Smoke Rings

Elaine Johnson was the perfect daughter. Smart, kind, and loving...innocent, shy, and gentle. She was pretty on top of that. She would have been what every parent would want but for one small flaw, as most God-fearing Georgians saw it: she was a lesbian, and made no attempts to hide it. In the small school, the bullies pried through her innocence and tore her to bits, and nobody tried to stop them. Not even her supposed friends.

She found comfort in a cigarette. Then another. Then the beer. The whiskey. The drugs.

Six years later, Elaine was a brand new woman, complete with alcoholism and a criminal record. A chain smoker and a high school dropout, she had taken up photography, and freelanced for parties and illicit photo shoots. Whatever paid for her gas and her cigarettes. And then, one day, an application for a wedding planner, Hannah Brilot, was answered, and she was called in for an interview.

A notorious fixer, being presented with a challenge like Elaine was something that Hannah couldn't turn away. But can a person be fixed so easily?