The Lost Days (Prairie Town Book 3)
The Lost Days
Prairie Town book 3
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By T.E. Ridener
Author’s Note
These stories are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
Cover by Double J Book Graphics
Editing by Lindsay Errington, LTE Editing
©Copyright T.E. Ridener, 2015
Acknowledgements
As always, I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.
My Double J’s - you’re the reason my heart beats. I love you so much.
To my street team and fans – I couldn’t do this without each and every single one of you. Thank you for believing in me and for loving my stories.
To the beta readers of this story – you do realize this book wouldn’t have been finished without you, right? For every ‘is the next chapter written?’ and ‘I can’t wait to read what happens next!’ I just want to say thank you. This one reached the end because of
you
.
This book is dedicated to
Alisha Webster
As you return to Prairie Town, I hope you will keep an open mind and an open heart. Remember that on the inside we are all exactly the same.
No matter your reason for reading this story, I hope you know how wonderful and special you are as an individual. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.
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Trans Lifeline: (877) 565-8860 (USA)
(877) 330-6366 (Canada)
Welcome back!
K
elly
“Mommy?”
The quiet whisper of her son stirred her from sleep, which was easy to do because she had ‘Super Mom’ hearing. Even in the deadest of sleeps, she would awake by the faintest whimper or smallest cough.
Sitting up in her bed and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Kelly gazed through the darkness of her room, searching for her little boy.
“What is it, Justin? What’s wrong?”
“It’s storming outside. Can I sleep with you tonight?”
She felt the weight of his little body bounce against the mattress and she immediately pulled down the blankets, patting the mattress with a tired smile.
“Come on up here, baby.”
As his warm little body snuggled against hers, she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, listening as thunder rumbled gently in the distance; another night, another storm. It seemed like it had been storming more often than not in the tiny town of Prairie Town. She couldn’t even remember the last time they’d had a pretty day.
So much for summer.
She thought, pressing a kiss to the top of Justin’s head.
“Mommy?” He asked long after she’d snuggled beneath the blankets and finally felt herself drifting off again. “Mommy, are you awake?”
“Barely, Justin,” she mumbled groggily, burying her face into the pillow. “What is it?”
“Do you think Daddy is helping make it rain right now?”
Her eyes snapped open and instantly filled with tears. Patrick had been gone for three years. Her heart had tried to mend many times for the sake of her children, but every time Justin asked such questions, and out of the blue, it felt like her heart was ripped open all over again.
“Maybe,” she finally replied. It was hard to keep her voice steady. “Your father loved the rain.”
“I know he did. I do, too.” Justin was matter-of-fact, in his response. His cold little feet touched the back of her legs and she winced inwardly. “I just don’t like that dagone thunder, Mommy. I bet it scares Jamie.”
“Jamie sleeps like the dead.” She laughed. “Just go to sleep, sweetheart. We’ve got to get up early in the morning. Mommy has work.”
“Aw, man. Do you have to go?” He groaned.
“Of course, I have to go. You want to go to camp this summer, don’t you?”
And you want the electric to stay on, right?
She wanted to add, but it wasn’t right to make a child worry about utilities or grown-up things. They had been at their lowest point only two years prior and by God, she’d never put her family through that again.
Had it not been for the kindness of her friends two Christmases beforehand, they would have been on the streets by now; her children would have been taken from her. Even though Justin hated the fact she had a job and he had to have a babysitter, Kelly wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Duh!” He bounced up and down on the bed excitedly and then flopped down across her stomach. “I want to be a ninja when I grow up.”
“I know you do, dear.” She smiled sadly, stroking his hair. “But even ninjas have to go to sleep.”
“Ugh. Fine.” He crawled back up beside her and nestled against the pillow his father had fallen asleep on every night. “Night, Mommy. Sweet dreams.”
“Sweet dreams, precious.” She kissed his forehead again and finally drifted off.
However, she didn’t sleep as well as she’d hoped. Jamie, her beautiful 2-year-old daughter, was awake by 5AM for whatever reason, and Kelly had to drag herself out of bed and into her little girl’s bedroom.
“What’s the matter, sweet little dumpling?” She asked, and covered her mouth with her hand to suppress a yawn. “Are you hungry?”
Jamie, looking more and more like her father with each passing day, stood in her crib with big alligator tears rolling down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Kelly hurried to her crib and scooped her into her arms. Pressing kisses against her wet cheeks, she examined her, checking for whatever could have caused her daughter’s discomfort. “Are you teething again, sweetie?”
“Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom,” Jamie jabbered as her hands grabbed for Kelly’s long hair, grasping the locks and pulling. “Mom, Mom!”
“Ow—hey, I’m right here. No need to do that, sweetheart.” She moved to the rocking chair and placed Jamie on her lap, rocking back and forth in an effort to soothe her. “Open your mouth and let Mommy see?”
“No, no.” Jamie shook her head furiously, tears still falling. “Mom, Mom.”
And that’s how her morning began. With a still fussy Jamie practically glued to her hip, Kelly struggled to get everything together to start their day. Justin and Jamie’s babysitter would arrive by 6:30; she’d be leaving for work.
