Fifty-eight year
old, Rose Asbury knows people think she’s a recluse, but she doesn’t care. She
just wants to be left alone. She doesn’t need anyone and no one needs her and
that’s just fine. At least she didn’t until this year. For some reason this
year is different. Suddenly, she’s melancholy and discontent with her life.
And the man next
door doesn’t help matters. He insists on speaking to her. So her stomach
tumbles every time she sees him, that doesn’t mean anything. Hunger pangs, nerves, she just wishes he’d
leave her alone. Or does she? To top it all off, his granddaughter and her
friends insist on playing in Rose's yard, sledding, building snowmen and throwing
snowballs at her house.
Then I shows up and her life changes drastically. Well, I couldn't let her go on living like that could I? Oh yeah, I'm a ghost. Let me start at the beginning.
Rose Asbury is my sister – was my sister. After I passed away she became a recluse. Not
that she doesn’t have reason to, mind you. We lost our parents within months of
each other, and Rose and I clung to each for support during our grief. Of course
our husbands helped, but Rose and I understood each other. Our loss.
We were just adjusting when Rose’s husband passed away
suddenly. Poor Rose fell apart, not that I blame her. I would have reacted the
same way if it had been my husband. I
was just getting Rose to come out of her shell when bam, I was gone.
That did Rose in. She went to pieces and to make matters
worse, her kids moved three thousand miles away. She ignored all of her
friends, except for Louise. Louise wasn’t about to let Rose ignore her. But
everyone else gave up. After all, you can only call people so long and have them
ignore you, not return your calls, and won’t talk to you before you give up. So
that’s what everyone did. All except Louise. She didn’t give up. She marched right over to
Rose’s house and read her the riot act until Rose gave in and at least went to
the store.
At least now Rose visited Louise and came to grips with
life. Not that she had much of a life. Stephen Daniels the guy next door aimed to
change that – or so it seemed. Good looking guy, too. Anyway he moved in to
take care of his granddaughter while her parents did their tour of duty in the
Mideast. He kind of took a shine to Rose. Not that she'd give the poor guy the
time of day. Most she did was nod at him.
Well, until that day, that is. I can’t help but
giggle thinking about it. She fell on the ice and splat, groceries went flying
everywhere. Stephen came to her aid – or tried to. Rose, true to form, tried to
ignore him. That’s where I come in again. I showed up to talk some sense into
Rose. Of course, she tried to ignore me, too, but I wasn’t about to let that
happen. It was time Rose started to live again. She was much too young to waste
her life away.
Now it seems Stephen's granddaughter, Sarah, saw the whole thing
and had other ideas. She didn’t care for the way the old lady ignored her
grandpa. Yeah, all kids think anyone in their 40s is old. 50s is darn near ancient. What can I say, we
thought the same things.
But I digress. Sarah devised a plan to get Rose to talk to
her grandpa. She talked her friends into
building a snowman in Rose’s front yard. You’d think that wasn’t a big deal
right? I mean what harm could a snowman do?
Of course, Rose, being the neighborhood grouch –yes, that’s what the kids pegged her – had a fit.
After that things got real interesting. If you’d like to
find out more about Rose, you’ll have to buy the book available from Amazon at http://amzn.to/timetoloveagain
To learn more about me and my books check out my book page or my website at www.roseannedowell.com.
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1 comment:
This is a plot that really grabs me. Maybe it's my age. Which is 58. So I love it that Rose realizes that life goes on and you can love again.
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