HOMELESS AND STARTING OVER

~A Mini Love Story~

 

Snow flurries were coming down in a beautiful fresh way. The sky was bright and it was about one o’clock in the afternoon up on Ratcliff Mountain where Sally Taylor was packing all her personal belongings she could fit into her little car now that she was homeless.

 

Sally had no one to fall back on now that she lost her home.  She was all alone in the world, and had very little money to last her till she found some where to relocate to and get a job.

 

The last item Sally put in her car was the map that she marked out the route she was going to take, heading to not only hopefully greener pastures, but a warmer climate incase she ended up sleeping in her car at times.

 

Yes Sally was distraught, overwhelmed, and certainly uncertain what the future would bring for her; but she was determined at this point to press on and leave all the ugly stressful things that had happened to her behind.

 

Sally had been driving for almost fifteen hours now making it into Maryland where she found a reasonable hotel to spend the night. She lay down on the soft bed and just stared at the room around her that appeared clean and neat unlike her life right now.  Before she knew it Sally had fallen into a deep sleep clothes and all.

 

 The next morning Sally arose early; took her shower and put on her makeup to prepare for her next travels.  She hoped to make it to North Carolina before she had to stop again at another hotel.  She wasn’t sure where her final destination would lead to but she had mapped out a route all the way to Florida.

 

The stay in North Carolina went just the same as in Maryland with Sally catching up with sleep, and the same again in Georgia.  Finally Sally reached JacksonvilleFlorida where she decided to stay for a few days renting out an efficiency cabin, equipped with a kitchen and living room.

She was thinking of it as a mini vacation, and using the time to sort more things out in her head.

 

Sally had much to sort out if she was going to make this adventure and turning over a new leaf successful.

Sally Taylor was a natural blonde blue eyed beauty whom always had a sense of practical up to date fashion.  As Sally traveled into the warmer states her mid length hair was starting to curl, and the more she saw the sun it seemed to make freckles come popping out.  Sally was about five foot six with an average build, although since she left on her trip she appeared to be dropping weight rapidly. Maybe because of the hotter weather or just plain nerves but Sally wasn’t eating as well as she use to.

 

It was almost time to move on even though the cabin was so comfortable to stay in.  Sally had decided on her final destination.  She decided on Palm Bay, and called ahead to see what was available to stay at.  Luckily there was a mobile home site that rented out prefab cottages which sounded similar to what she was leaving.

Sally was looking forward to the new location, she was hoping she liked it there, and could find some sort of work to do before her money ran out.

 

The cottage was lovely and very affordable. It had a little porch in the front that was railed with thick rope.  There were three bedrooms; one being a loft above the cathedral ceiling of the living room. There was a good size kitchen as well as a dinning area; everything was clean and freshly painted white all for less than you would pay for a hotel room.  Sally loved it!  She started to unpack her belongings from her car, because she decided that this would be an ideal place to start over, unless of course she could not find a job?

The next day after getting settled Sally decided right away she would go looking for work. 

 

As the next day arrived Sally rose early to view the surrounding area.  Her cottage was located in the mobile home park which was kept very organized and clean.  It had a community Jacuzzi and pool that could be used, and in the mornings breakfast could be bought at a little building that held a grill and one cook.  Everything on the grounds was kept neat as a pin. 

 

The mobile park was not located neither on the beach nor in the city but just on the out skirts of town.  You could however catch the smell of an ocean breeze every once in a while, and Sally could see a quaint little church standing in the distance.

 

Sally decided to hop in her car to get to town even though it wasn’t that far away really.  She parked her car near a meter and started to stroll down the street with stores and restaurants.  Sally hadn’t gone very far when she saw a help wanted sign in a little souvenir store. She went into inquire and found a little old lady called Hilda who was apparently the owner. 

 

Hilda who could very well be in her eighties with white set curly hair seemed to be like a humming bird the way she flitted around so easily.  Hilda explained how she was getting older and wanted to spend more time at home and needed someone to run the store for her.