It was total chaos, as per usual, but she was hesitant about saying goodbye to her children because she hated the thought of leaving them when Jamie felt so bad.
“I’m sure it’s molars growing in or something.” Mrs. Harrington assured her with a wrinkly smile. “Go on to work now, and if anything happens, I’ll be sure to call you.”
So she did.
She pulled into her designated parking spot by 7 on the dot and was inside the building just in time to greet her boss before he departed for one of his many, many meetings.
“Good morning, Mr. Reynolds. How are you today?”
“I’m fine, Kelly. How are you?” He asked with a smile. Mr. Reynolds was a very nice man and Kelly was grateful she worked for him. She had only had a handful of jobs in her life, but this was by far the best one.
She had really gotten lucky that Christmas Eve night two years ago, meeting her childhood friend’s future father-in-law. Mr. Reynolds had mentioned he would be opening a new business in Prairie Town and he’d promised her she would be the first person he hired on.
He’d truly meant it, and now, here she was, playing secretary to a classy gentleman who had no intention of hitting on her.
It was an ideal arrangement.
Reynolds’ Renovation was a really incredible business to be a part of, too. Mr. Reynolds visited numerous people every day, near and far, and heard their cases on why they needed help renovating their homes.
Some of the people who contacted them for help were truly in need, but they did get the occasional call from people who were simply looking for a hand out. Mr. Reynolds had trained her how to tell the difference.
“Who are you visiting today, Mr. R.?” She asked as she seated herself at her desk.
“I’m flying to Alabama to meet with a recently widowed father of two. He’s got a leak in his roof and it’s done some significant damage to his bathroom and kitchen. It should be a pretty simple fix, I think.”
“I really feel for him.” She nodded, glancing at a picture of Jamie and Justin near her computer monitor. Smiling a little, she glanced back at him and nodded. “Good luck and safe travels, Sir.”
“Thank you kindly, Kelly. I’ll see you in a while then. Keep up the good work, young lady.”
She snorted as he walked away and rolled her eyes.
Young? Was he kidding? She was only four years away from turning 30 and she already had three gray hairs. She’d nearly died the first time she saw them, but she supposed it was inevitable with the amount of stress she’d been under since her husband’s death.
Losing Patrick was the single most agonizing thing she’d been through.
If it weren’t for her children, she would have opted to eat a bullet a long time ago, and that was a terrifying thought.
But she pushed forward for them, for herself, and also for her friends.
Her phone started ringing a few minutes after ten and she glanced at the screen in a panic. What if it was Mrs. Harrington calling about Jamie? Oh, her poor girl...
A sigh of relief escaped her when she saw that it was her friend Lydia, Mr. Reynolds’ daughter-in-law, calling.
“Lydia.” She smiled and pressed the phone to her ear. “Hey, you. What’s up?”
“Oh, not much.” Lydia didn’t sound too convincing. “I’ve just got...some news.”
“Well, you don’t sound very happy about said news—what’s wrong?”
“I can’t really talk about it right now. I mean, you’re at work, right?”
“I am, but it’s a slow day. You can talk to me, Lydia. I’m always here to listen.”
Though she hadn’t mentioned it yet, she knew exactly who Lydia had once been in her life—a boy. Lydia was a transgender woman and that didn’t bother Kelly at all. She accepted her friend for who she was, but she didn’t want to frighten her by telling her she knew the truth. If Lydia wanted her to know, she’d tell her. Until then, Kelly would continue to act clueless.
Jonathan, Jeb, and Laney McIntosh were dear friends of hers. They had been so close when they were little, but things changed when Johnny moved away. No one heard from him again, and while Kelly missed her friend greatly, she could only pray for his safety and that peace would find him.
She prayed a lot. She prayed all the time. Was God listening? Who knew? But she still prayed without fail. Sometimes she talked to him while driving to work and sometimes she sobbed to him when things became too much, but she
always
prayed.
It seemed that Lydia would need some prayers as well when she began to cry.
“Lydia, why are you crying? What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m f-fine. Really, I am. It’s just...Oh, God. It’s bad news. I don’t know how to tell you this. I don’t know how to tell
anyone
about this.”
“About what?” Kelly leaned forward in her chair and rested an elbow against the counter, gnawing on her bottom lip. She was really worried about Lydia. What happened to make her friend so upset?
“Callum. He...”
“He, what?” Her heart dropped into her stomach like an anvil and she felt sick. Surely to God nothing bad had happened to Callum. Flashbacks from the night of Patrick’s death slammed into her as she tightened her grip on the phone.
“Kelly, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.” Sheriff Ellis said as he removed his hat and bowed his head. “Patrick’s been in an accident, honey. He didn’t make it.”
“Oh, God.” She whispered and squeezed her eyes shut. What if Callum was dead? What if Lydia had to go through everything she’d gone through? It wasn’t fair! Lydia had only been married to Callum for a little over a year. Oh, how cruel...
“He has a child.”
Her eyes flew open and her tears disappeared. “W...what?”