighbor’s door by accident. She was probably about seventy years old and I was a little alarmed thinking it might be you…” West was beet red in the face, and looked to be extremely nervous.
“You don’t date often, do you?” Rebecca asked.
“No. I’m kind of an introvert… And I don’t like talking to people.”
“That makes dating hard.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“Well, I’m ready if you are.” Rebecca smiled as she stepped out and shut the door. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her apartment key and locked up.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
West and Rebecca took the elevator down to the bottom floor of the ten-story apartment complex, and went out to his car that was parked alongside the curb.
Breaking the awkward silence in the car ride, Rebecca asked, “What do you do for a living again?”
“I’m a Pharmacist,” he replied quickly.
That’s a little strange not to say anything else… she thought to herself.
“Well, that’s cool…” Rebecca glanced out her window as they pulled up to the restaurant. She noticed a little boy wandering along the street alone. Jumping out of the car as it stopped, she looked both ways as she ran across the street.
Bending a knee, she inspected the boy and asked, “Where’s your mother or father?”
“I don’t know… They were with me one second and then vanished.” The boy couldn’t have been more than six years of age. Looking around as she stood up, she glanced down the sidewalks in both directions.
Her date, West, came across the street after he parked the car. “What’s going on?”
“He doesn’t know where his parents are,” Rebecca replied, glancing further down the street trying to see if she could spot them.
“I see.” West glanced back across the street at the restaurant, looking eager to get in. “I’m going to go grab our table so we don’t lose our reservation… I’ll see you in there.”
Meeting the eye level of the boy again, she asked, “Where were you guys at last?” The boy pointed up the way towards a corner.
“We were at the park feeding the geese and… Dad!” The boy sprinted across the street and into the arms of his father.
“Where on earth were you?” the father asked, grasping onto him tightly. The mother patted the boy’s back and smiled at Rebecca.
“I don’t know how we lost him. Thank you for talking to him, though.”
“No problem. I’m glad you guys found him. Have a good night.” Rebecca scurried across the street and into the restaurant to find her date. Feeling glad she helped the little boy with finding his parents, she couldn’t help but smile as she searched the restaurant for West.
Taking a seat, she said, “I found his parents.”
“Well, that’s good.”
Rebecca nodded. “It is.”
“I ordered you the Shrimp Moscato. Hope that’s okay.”
“I don’t eat shrimp…”
Sighing heavily West looked for the waitress, “I’m sorry. I just took a stab and hoped it would work out. I don’t have a whole lot of time.”
Suddenly Rebecca felt like this guy was turning into Kent, the guy who had a date lined up right after their date. Who sets up plans after a date? I thought he didn’t get out much? “Did you have something you gotta do?”
“Yes.”
“Please excuse me; I need to use the restroom. When the waitress comes back just order me a chicken Cesar salad.” Standing up from the table, she set her napkin down and headed for the ladies restroom. As she wove between the tables in the restaurant, she saw couples laughing, smiling and enjoying their time together. She longed for a relationship like that and a life where trying to find a guy wasn’t her sole purpose for existence. That part of her life should have been over already, she often wondered if she screwed up along the way and bypassed mister right. She often found herself daydreaming that maybe in another life she would have already had a couple kids, a white picket fence and a dog named Kip.
Pushing open the women’s bathroom door, she immediately noticed there was no escape window. In all the dates she had been on, she’d never been able to find a window to escape through, but tried anyways. “I swear it’s only in movies,” she said, smacking the bathroom sink as she realized if she needed an escape, a bathroom window wouldn’t be an option.
Coming out of a stall, a girl asked, “What?”
Rebecca laughed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was in here… But I was talking about a window in a bathroom. You see people climb out of windows all the time to escape horrible dates in movies…” Stopping as she realized she was explaining her problems to not only a stranger, but to a child. “I shouldn’t be telling you that.”
“Why cause I’m a kid? I’m thirteen! I’m pretty grown up,” the girl said, holding her chin up.
Rebecca laughed. “I’m thirty and still don’t have being a grown up figured out.”
“What’s your name?”
“Rebecca. You?”
“I’m Jessica, but everybody calls me Jess.”
“Nice to meet you Jess.” Rebecca shook her hand.
“You’re a beautiful woman and I’m sure any guy would be lucky to have you.” Jess turned and looked at the bathroom door. “I really got to get going, my parents are probably wondering where I am.”
“Okay,” Rebecca replied, smiling.
Rebecca remembered being thirteen like it was yesterday. She thought boy crushes and pop rocks were the meaning of life at that age. Throughout the years that changed and morphed into this strange thing who felt like her life was waiting to begin until she met the one.
Rebecca returned into the restaurant and ventured back to her table where West was sitting on the phone. Slowly approaching from behind, she figured she’d see what he was talking about.
“I know… I’m having a business meeting right now. I’ll be over shortly afterwards, I miss you too.”
