Playing My Love

          Playing My Love

             Angela Peach

                       AUTHOR’S NOTE

ALTERNATE ENDINGS

When I first started writing this novel, I had the ending all planned out.  However, as I approached the final few
chapters, something happened in my life that changed the way I felt about my original script.  I suddenly realised that a happy ending for one person is quite possibly a sad ending for someone else.  So I wrote another!  Unable to choose which of the two I most wanted to put in, I made the decision to include them both-that way, it’s down to YOU as the reader to choose which ending you prefer!  Personally, I blame this indecision on my being a very typical Piscean, but I also think it makes it a little more interesting for you!

Enjoy!

                                            
Acknowledgements

Spotting the great teachers in life is hard, but not as hard as hearing what they have to say and learning from it.  I want to say a big thank you to everyone
who has come into my life, because one way or another you have all made an impact on me and who I am.  A few are still in my life.  A lot aren’t.  But you will always be in my heart, and I want you to know that I remember you with love.  Maybe one day we will meet again?  I sincerely hope so.

          
     Chapters

1 Perfect

2 Faith

3 Rescued…Again (S
ort Of!)

4 Voice Of An Angel

5 Past And Present, Old And New

6 Free Therapy

7 Cowboys And Indians

8
Where The City Meets The Country

9 Barn-be-
que

10 Lessons In Love

11 Stupid Questions

12 One Very Good Reason

13 And All That Jazz

14
Sky-sharing

15 Walking
Confused

16 Darcy

17 The Ugly Truth

18
In Recovery

19 Sam Kind Of Wonderful

20 Back To Where It All Began

21 Alternate ending 1

22 Alternate Ending 2

23 A Happy Ending

Playing My Love

                                          Angela Peach

                              
Copyright 2013 Angela Peach

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof, in any form whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

  Thank you.

                                        
      1

                                           Perfect

  I looked around the cottage disdainfully.  It was perfect in every way.  The little garden with the shed at the bottom was perfect.  The rustic old (and extremely dilapidated) barn filled with hay was also perfect.  The spacious lounge with French windows, laminated floor and large open fireplace was simply beautiful.
  The fully equipped country kitchen and large bedrooms were what I'd always dreamed of, and the bathroom that held the luxurious power shower and deep bath tub looked just heavenly.

  It was all…perfect.

  The perfect place to die.

  Oh, we'd both '
ooh'ed and 'ah'ed when we'd come to view it, but the thought was there for sure.  I mean it was
always
there, lurking at the back of both our minds somewhere.

 
Less than a year left to live.

  I brushed it aside with a shudder.  Right now I needed to make the place as comfortable as
possible.  No, not comfortable.  That sounded too much like something the doctors at the hospital would say.  Homely.  Yes, that was better.

  "Honey, whe
re do you want this plant?"  Gray asked from the doorway, a tall red plant in his arms.

  "Uh, I'm not sure yet.  Maybe just put him by the window."

  "Him?"

  "Yeah.  He's Big Red."

  "Hmm.  I won't ask what you called the cactus that's shaped like a penis"  he smirked as he placed Red in position.

  "He's called
Dickie."

  Gra
y burst out laughing.

  "For real?"

  I nodded, unable to stop myself from smiling.

  "Okay then,
Dickie it is!"  He came over to me and pulled me into a hug.  "God, this place is perfect."

  Perfect?  PERFECT?  No, goddammit,
it is NOT perfect!

  "Mm."

  "Fancy a cuppa?"

  I widened my smile, feeling like I must surely be bordering on looking crazy.

  "Sure!  I'd love one!"

  "Great!  I'll go and put the kettle on, and you sit down and put your feet up."

  As he left the room, I obediently sat on the sofa and stared out of the window at the

  (perfect)

view.  I could understand why he was trying to put a brave face on things.  Actually, that was a big fat lie.  I couldn't understand anything about what was happening to him, and I especially couldn't understand how he could still be so upbeat and chipper.  But I guess I understood his reasons for not letting it get to him.  It was just that, for me, I was only playing the dutiful supportive wife.  On the outside I was as normal as ever.  I laughed at his jokes, I enthused over our meals, I showed interest in conversations and days out together.

  But.  On the
inside I was calmly separating myself from him.  Trying to remove him from my heart had proved too hard and I just couldn't do it.  I figured out that I had to stop connecting with him on an emotional level in order to stop the pain destroying me when he…died.  I forced myself to acknowledge that he
was
going to die.

 
(It's funny.  If someone had told me now that I'd find so much happiness and laughter and, yes even fun, with the
very
perfect Miss Darcy Hennessey, I would have probably slapped them into next week.  But that was just how Darcy was.  She had this charming, attractive energy that was almost addictive to me.  She wasn't just the rainbow on a rainy day, she was the sunshine that made the rainbow!  She had this comfortable way about her that made me smile before I even realised I wasn't frowning anymore.)

  But I'm getting way ahead of myself here.  I still
had a couple more weeks of misery before I would stumble across her.