Life's Too Short: A Novella
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Synopsis
After her husband died, Avery Miller took a year off of teaching to grieve and to be with her son. But now she knows it's time to move out of her parents' house and make a go of living on her own again. Being a single mom isn't something she ever imagined she'd have to do, but life is full of surprises, and this is the least of what's in store for her.
Avery's just starting to get into the rhythm of teaching, parenting, and living in a new area when one day she comes home to find her apartment has been ransacked and she learns that the area she moved to isn't very safe after all. But, on a teacher's salary, it's all she can afford, and she's determined to make it work. Besides, how often do break-ins occur in the same place?
As if her life isn't complicated enough, she meets Dallin Trudell, a handsome young engineer who is friendly and kind and a bit of a tease. While not necessarily flirtatious, Dallin helps Avery feel alive again, and she cautiously starts to think that she might be able to love again. But she misses her late husband so much and she couldn't possibly betray him by falling in love with someone else. Besides, Dallin clearly isn't interested in her, a fact that leaves her feeling relieved and disappointed all at the same time.
One day Dallin hears about the mysterious break-in at her apartment and, intrigued by her downstairs neighbors and their obsession with the burglary, decides to seriously consider what they're saying about the reason for the break-ins. This has Avery re-thinking everything she thought she knew. If easy-going, laid-back Dallin is taking the break-in seriously, then she shouldn't ignore it any longer either. Her neighbors seem to think that the thief didn't randomly target her apartment, but that it was the son of the previous tenant, and that he's looking for drugs.
Her neighbors are convinced that there's more to the story than just drugs, so they arrange to confront the teenage boy who they think is responsible for the break-in, but when they find out he's missing and he's got a target on his back, time becomes something they can't waste.
As Avery and Dallin work with her neighbors to locate the missing teenager, she finds her feelings for Dallin growing stronger, as well as her doubts about loving someone new. She can't possibly bring a new man into her life, or her son's life, but she realizes she may not have a choice once her heart is made up.
And in the midst of it all, they find something much more interesting than drugs tucked away in her apartment. Something a few thieves are willing to kill for.
Release date: March 17, 2022
Publisher: Independently published
Print pages: 128
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