Timeless Sojourn

Timeless Sojourn

by

Jamie Salisbury

Timeless Sojourn is purely fiction and based upon imagination, not fact or actual experience. Characters, locations are either products of the author's imagination.

Copyright @ 2012 by Jamie Salisbury

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. Without reserving the rights under copyright, reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Editing:

Nicolette Warisse Sosulski

Chapter One

Okay, marriage has never been my strong suit in life. Heaven knows I would give anything to have found Mr. Right, as so many of my friends and family have. I just have to face up to the unfortunate fact that I suck at choosing men! No not really.

Once again, what I had believed was my ideal life has been shattered and taken from me--material things as well as emotional--all gone.

This was not how I envisioned life in my mid-fifties: living alone in a rural town in north Georgia. My-almost- fifteen year marriage to Benjamin had provided me with stability and a lifestyle I enjoyed--and assumed would always be there. Granted, Benjamin was my total opposite in many ways. Sort of a white-collar-gal-marries-blue-collar- guy type situation.

Grieving is as much a part of divorce as it is when a spouse dies. I was working through this painful phase even before the divorce was finalized. Benjamin had made it quite clear, both in court and out, that he was not going down without a fight.

I met my attorney outside the courtroom early that July morning for what was supposed to be the final time.

Benjamin and his attorney are inside. I thought it would be better if we didn't go in until the judge arrives, William Barker, my savior of an attorney, suggested.

That's fine with me. So what happens this morning? I asked, feeling the humidity of the sunny July day despite the air conditioning the courthouse offered.

The judge will make his decision and your soon-to-be- ex will have to live with it.

Of course he wouldn't. The judge, having looked at financials provided to him by both parties, had divided the time I had asked to receive alimony in half. The amount the judge chose was almost what I had asked for, and what I knew I could live with. Benjamin sat quietly, not liking at all what was expected from him.

The house and land were more than I could manage with some physical issues I was having and the judge agreed to allow Benjamin to live in the house until it sold, on the condition he make the payments.

By the end of the hearing, I thought I had come out of this marriage fairly well. The fate of the house and the matter of alimony had been decided--or so I thought--and the business Benjamin and I had started would be a source of future income. And, to put a feather in my cap, a way of showing my independence, I had taken back my maiden name.

I was met outside the courtroom by one of my oldest girlfriends who had flown in from Seattle to lend me moral support. Kat Brown hadn't changed much after all these years, still tall and statuesque. I imagined she probably didn't weigh much more than when we were in high school. The most notable change was her ginger colored hair which was now peppered with gray, and which she still wore long. We hugged and I introduced her to my attorney as he and I said our goodbyes. Later I would learn that this wouldn't be the last meeting my attorney and I would have.

As Kat and I walked slowly toward the exit, Benjamin brushed right by us, never slowing down or giving a second glance.

What's his problem? Kat asked, half laughing at the sight of a man in a huff, who did not get his way.

Reality, Kat. He honestly thought he would walk away from our marriage completely free and clear, leaving me in the dirt with nothing.

So you're going to be okay?

If he adheres to the judge's orders I will be. I should be able to manage fine on just alimony until I can find a full time job. Then maybe I can start to put some aside.

Well, come on then. We need to celebrate! she exclaimed.

******

Here I was six months later in a small, but new apartment instead of my house. Benjamin's addiction to methamphetamines was no longer a secret. It had taken over his life, though of course, he denied being addicted. Angry over the judge's decisions, Benjamin spitefully let the house go into foreclosure. And the business? Well, he shut it down without a moment's notice, leaving everyone in the lurch. Nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face. My alimony? Sporadic at best; he was constantly trying to get me to re-negotiate the amount.

I should have seized my freedom and moved away, out of this small county and away from him.

Putting my coffee mug down on the kitchen counter I told myself, I think I need to take a walk this morning. It's too beautiful to stay inside.

It was only eight fifteen, but the sun was already up and shining brightly. I walked along the nature trail that ran behind and around the apartment complex until I knew my foot would protest any further activity. In the past two years I had already endured four surgeries on my left foot. The first started out with just my big toe being amputated due to an infection. The most recent had resulted in the amputation of the remaining toes; something that should have been done the first time around. I was diabetic – barely – I had kept it controlled by diet alone so far.

Once at the backdoor, I sat down in one of the swivel chairs on my little patio. Looking around at the trees and other vegetation it was obvious by the dying foliage that the area was in the midst of a drought. The landscape almost reminded me of fall. But it wasn't. We still had a few months to go before the leaves started falling for real.

No one was around. Most everyone had already left for work. Finding a job was becoming increasingly more difficult as time went on. Not that I don't have great job skills and not because this section of the state is weak. No it had become apparent that the nation was falling into a recession. Hearing the phone ring I went inside to take the call.

Good morning! It was Kat. Her early morning cheerfulness disgusts me. How can anyone be that happy as soon as they wake up?

God Kat how can you be so cheery, so early in the day? I have to at least get a cup of coffee in me first.

Kat and I have known each other since grade school where we were joined at the hip. So much so her mother called us the Gold Dust twins. We had shared an apartment together after college. We've been--and still are--best friends. She's one of the few people who has always been there for me.

So what are you up to? I heard her ask.

Same old, same old, Kat--looking for a job, trying to stay sane, I replied. Staying sane is the hard part. How can anyone stay sane when your life has been jerked out from under you.

Look I know things have been rough for you but you need to put some sort of plan together, Anne. You can't turn inward on yourself and shut the rest of the world out.

And just what would Ms. 'I have a perfect life' suggest I do? I feel the anger begin to boil inside me. I can't seem to find a job. I retrained to accommodate all these physical issues I'm having to deal with and STILL no job. The bastard's barely paying me alimony and I've gone through my personal savings. Never in my entire adult life have I ever had to go through the crap I'm going through now.

Where is my friend Anne? The one who could do anything? You need to do something to bring her back.

She's been beaten up. I'm angry. This is NOT the way I envisioned how life would be at this stage of my life. Life sucks Kat.

Kat was alone since her husband Bill had died suddenly of a heart attack five years ago. She was left with no husband, no children, no nothing. She shocked everyone when she sold their house in the D.C. area and moved back to Seattle. She purchased a smaller home, started a successful catering business and had healed herself. She had enough confidence for two women, something I used to possess, and had become a shrewd businesswoman.

So swallow your pride and get over it. Turn lemons into lemonade.

A lot easier said than done. You may think I'm lost in a pity party, but if I don't morn my losses, who will?

Well you need to get over it. You can't allow the bastard to win and take you down his hellhole. Sometimes, Anne, you don't know the one who's closest to you.

Yeah, you're right on as usual, Kat.

You know that fifty is the new thirty these days, or so they say. Perhaps you should focus on what you want to do with your life. You have the rest of it right in front of you.

When I hung up the phone I realized that, as usual Kat was right. I needed to figure out what I was going to do.

Chapter Two

Sitting outside soaking up the last of the warm afternoon sun, I felt some tranquility. Where it was coming from I had not a clue. My life seemed to be in limbo but for now at least I was okay with that.

Kat had convinced me to fly out to visit her for a long weekend, her treat, to get my mind off of all the BS in my life.

I