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Chapter 3: The bookstore out in the country

  Much of her business was done online, but it wasn’t unusual for a customer to come in person. They were between small towns, and only 30 minutes from the nearest city. Her internet business had been able to survive covid, and after it was done there had been a brief resurgence of in-person customers. People were desperate to return to normal and to support their local businesses. Things had stabilized a little later. She still did just fine. People liked coming to small businesses when they needed a break from the city. The bookstore was along the scenic route to many rural attractions.                 There was also the fact that Christian bookstores were becoming scarce. Hers was not strictly a Christian bookstore…but she had one of the only bookstores with a sizeable section of Christian books. And she may or may not have described it as being a Christian bookstore in various social media marketing sc...
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Chapter 2: the church in the next town over

  Returning to real life after each escape to the city became more and more of an adjustment as time went on. Church life was particularly painful.                 Around the time of Thomas’ death, the belief system had gone from a slow unraveling to a complete disintegration. She had done absolutely everything right, and yet, somehow, inexplicably, God had not spared her from this fate. She had been finally free – and had finally had hope for a new future – but God had other plans.                 So did Peter and Mark.                 She was stuck with them and that meant she was stuck with church, too. There was no escape. Except a few nights a week when she got to live a different life, where no one knew her or her family. But she always had to come ...
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Chapter 1: The Bar on the Edge of the City

  There wasn’t much to her first visit to the bar on the edge of the city. A few hundred miles away from home, it was a perfect escape. They had suitable red wine. The company was fine – mostly middle-aged people who made small talk pleasantly and didn’t ask too many questions.                 She paid with cash.                 By the third time she visited the bar, the bartender knew her drink before she asked for it. She was honored to be remembered, even if the whole point was to be forgotten. The bartender was attractive enough – tall, broad shoulders, short hair – that it felt validating to know she had been noticed.                 The fourth time she visited the bar, she arrived as he was closing. She met him at the door as he was turning off the ...
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Prologue

Rather than getting right back onto the freeway after stopping for gas in a small town he’d never been to, the man in the pickup had decided to continue along on the back roads for a while. He was in no rush. He could let Google Maps navigate him back home from anywhere. He was starting to get hungry and would rather patronize a small business than a chain off the highway. So he thought sticking to back roads, he might come across a diner somewhere and give them his money.                 It was starting to get dark by the time he came to the bookstore. It was strange. It looked like maybe there used to be a gas station out front. Now there was a 2-level house with a sign marking it as a bookstore. Looking at it, the man in the pickup figured that the owners lived upstairs and ran the business downstairs. But there was also a barn. He wondered what their story was.        ...
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