The Escape Collection: (The Escape Collection) (75 page)

Finished, I took a step back and examined my work. I smiled. It wasn’t perfect, but neither was my family, or the future we faced together. I didn’t yet know how we were going to get through the coming challenges, but in that moment, I knew we could.
 

I dipped my brush in the green, just a shade darker than I’d been using. Working slowly, I painted the words carefully, so they almost blended in with the grass under Kayla’s feet.
 

I’d probably never know the whole truth of what my father was trying to save when he’d given my mother the box of watercolors years earlier. But, as I stood back and read the words I’d painted, a peace settled over me as I realized the truth.
 

“Love Survives.”
 

THE END

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Sugar Crash

She's been on her own for so long that when Darci Thompson's 12-year-old daughter, Taylor, is diagnosed with a life changing illness, she must push past her self imposed walls to prove that Diabetes won't define them.
 

With the help of new friends and Cam, a man who believes in her, Darci finds the strength to challenge the stereotypes and make a difference for her daughter. But letting Cam get close also means being vulnerable. Is Darci willing to face her own demons and take that risk once again?

A story about the strength of one woman and the power of her relationship with her daughter as they overcome life's obstacles.

__________________

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
 

Secret Gifts

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2013 Elena Aitken

Version 1.1

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Your support of author rights is appreciated.

Ink Blot Communications

ISBN:
978-0-9917093-9-7

Chapter 1

Even before the whistle blew, Darci was up and out of the bleachers. She grabbed the oversized tote bag that accompanied her everywhere and hurried across to the player’s bench. The girls were still coming off the field and her daughter, soccer ball in hand, was leading the pack as usual.
 

“Great play, kiddo,” Darci called, getting Taylor’s attention.
 

If Darci hadn’t been looking, she might have missed the quick flinch of embarrassment that crossed her daughter’s face before Taylor shook her head slightly and turned towards her friends, shutting her out. Darci shrugged. She wasn’t offended, well, not really. She was getting used to it. Ever since Taylor’s twelfth birthday, she’d been pulling away a little. It’s like the moment she turned twelve she all of a sudden didn’t need her mother. It was to be expected, but it still stung.
 

Darci glanced up at the time clock. There were ten minutes left before the next half started. If she hurried she could grab a drink, check her messages and still make it back to her seat before the whistle blew. She started weaving her way through the crowd. It never failed to amaze her how many spectators turned up for a soccer game on a Wednesday night. But in a small town, even minor league soccer could be exciting, and the Chargers were a great team to watch.
 

Joining the line for the bathroom, Darci dug deep into her tote to find her cell phone. Three missed calls from the store.
 

Damn.
 

It was inventory week at Golden Moon Health, and Darci knew it had been a long shot leaving Monica in charge of counting anything while working her regular shift, but she’d never missed a game and she wasn’t about to start because one of her employees couldn’t multi-task. Besides, she was the manager, it was her job to delegate. And to clean up the mess afterwards. With a sigh, she pressed the autodial button.
 

“Darci?”
 

She pretended not to hear the sickly sweet voice calling her and put the phone up to her ear, hoping to ward off any attempts at casual conversation.

“Darci Johnson, I was hoping to run into you.” A hand accompanying the voice, reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Darci turned, indicated to the phone at her ear and offered a small smile.
 

“Oh, don’t worry, this will only take a minute and then you can go back to your call.”
 

Darci swallowed the sharp retort that threatened to spill out and pushed end on the phone. “Hi, Susanna. What can I do for you?”
 

“I’m so glad you asked.” Susanna's red coated lips slid off her shiny white teeth as if they’d been slathered in Vaseline, which they likely had. Darci tried not to dislike Susanna Turnbull; she was the mother of one of Taylor’s good friends, but despite the closeness between their daughters, Darci had never found any common ground with the other woman. “As you probably already know, I’m heading up a number of fundraising efforts for the team this year.”
 

“I heard something about it,” Darci muttered and shuffled forward in the line. Of course she’d heard about it, she’d been doing her best to avoid Susanna ever since Taylor had come home and told her.
 

“Good,” Susanna said. “So you’ll help?” Susanna pulled a pen out from behind her ear and patted her backcombed do, which hadn’t moved a hair, back into place. As long as she’d known her, Darci had thought Susanna’s style reminded her of a pageant queen circa 1992, and considering her heavily made up face, it was entirely likely Susanna held a title. In Darci’s opinion, Susanna’s harsh style took away from the woman’s natural beauty and on more than one occasion, Darci had considered offering some advice. But of all the people to give beauty advice, it shouldn’t be Darci. She herself could barely be bothered to put on lipgloss and mascara, let alone style her hair in much more than a pony tail.
 

“Darci?”

“Sorry.” Darci shook her head and tried to focus on the conversation. “I’m really swamped at the shop right now, Susanna. I honestly don’t know how much help I’ll be.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to do much at all.” Susanna waved away her protests. “The first fundraiser will be pretty basic. I thought maybe we’d start slow and build up to something really big. I have so many ideas, I didn’t want to limit myself, you know? And really, it’s for the girls. And if we don’t really band together to raise the money, they won’t be able to go to Provincials, and then maybe even Nationals. The team is looking really good this year and I’m just certain that we’ll be headed to the National tournament, aren’t you?”

