She was living in an apartment near the center of town, a few blocks from the hospital. She spent most of her time in the room, only venturing out to the grocery store for the most part. She had walked to a nearby park a couple of times and had sat reading a book. She currently had bandages on her face but when she went to the park I had noticed that she did not have any bandages. That made sense. She had just had another...

One day Tom called to let Alex know that he had been promoted to manager of the fast food restaurant. He did not think of this as a job that he would settle for and was going to keep looking for something better, but it would pay enough that he was no longer dependent on Alex to subsidize him. We all decided to get together for dinner to celebrate.Alex had a late photo shoot that day and we all decided to meet at the rest...

Chapter 6On Monday the phone began to ring. A lot of people had seen the news Friday night and I was suddenly a very popular architect. I had meetings all week with prospective clients and my calendar was filling up for the next several months. I figured I’d be busy for a while and then drop off as people began to forget. I’d forgotten about the Cosmopolitan article.The magazine came out about a week after the news piece....

The news came on at 6:00 but we agreed that I would get there early and help her with dinner. I knocked on the door at 5:30 and Karin opened the door. Karin is a pretty woman in her own right. She stood there blocking the door and looking at me. She was wearing a low cut blouse and I could not stop myself from looking. She smiled and stepped aside, but as I walked past her she whispered, "If things don't work out for you...

Friday morning I was working on the Skinner job when my doorbell rang. When I opened the door a woman was standing there with a microphone and a man standing behind her with a camera. The woman with the mic was attractive, with long brown hair."Mr Conners?" she asked. "Yes, what can I do for you?" "My name is Elizabeth Espinosa and I'm a reporter for KTLA, a local news station. If you have a few minutes I'd like to talk t...

The distraction provided by Alex had been good for me because it had gotten my mind off of my family problems. I went back to work in my home workshop and was focused and efficient. A couple of days later I received a phone call from Alex. “How would you like to come over for dinner this weekend,” she asked. “A free dinner isn’t much but I feel I have to do something for you.” “Hi Alex,” I said, “I’m glad you called. I’ve...

Soon afterward the rain began to pick up a little. I turned on my wipers intermittently and thought absently if I should have asked for her phone number. I had a feeling I had missed an opportunity. About 20 minutes later I saw smoke rising up ahead and the cars were beginning to slow down. I was in the fast lane and was hoping that I could get around the problem before the freeway became completely blocked. As I approach...

Chapter 1The rain was relentless, coming down in sheets that my wipers could barely keep up with. I had slowed to less than 40 miles per hour because the visibility was so bad. I guess it was a fitting end to a gloomy weekend. I had driven 200 miles to see my estranged wife in the hopes that I could convince her to come home and bring our family back together. Not only did she turn me down but she also introduced me to he...