Authors: Ann Vaughn

Finding Home

Ann Vaughn

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or
persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Text copyright @2013 Ann Vaughn

Cover art by Carey Abbott

Ebookcoverdesignsbycarey.com

For Shilpa, again, for all your hard work as my
Editor-in-Chief. I wouldn’t be here if not for your steadfast support and
belief in me. I’m so proud of you for going back to teaching after an
eleven year absence. Your students don’t know how lucky they are!!!!

For the sisters, Kym and Rochele: thanks to you both
for all your support and feedback! I believe the feedback I got from you
both made this a better, stronger book. Thanks for everything!!!!

For my outstanding Betas: Tess, Julie, Julie, Denise,
Denise and Abbey. Thanks so much for your quick reading and invaluable
feedback! Y’all rock!!!!

For Chelsea at Amazeball’s Book Blog and Christine at
Feed My Reads USA…you two ladies have worked harder than anyone to help me
promote my debut book Long Way Home. I want you to know that it is deeply
appreciated and will never be forgotten

And finally, to my wonderful husband…thank you for all
you do for us everyday. I love you more than you’ll ever really know!

Also available by Ann Vaughn:

Long Way Home

Table of Contents

Part
One

Chapter One

It had been one of those days already, and it was
only lunchtime. Colt had a splitting headache, a major hassle with a
security system he was designing and a few big life decisions to make in front
of him and he really didn’t want to deal with any of it. He’d been in court
today, testifying his involvement in a recent burglary he’d witnessed, and the
suit he was wearing was bothering him, too. He almost missed the days when all
he did was get up and follow orders and not think about what to do next.
The change from the Army to civilian life was proving to be more challenging
than he had anticipated.

He was going over yet another schematic change
brought about by the irritatingly demanding Hollywood starlet he was designing
a security system for when the throaty sound of a feminine laugh drew his
attention. He looked up and saw four women sitting across the way from
him in the restaurant. Two were older ladies, he’d guess to be in their
late fifties or early sixties. One was middle aged, he would place her
around forty, and one, the one whose laugh drew his attention, was in her mid
to late twenties; and she was quite simply stunning. Colt found that he
couldn’t take his eyes off of her. There was a freshness to her face that
pulled at something inside him that he couldn’t quite explain. He found
himself leaning forward to better be able to hear her conversation and learn
more about her, and found his gaze continually drawn to her. The sun
shifted and a beam shone through the window near where she was sitting,
settling over her like a spotlight and catching the highlights in her hair just
right. It was a breathtaking view and one he knew he wouldn’t forget any
time soon.

Oblivious to the fact that she had drawn the
attention of the man sitting two tables away, Sarah Sauter sat at a table with
her co-workers, enjoying lunch together on a mild spring day. These three
ladies, Ester, Bernice and Terry were like family to her, especially since the
death of her parents six years ago. They had all taken her under their
wings and did their best to fill the gaps left by the loss of her
parents. She’d worked with them all since she was sixteen years old,
almost eleven years now. If not for these three ladies and her next door
neighbor, Janine, she viewed them all as her very own Guardian Angels,
she shuddered to think where she would be at this point in her life.

At times she wished she had friends closer to her
own age. Ester and Bernice were old enough to be her mother. They
both had kids older than her. Terry could conceivably be her mother, if
she’d gotten pregnant in high school. Her neighbor Janine was the closest
friend to her age, at five years older than her. But these ladies were
good to her and she knew she wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Their waitress stopped by to refill
drinks, and it was while looking up at her that the man sitting in the booth
two tables behind Ester and Bernice caught Sarah’s attention. The first
thing she noticed about him was his eyes. They were really indescribable.
At first glance they appeared amber, but when she looked away and looked back,
they were deeper, more like melted chocolate...and they were locked on
her. The face that went with them was rugged, a couple days’ growth of
beard on his cheeks, but as he was wearing a very nice dark suit and tie, it
was also refined.

“Girl, that guy is seriously checking
you out,” Terry said in a low tone.

Ester and Bernice immediately stopped
talking, glancing around.

“What guy?” Bernice asked, her voice
carrying slightly.

Sarah groaned and turned her
attention back to her friends.

“No, he wasn’t,” she told Terry,
trying to diffuse the situation.

“Oh, yes he was...or, is, I should
say,” Terry amended. “He’s yummy, you should go introduce yourself.”

At that, Sarah laughed. “Oh,
please! He is so far out of my league it isn’t even funny.”

“He doesn’t seem to think so.”

Sarah shook her head. “Just
look at him, Terry. He
is
yummy. That suit he’s wearing
costs more than my entire wardrobe. There is no way a man like him would
have even the slightest interest in a data entry clerk at Sunday’s Gifts.”

“There you go, putting yourself down
again,” Ester said, shaking her head.

“Sarah Sauter, you are just as pretty
as all these college girls around here,” Bernice scolded her.

Sarah gave her friends a weak smile,
even as she saw the man in question pay his bill and then stand, shrug into his
suit jacket, and walk past their table.

“Was that the guy?” Bernice asked.

Terry nodded. “Wasn’t he
gorgeous?”

“Honey, the backside looked even
better,” Bernice said.

“Y’all are so bad,” Sarah laughed,
shaking her head. “We’d better get our checks, it’s about that time.”

Bernice flagged the waitress down as
they all gathered their purses.

“We’d like our checks, please,” Terry
said when the waitress approached.

She smiled brightly at them.
“Your checks have all already been paid.”

The women exchanged shocked
glances. “What?”

The waitress nodded.
“Yes. By the gentleman who just left,” she dug her receipt book out from
her apron pocket. “A Mr. Colton Harris.”