Sally informed her that she was very interested and filled out the application, however she didn’t have to wait long because Hilda hired her on the spot; giving her very agreeable hours and pay for the responsibility of managing the store.

 

How blessed could Sally be to land a job right away, and to be working for such a cute little old lady as Hilda.

Sally seemed to be walking on air as she toured about the town.  She felt so cheery that is until she went back to her car and saw the officer just at that point putting a ticket on it!  Sally didn’t hesitate to say something right away even though she did seem to stutter a bit “excuse me Sir that is my car” The officer turned sizing Sally up and down before he spoke his words “ Well Miss?” Sally answered “Taylor” and the officer spoke again “Well Miss Taylor” “You have parked in front of a meter and it appears you did not pay for your time parked” Sally knew the officer was right, but she made one plea “Officer I agree your right, but being this is my first time in town, and I am totally new to the area, could you please give me a break just this once?” The officer whose name read on his badge Wade Branch stood staring down at the curly haired pretty Sally with his big brown eyes.  It was at that point Sally realized how good looking he was.

 

Officer Branch appeared to be six foot four, and very well built with a dark brown complexion. He had high cheek bones with dimples underneath. Sally couldn’t help but notice what nice big white teeth he had.

 

Sally went on to tell officer Branch how she had obtained a job at the KIT KAT KABBODLES managing it for Hilda Kitter.  She explained how she just moved here from Connecticut and was starting fresh with a whole new life.  Sally rambled on a bit about her trip to get to Palm Bay and she kept rambling on nervously until right before her eyes Officer Branch smiled the biggest smile she had ever seen in her life; and at the same time he ripped up the ticket right in front of her!  Sally was so touched and grateful she couldn’t thank him enough!  It was a miracle she got out of that one for sure, so she hurried into her car and slowly pulled away.  Sally thought to herself “phew that was a close one” Than on the way back to her cottage she couldn’t get Officer Branch off her mind.  She thought how he might have been the most attractive man she had ever seen.

 

When Sally arrived at the cottage she quickly put on her swim suit to refresh herself in the pool.  It felt so relaxing after the adventurous day she had.  As Sally floated in the pool she thought about her day and how tomorrow morning it would go at her new job.  Than her mind drifted again to how kind and good-looking Officer Branch was.  Before Sally knew it; the sun was starting to go down so she went into her cottage to fix herself something to eat.  No matter how nervous she was, she had to make herself eat something.

 

Her first day at work and Sally was up extra early because she was both excited and nervous.

She spent some time organizing her clothes that had to be changed into more of the summer cooler outfits now she was living where it was much warmer than Connecticut.

Sally was due to start work at nine o’clock this morning at KIT KAT KABBODLES.  Hilda was going to start training her first thing. It was only eight thirty but Sally thought she would get there earlier to find good parking. 

 

Hilda already had the doors open and seemed to be organizing the store stock as well as dusting it at the same time.  There were things from sea shells to cat salt shakers; as well as post cards to painted drift wood of the ocean.  KIT KAT KABBODLES seemed to sell almost anything your heart desired while on vacation.

 

Hilda did start training Sally right away, and Sally seemed to catch on real quick seeing that she had owned her own store in the past. The day went by quickly and before Sally knew it Hilda was congratulating her on getting the gist of managing the store already.  Sally by the end of the day had felt like she had gone through the ringer learning everything at work all at once.  She went home to her cottage and sat down to watch TV to relax.

 

The rest of the week flew by, and finally Sunday Sally’s only day off came.  She decided to sleep in late for a treat.  It really was the first day in a while that she felt truly alone in the world.  So Sally decided to take a walk thru town and site see more of her surroundings.

