Author's Note: This is the first chapter of "A Lonely Sky". The complete e- novel is available at Amazon.com
PART ONE
Chapter One- November 1996
Julia Riley zipped her suitcase. The clock on her bedside table ticked off the minutes, adding annoyance to her growing frustration towards a tardy taxi. She sat on the edge of the bed, her eyes resting on the crucifix on the opposite wall. She held her gaze there for but a minute, contemplating for the umpteenth time her decision in leaving. Every second she stared at the cross, she felt certain this was the wrong choice. But the time had come for wrong choices.
She rose, gathered her belongings, and surveyed the room. The letter she left for John rested on his nightstand against their framed family portrait. She remembered the day they sat for that picture. How hurried and frantic they were to arrive at the studio on time. Elizabeth, tired from studying for high school finals, worried that her eyes looked puffy. Tommy, five years old and already a spitting image of John, had just rushed in from the backyard swing set, and Julia took too much time attempting to style her stubborn, stick-straight blonde hair. John seemed the only one relaxed that day. But that was John. Not too much rattled him.
Her eyes returned to the note. That would rattle him.
She averted her gaze again. If she stayed one moment longer in this room, she might have a change of heart. She hurried downstairs, placed her bags by the front door and reached into the hall closet for her coat. Which to choose? The weather here in Chicago promised snow and below average temperatures for November, yet England would be warmer but rainy.
The sound of a car pulling into her driveway left her little time for decision. She grabbed her gray trench coat, picked up her purse and opened the front door.
John stood there, key poised towards the door, his coveralls filthy with cement and soot. He seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see him. “Hey, hon. Why you so dressed up?”
“John.” She glanced over his shoulder to the street. No taxi, just John’s car. “What are you doing home?”
He laughed. “Nice to see you too, sweetheart. I decided to take the afternoon off. Make up for the overtime I put in last week at the construction site. I was going to call you, but thought I’d surprise you instead.”
Julia didn’t answer as she contemplated the surprise that awaited him.
“So you gonna move from the doorway and let me in?”
She opened the door, allowing him to enter. John pecked her cheek as he passed. She closed the door, rested her head against it and waited for the question she knew would come.
“Hey, Jules. Luggage? You going somewhere?”
Julia turned and leaned against the door for support. “I left you a note upstairs, I-” She never expected to tell him this face to face.
John’s eyes grew wide as he glanced from Julia’s pained expression back to the luggage. He sat down on the second step of staircase, and put a hand to his forehead. “Oh Jesus, Jules. Someone die?”
“No.” She hated to let him sit there and guess what this was about, but words eluded her as to how to explain. “No one died.”
“That’s good, but-” John ran his hand through his thinning brown hair. A rare ray of early winter sunlight streamed through the staircase window, illuminating the wedding ring on his finger. Julia looked away.