Darci managed a grunt of agreement before Susanna continued. “At any rate, considering your daughter is team captain, again, I just knew you’d be excited about contributing to the fundraising efforts.”

“What do I have to do?” She sighed and assessed the line. She was only three people away from slipping into a stall and escaping the volunteer police.
 

“I’m so glad you asked.” Susanna's teeth glistened and the image of a vampire sucking the life out of her, popped into Darci’s head before she could stop it. “I need you to bake three dozen cookies. We’re going to have a small bake sale at the game on Saturday. We’re playing The Rockets, and with a weekend game, there’ll be-“

“Three dozen?” Darci ran through her schedule in her head. There was no way she’d find the time to bake three dozen cookies.

“That’s right. By Saturday,” Susanna said.
 

A bathroom stall opened up, and Darci bee lined for it. Maybe she could whip up her mom’s old standby recipe for chocolate chip walnut cookies. She could probably manage that. “Okay, Susanna. I’ll bring cookies,” Darci said as she closed the door and slid the bar across it, locking herself in.
 

“Oh, and Darci,” Susanna's voice sing-songed across the ladies’ room. “No nuts, we need to be allergy friendly.”

“Okay.” Darci mentally eliminated the walnuts from the recipe. Plain old chocolate chip it was then.

“Oh, and anything but chocolate chip, I already had two moms commit to that and as we know, there can definitely be too much of a good thing.”

***

Mercifully, Susanna was gone when Darci emerged from the bathroom. A quick look at her watch told her that half time was almost over. She rarely missed a kick off if she could help it. And as luck would have it, every time she couldn’t help it, she also missed Taylor making a fantastic play.
 

Forgoing a drink from the vending machine, Darci hit the autodial on her cell phone as she wove her way through the crowd, back to the bleachers. Monica picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hello?”

“You’re supposed to answer, ‘Golden Moon Health, how can I make your day glow?’” Darci said.
 

Monica ignored her. “Thank goodness you called,” she said. “There is no way I can get all the inventory done tonight.”

Darci dodged around a teenage couple who were getting to know each other a little too well. She shuddered with the thought that Taylor would be that old in only a few years. “Monica,” she said, turning her attention back to the conversation. “I only asked you to count the essential oils. It’s really not a big deal. Besides, how busy could the store be? It’s Wednesday night.”

“Just the oils? I could have sworn you asked me to do it all. That makes way more sense.”

“Well, if you really want to, you can do it all. I’m not going to stop you.” Darci waved at a group of parents she recognized and climbed higher on the bleachers. The other parents were sitting close to the player’s bench. She probably should sit with them, Darci thought. After all, Taylor would want her to. But she couldn’t see properly from down there, plus then she’d have to make small talk with a bunch of people who were just pretending to be her friend. “But make sure you at least do the oils,” she said to Monica. “I have to go, Tay’s game is about to start.”

“Are they winning?“

“It’s been a good game. We’re tied right now.”

“Sounds exciting,” Monica said. “I better get busy if I’m going to get all this done.” Darci thought she detected a hint of sarcasm, but decided it wasn’t worth mentioning. She thanked Monica and hung up.

There was no way she would have left the inventory of the entire store to Monica, and they both knew it. It wasn’t that she was a bad person, but Monica wasn’t always the most reliable person. She tended to bounce around jobs, and while she’d been at Golden Moon for almost a year, Darci was pretty sure it was because of the store discount. It wasn’t so much the vitamins, herbal supplements and promise of improved health that Monica was interested in, but the small collection of crystals, dream weavers and other items the shop owner, Felicity Stone, like to call, ‘mystical selections’. Felicity thought it added a spiritual touch to the store. Darci thought it cheapened the message of achieving general health, but the sales figures had the final word and it was a fact that whatever ‘mystical selections’ went on the shelves, quickly sold out. Darci secretly thought Monica was buying most of the inventory herself, since she seemed to be an overnight expert in past lives, dream interpretations, tarot card readings or whatever the latest trend was.
 

Darci giggled a little, remembering how Monica had tried to get her to wear crystals around her neck the week before. She’d said they’d help Darci improve her energy or something. She’d tried to humor her friend for a little bit, but the cord was too long and it kept bashing into the cash register whenever she bent down.
 

“What’s so funny?” The voice caught her off guard, and Darci looked up quickly, and right into the grinning face of Taylor’s soccer coach, Cam.
 

“Hey there,” she said. Ignoring his question, she glanced up to the clock at the end of the field. “Don’t you have a game to win?”
 

“I still have a few minutes,” he said and offered her a smile. “I just wanted to come up and say hi. I didn’t see you at the practice last night. I was hoping to catch you.”
 

Darci returned his smile. It was hard not to. Cam was easy to be around. He was eternally optimistic and ready with a kind smile. His temperament served him well as the coach for a team full of pre-teen girls. He managed them and their endless dramas flawlessly. The fact that he was devastatingly handsome also didn’t hurt.

“I had to work,” Darci said. “Was Taylor okay?”

“Taylor’s great,” he said. “She seems a little tired lately, but as always she’s a huge asset to the team.” He paused for a moment. “No, I wanted to ask-“