 

Sally was entering the local dinner in town when she literally ran right into Officer Branch!  She became very flustered from embarrassment, and stumbled with her apologies to the Officer.  All Officer Branch did was smile that award winning smile, and basically cornered her asking how her new job was going as well as her stay in Palm Bay?  Sally turned red being in the spot light of this handsome man, but managed to conversate back in a normal way to his questions.  Before Sally knew it Officer Branch was asking her to call him Wade.  Sally was astounded this gorgeous creature seemed to be actually flirting with her and felt her face getting flush; than she felt a little woozy and thought the heat was getting to her, before she could catch herself she fainted right into Wade’s arms.

 

When Sally awoke she was in an ambulance heading for the nearest hospital.  She thought “what have I done?”  “Last thing I remember is going down in front of Officer Branch?” The ambulance attendant asked her to keep calm, that she most likely had just fainted from heat exhaustion and just as a precautionary measure they were taking her to the hospital. 

 

In the emergency room Sally started to feel much better as they intravenously pumped nutrients into her body.  When she was released there was Wade offering to drive her home.  Sally was again embarrassed but feeling so much better went along with the hospitality.  The doctor told her once again before she left; that she had to drink and eat more in the future. Wade assured the doctor he would make sure Miss Taylor did what the medical instructions stated. 

 

Wade drove her home in the squad car, really Sally felt so foolish, but certainly grateful for the help.  Wade made sure she got in the cottage alright and told her he would pick her up at eight thirty tomorrow morning so she could start work early seeing that Sally’s car was still parked safely in town behind the KIT KAT KABBODLES in the private parking lot.

 

Right on the dot Wade was there to pick her up and this morning Sally felt fully refreshed.  She couldn’t thank Wade enough for all his help and asked if she could cook him a home cooked meal sometime?  That suggestion caused Wade to smile that big bright smile of his and he thought it was a fine idea; so they made plans for the next evening to meet at Sally’s cottage at sevenish.

 

Six o’clock Tuesday evening Sally had the meal cooking away as she quickly tie-died up her cottage before Wade arrived.  Sally had bought just the right wine to go with dinner, and when he arrived Wade had a bouquet of flowers to adorn her dinning room table.  The dinner came out delicious and both Wade and Sally enjoyed conversating and getting to know each other.

 

Too quickly the evening was coming to an end, but oh how Sally secretly never wanted it to stop.  When Wade was leaving the door; he bent down and kissed Sally’s forehead gently, and followed up by saying “Now no more fainting girl” They both had a good laugh after that, before the door shut.

 

It seemed like weeks went by with Sally not seeing hide or hair of Wade.  She wondered if she scared him off?  Finally it was yet another Sunday again, and Sally only had her lonely self to keep her company.  In all the weeks she had been there she really hadn’t met people she could call actual friends.  Sally felt extremely alone and depressed, and started to think about all the losses in her past.  Laying there on the couch she started to cry.

 

As Sally sobbed feeling sorry for herself; there was a knock at the door. 

 

Sally opened the door to see Wade there with a great big smile! Wade explained how he had been away on official business all that time; but she greatly weighed on his mind all the time he was gone.  Than he proceeded to ask Sally on a date and astoundingly gave her a hug.

 

Well my readers Sally and Wade had a wonderful first date.  Than they had many more dates for almost a year’s time until Wade popped the big question.

 

In between time Hilda sold the store KIT KAT KABBODLES to Sally, and still today she runs that lovely gift shop. 

 

Eventually Wade and Sally were married.

Today a few of their children are old enough to help Sally with the store. 

 

Of course they didn’t stay living in that quaint little cottage but bought the whole motor home resort and now live in the large Victorian home on the grounds renting out the cottages to guest. As well motor homes come and go, and Sally has nearly forgotten any loss in her past she sustained, she also is never lonely.  Wade certainly smiles much more often, not wasting that million dollar smile.

 

By

Lisa J. Warner

AKA

Lisa Luv

CopyRight12/09 /2010@LisaLuvLLC

AllRightsReservedByLisaJ.Warner