Sarah then experienced something she
never wanted to experience ever again as long as she lived; three women old
enough to be her mother squealing like a group of junior high girls. She
shook her head at them and after they left their waitress a tip, they all filed
out and into her SUV.

Back at work, Sarah groaned when the
latest batch of vendor orders was deposited on her desk. It was at least
three inches thick; she definitely knew what she would be doing for the rest of
the day. It was for the best, she supposed; if she stayed busy then she
wouldn’t be able to daydream about the absolutely gorgeous Mr. Colton Harris.

It was nearly 4:30 when she finally
was able to find a good stopping point in the orders and come up for a breath
of air. She realized by looking at the clock that she’d gotten so
engrossed in keying in the orders that she’d totally missed her afternoon
break. Deciding she at least needed to get up and stretch her legs, she
stood and stretched her back.

“Hey, Terry, I missed my break you
wanna...” she began but stopped when she rounded the corner of her cube and saw
that Terry wasn’t in hers. She looked around and realized no one was at
their desks. She’d been so busy she hadn’t even noticed everyone leaving.
Just as she was going to walk off and look for them her phone buzzed.

“Sarah?” Ester’s voice sounded
through her phone.

“Yes?”

“Could you come up front for a
minute?”

“Yeah, sure, be there in a sec.”

As she left her section and made her
way up to the front she noticed several other people were missing from their
desks. When she rounded the corner to the reception area where Ester
worked, she saw all of them gathered around Ester’s desk, and all looking
expectantly at her.

Her steps faltered and she suddenly
knew how the proverbial deer in the headlights felt. It was a bit
daunting to be confronted by a wall of her co-workers, and her boss.

“Um, did I miss something?” she asked
a bit frightfully.

The group parted in the middle,
revealing a beautiful vase of white roses on the bar of Ester’s reception desk.

“These were just delivered for you,”
Ester said, smiling.

Sarah was taken aback. Who in
the world could have sent roses to her?

“For me?”

Bernice pulled the card.
“Unless there is another Sarah Sauter at Sunday’s Gifts we don’t know
about. Shall I read the card?”

Sarah reached for it. “No, no,
I can read it. I just can’t imagine who...” her voice trailed off when
she saw the definitely masculine handwriting on the card.

“Well?” Barbara, her boss prompted.
“Don’t keep us in suspense. Who are they from?”

Sarah cleared her throat and glanced
quickly to Terry, Bernice and Ester. “It says: For Sarah, I hope you
enjoyed your lunch today. Sincerely, Colt Harris.”

An audible gasp sounded from her
three lunch companions.

“Who is Colt Harris?” Barbara asked.

While Bernice told the story, Sarah
re-read the card, noticing he’d included his email address and phone
number.

“Oh wow,” Barbara said, “you must
have made quite an impression.”

Sarah looked up from the card.
“But how did he know my name and where I work?”

“He must have been listening to our
conversation,” Terry surmised. “You said something about Sunday’s Gifts
and there at the end, Bernice called you by your full name.”

It was unbelievable. Things
like this just didn’t happen to Sarah. Not outside of her dreams,
anyway...and roses! She’d never had flowers delivered to her. As if
in a daze, she gathered the vase and without speaking to anyone, carried it
back to her cube. The smell of the fresh cut stems was
intoxicating. And they looked absolutely gorgeous.

She sat at her desk and placed his
handwritten card before her. He had neat penmanship. It was clearly
legible, unlike that of most of the men she knew. Before she lost her
nerve, she pulled up her personal email account and opened a blank email,
entering his address from the card.

Dear Mr. Harris:

Thank you so much for lunch
today. The roses are absolutely beautiful. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sarah Sauter

She read it through a couple of
times. It was light and breezy, nothing major. Just what she was
wanting. Before she could lose her nerve, she hit send, then sat back and
released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. For a moment,
she sat staring at the screen, then shook herself and began clearing her desk
in preparation to leave for the day. Terry walked back in just as her
inbox chimed.

Hands shaking, Sarah turned back to
her computer and clicked on her inbox, seeing that he’d already replied!

Dear Sarah:

I’m glad you enjoyed lunch.
You certainly brightened mine. I’m sure the roses are nowhere near as
beautiful as you.

I’d like to spend some time with
you. Would you meet me for dinner?

Eagerly awaiting your answer,

Colt

“Oh my gosh!” Sarah gasped.

“What is it?” Terry asked, coming
around to check on her.

Sarah picked up the card, handing it
to Terry.

“He included his email address, so I
sent him an email thanking him for lunch and for the roses. Look what he
replied!”

Terry leaned over to read the email.

“Oh, wow, Sarah!! How
exciting! Tell him you’ll go.”

Sarah bit her lip. “I don’t
know, Terry, I mean...I know nothing about this guy. He could be Ted
Bundy for all we know!”

Terry shook her head. “Sarah,
come on. You haven’t had a date in, what, a year? And the last one you
went out with was a real loser. Take a chance. Say you’ll meet
him. If you want, Lloyd and I can arrange to be at the same place, just
in case.”

“I don’t know...he’s seen you.
If you were to show up at the same place as us, it would be obvious, don’t you
think?”

“Well, yeah, probably...but come on,
Sarah. Take a chance.”

Sarah took a deep breath then
nodded. She hit reply and after an encouraging pat on the shoulder from
Terry, she started typing.

Dear Colt:

I would love to have dinner with
you. Where would you like to meet and what time?

Awaiting your reply,

Sarah

Sarah released her breath and turned
to face Terry.

“OK, well, I guess we’ll...” Her
inbox chimed.

“That was fast,” Terry said.

Sarah opened his reply.

Sarah: