Page 5 of Everything She Feared

“Don’t worry. This one’s on me. I’ll catch ya next time, okay?”

A few minutes later she exchanged heartfelt glances with her coworkers, Polly and Beth, after watching him amble across the parking lot to his shopping cart.

Lonnie was a heartbreaker.

As the morning rolled by, Sara considered her own life as a thirty-one-year-old single mom of a nine-year-old daughter: Katie, the center of her universe.

Sara had lost so much over the years—her husband, then her dad. Now her mom was in a seniors’ home, living out her life.

Stop complaining, Sara told herself.Everyone’s hurting. Everyone’s carrying something.

As she worked, she glanced at the gray-and-white flowers blossomed on her inner wrist and lower forearm.This is what I’m carrying.For Sara, the tattoo signified who she was—something she thought about every day.

Nothing can change it.

It had been so many years now and the things she feared hadn’t happened. Let the darkness stay in the past. She was confident they were going to be okay on that front.

But on the financial front, a clock was ticking down on Sara and she had to do something soon.

She’d started working at Jet Town during high school. It’s where she met Nathaniel, the kindest, sweetest, most handsome guy she’d ever known. He had his own motorcycle repair shop in Salem, Oregon, and he had friends in British Columbia. While traveling to see them, he stopped once at the diner. Then he made a point of always stopping, even calling ahead to be sure Sara was working because he wanted to see her. She liked him. After they got married, Sara moved to Salem, where she had Katie. When Nathaniel died suddenly, her world fell apart. Their marriage had been so good because Nathaniel was good. He had such a gentle, solid soul.

After he died, she moved back home and returned to working full-time at Jet Town to make ends meet.

Even Nathaniel never knew the truth about her, and why she’d been reluctant to have children. But he had a good heart, ached to be a dad, and she loved him so much. He gave her hope... And so they had Katie.

But then...why did you have to die on me, Nathaniel?

That was another life, though, and Sara was grateful to work at the diner. It had helped her heal. Now the years had blurred past and Sara was the longest-serving staffer at Jet Town, where she’d seen servers come and go.

“You’re a lifer, kiddo,” Mel Carver, the owner and chief cook, often teased her.

“You’re an institution,” Polly always told her.

“You’ll never leave,” Beth said all the time.

Even Beth and Polly, each going on three years at the diner—way longer than the other servers—were now talking about leaving. Polly was engaged to a pilot and likely moving to Australia. Beth’s sister was part-owner of a new motel near Las Vegas and had offered her a position there.

Sara’s situation wasn’t as rosy. For her, there was more money going out now than coming in, and that scared her, forcing her to take stock of her life. She wanted to act on the encouragement she’d received from two women who were real estate agents. The women were regulars who brought clients to Jet Town to discuss deals. Both had gotten to know Sara and had urged her to get her real estate license.

“You’re good with people,” one of the women had said. “You can earn a very good living. And think about your future. You’ll need a college fund for your daughter, a retirement plan for yourself. We can help you with the license.”

The women offered to guide Sara on the coursework and studying for the exam, and help her get her foot in the door with a good real estate agency. The more Sara thought about it, the more she liked the idea.

During her break in the staff locker room, which was cramped with boxes of supplies, she took out her phone. She scrolled through a site offering information on the steps she needed to take to earn her license, biting her bottom lip with excitement at the prospect of a new life. Just then, her phone vibrated with a text from Connie Atkinson, one of the supervisors with Sunny Days.

It began withThere’s been a terrible incident...

When Sara finished reading it, she rushed to Mel in the kitchen.

“I’ve got to leave!” She was already pulling off her apron. “Something’s happened at Katie’s—I gotta go now!”

“Why? What?” Spatula in his hand, he turned. “What? Go where?”

Sara grabbed her bag from the change room and hurried out the door. She ran to her car, fishing her keys from her bag, her heart pounding.

4

Near North Bend, Washington

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