Rebecca wanted to know who he was talking to. Another girl? A booty call? Maybe not, I can’t assume…
“What are you wearing?” West spoke quietly into the phone.
That was the nail in the coffin for the date. Rebecca’s blood began to heat in her veins. How could a man have so little respect and dignity? How could there be so much garbage out there when it came to men? She was upset and outraged at her newly short-lived date.
Walking around the table into his view, she grabbed her purse that hung on her chair and her coat. “I’m leaving.”
Covering the mouthpiece on his phone, he asked, “Why?”
“I heard you talking.” Rebecca put her coat and scarf on and slung her purse over her shoulder as her hands were shaking. She was so upset that he let her down, just like the rest. While she wondered if she would ever find love, she always held onto a glimmer of hope she would find it one day. Each disappointment destroyed her emotionally, but never enough to force her into giving up hope. After all, if she gave up hope, she’d have nothing left. “Goodbye!” She said forcefully turning away from the table and darting for the exit.
Exiting the restaurant, she stopped along the sidewalk and phoned for a cab to pick her up. As she waited, she rubbed her arms to keep her warmth and noticed a cute young couple across the street. He was holding her hand as they looked for traffic before speedily walking across the street. She was smiling and he was laughing. I want that… I want something real.
Breaking her concentration, her phone rang. It was Jonathan, her boss. He and Rebecca had an ongoing thing between them at work for almost two years. It was harmless flirting, but it was always on the line of being something more. He hadn’t made a move yet and Rebecca didn’t feel right doing anything about it either.
“What’s up?”
“I need you to come down to the office. I can’t find the article you wrote on the interview with Macabre.”
Those sweet words I need you repeated in her mind making a smile cross her face. Sure, it was work related, but she felt great just hearing that someone in the world needed her in that moment. Maybe one day someone else would say that to her and it’d mean something more.
“I’ll be there,” she replied.
CHAPTER 2 ~ Rebecca
Arriving at the office, Rebecca found Jonathan to be the only one there in the office. It was already after seven o’clock and a Friday night, so it wasn’t a surprise. Nobody in the office had a work ethic like Jonathan did.
“And where’s Vivian?” Rebecca said as she dropped her purse on his office desk. She stole a glance of his muscular arms as he stood up from behind his desk. He had a wife beater on and black slacks. His blue dress shirt was off and on the couch that sat up against the wall. The lack of clothing could have been to torture her, but it was most likely due to the cleaning crew working on the bottom floor of the office building. They liked to jack up the heater while they worked and it all rose up, heating the rest of the building.
“I had her take off early; she was distracted. She and Lance got in a fight… Anyway… where’s that folder with your article? I didn’t see it in the notes.”
Rebecca smiled at his generosity. That was just the type of guy he was though, he’d help anyone he could, and understood how life sometimes interrupts work.
“Let me take a look,” Rebecca said, coming around the desk to sit down.
“How did the date go?”
While they flirted frequently at work, they also talked. Jonathan and Rebecca shared everything going on in their lives. He had even admitted once before to Rebecca that he felt like he could share everything with her, unlike with his girlfriend Stacy of two years, who worked as a paralegal on a few floors down in the same building.
“It was another dud.” She sighed as she clicked through the folders on the computer.
“What was it this time?” Jonathan asked
as he crossed his arms leaning against his office wall.
“He was talking to another girl on our date…”
Jonathan shook his head. “What is wrong with these men you find?”
“I don’t know…” Rebecca shrugged. “Someday I’ll find my prince charming.”
“Maybe… or end up with a million cats and nobody.”
“Ouch! I sure hope I don’t end up that way…” Rebecca laughed. Locating the file, she began uploading it to the site for publication. “We’re good to go.”
When she stood up from the desk, Jonathan was right there, only a foot away from her. She could feel the energy between them surge through her body, and she wanted to kiss him right there on the spot, but she couldn’t do that to him or his relationship with Stacy. It wasn’t right. Walking by him, she could smell his cologne; it was that same cologne he wore every day since she started two years ago.
Grabbing her coat and purse, she began to leave.
“Rebecca…” Jonathan said with his deep masculine tone.
Was this it? Did he break things off with Stacy and realize I’m the one he wants to be with? She wondered. Fantasizing for a moment, she saw him as he rushed across the room and embraced her with a firm hold.
“I love you my sweet, sweet Rebecca. I broke things off with Stacy, because I know you are the only one for me.”
Then he kissed her passionately. Her fantasy only lasted a moment before Jonathan broke her concentration.
“Your scarf?” he said. Rebecca’s eyes fell on his hand to see her scarf dangling. Disappointment loomed over her head and in her heart as she made her way back over to him. As she approached, she got another whiff of his cologne and couldn’t help herself from leaning in to kiss him.
“Rebecca…” he said, turning his cheek. Her lips fell onto the scruffy side of his face as he rejected her coldly. “I’m with Stacy.”
