Charlotte's Story

Gone Gone Gone

Renee's POV:

Pounding is at my door early in the morning. "Who is it?" I gruff out, slipping on my slippers. Standing on my back porch is George. His head is already sweating from the morning sun.

"Renee, open up," he bellowed.

"What is going on?" I ask, opening the door for him; he never came to my house the day after visiting me.

"He is back?" George asked, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to me.

It was my blog from last night. Notes were written on the side.

"Not back. He was supposed to get married yesterday.You know what normal people do when they are in love." I crumple up my blog post and chuck it in the garbage. It bounces out and lands on the floor. "Maybe I should name my book Losing Faith or Losing Love or Dreams Suck."

"You are still doing the book?" He asks, his eyes sparkling. He had come to check on the fact  I was still doing the book.

"Yes," I sigh, "I committed to it, didn't I?"

"And look. About you moving away. We can email it back and forth; we don't have to live in the same state."

My stomach churns when I think about moving away. "Maybe I should just take a trip," I say, realizing that I couldn't leave Maine behind. I couldn't leave Daisy and Sohpia with her red hair behind; it would kill me. It didn't surprise me that Daisy walked through the door while George was still there.

"You are moving?" she gasps out; Sophia's tiny arms stretch out for me and as I pick her up.

"Of course not," I say in a baby voice to Sophia. "Your mommy is crazy; how could I ever leave you behind?"

"Oh, good" Daisy falls back on my couch, her hands covering her stomach. "Because I'm going to need you as my Godmother for this second child as well." I was grinning from ear to ear. "I'm excited to see what people choose for names for this one. But you are not moving?"

"No, I couldn't leave Sophia behind" I pause. "Or you," she smiles up at me, already knowing I couldn't leave either of them behind.

"Good because Tom was freaking out about who would babysit on date night...."

"Funny," I say dryly, "But I am going to take a vacation."

Title: Gone gone gone
Writer: Charlotte

I am gone gone gone, away from Maine. I packed as much as I could fit into my carry-on bag.

Did you really think I could leave Maine behind for good?

Daisy, in her entirety, showed up at my door, ready to chop me in half; there was no way I was making it out of Maine alive if I decided to move.

After all, I am the Godmother to the most adorable baby. But I will be taking a sabbatical... No, it will not be two months like the time before, only two weeks. I'm hoping losing out on your dream a second time is a lot easier to recover from. Somehow I don't believe it will be.

-Charolette

Two weeks away helped. The ache of seeing Ryder grew, and it hurt. I thought about him day and night. I wondered what his wedding was like and what his bride was like. It was weird thinking about how he showed up at my condo; I never realized that he was in khakis and a blue polo until he left. I was searching his face so much, I didn't get to take in the whole put-together Ryder.  His eyes were the worse for me; seeing the grayish blue eyes that I missed, the ocean helped a little bit as I paddled out on the surfboard I was renting. Surfing had almost become like yoga to me, it was meditation, and I needed time to clear my mind.

Two weeks later, I was standing back in Maine outside of my condo.

My back door is littered with post-it notes.

Why couldn't George just email them to me like an ordinary agent?

There were twenty-some of them, and some had fallen to the ground inside the door.

I start picking them off reading each one: Maybe fill in what high school was like for your readers?
Maybe leave Ryder out of it altogether? Perhaps it is not about your blogs? Maybe we do a mix?

I laugh the more and more I read them.