Where We Left Off

by J. Alex Blane

Cover links to Amazon

Some memories you do your best to forget. Others you wish you simply had the opportunity to remember. Mason Everett found himself in the center of both, as he felt the warmth of an autumn sun graze his face through the tinted windows.

A successful Real-estate developer, Mason had his picture perfect life. He was young, handsome, wealthy and single. No stranger to frequent hook ups at the local night clubs he avoided relationships at all costs living tirelessly by one rule:

“Never let anyone close enough again to hurt you”

Until he found himself falling for Sydney McCail, a young woman he met at his brother’s wedding. In the midst of a developing relationship Mason’s past begins to surface causing him to push Sydney away in fear of her finding out a secret he’d kept hidden for most of his adult life. In the wake of a tragic accident she finds that what she thought she knew was only the beginning, and what happens from there leaves them both searching for answers to a single question in what turns out to be a startling outcome, Where We Left Off.

Excerpt

Even in his own reflection, he didn’t see himself the same way. Mason stood in front of the mirror that hovered over the bathroom sink, still distraught at the man staring back at him, as he had been for the days, weeks, and many months prior. So much has changed. He shook his head at the thought. So much of him had changed. Fatigue settled in the dark circles that rested beneath his eyes and as he raised his hands to wash the shaving cream from his face, the brisk sting of the cold water that ran down his thinned cheeks was a bittersweet reminder. I was handsome once. He laughed thinking back at the first time he’d met her. The first time he’d smiled and she didn’t look away. The first time she told him she loved him. How could she still love me? He wondered. It would have been so much easier for her to let him go. But she wouldn’t. She didn’t. Despite his once broad shoulders and athletic build, now yielding to one much smaller, the way she saw him, even the way she smiled at him never changed, not to this day. She had every reason to forget he even existed, but she didn’t. In the background of his thoughts and dreams, she remained. She waited.

Footsteps neared closer as they climbed the staircase, walked into his bedroom, and stopped at the bathroom door.

“Are you okay?” James, still young and eagerly optimistic, asked.

Mason smiled.

“You know we should have been there an hour ago. Mom just called.” James leaned into the doorway.
Mason cleared the nervousness from his throat and turned off the faucet. “I’ll be down in a few minutes,” he mumbled, as he adjusted his tie and ran his hand down his goatee.

James nodded and walked back down the stairs.

He was just about ready. A few more sprays of cologne and checks to make sure he’d shaved properly, and he would be out the door.

Who would’ve have ever thought, he said to himself as he flicked the light switch and watched his silhouette through the mirror leaving the bathroom.

Getting down the stairs took him a little bit longer than he was used to, but when he did, he opened the door to one of the most beautiful days he’d ever seen. The sun met him with a smile as it graced the sky with its morning dew. And there was James, waiting beside the limo in a black tuxedo, with a crisp white shirt and lilac tie frame by the same color vest. There was no one else, just them and the driver. He slowly walked to the car with a slight limp in his left leg.

James had the passenger side door open for him. “Are you ready for this?” He asked.

Mason placed his hand on James’ shoulder while getting into the car and just smiled.

“Last chance,” James laughed, as he leaned into the door before getting into the car.

Mason couldn’t help but laugh, “Trust me, I’m ready,” he anxiously smiled.

As they drove through the city, he was still amazed at how so many things had changed. It seemed every street they’d passed had something he’d never seen before - a new store he hadn’t heard of, even new streets. But, more than just the roads he never traveled was the single aisle he’d never walked, and as his hands clenched his knees it was obvious he was afraid. James glanced over, noticing his restless leg and his hands trying to calm them down.

“So what do you do now?” He asked, “I mean, you know …after everything that’s happened?”

Mason stared off through the window, unsure of how to answer. He’d asked himself that same question more than once. And now, just like every time before, searching for the right answer he asked himself again. What now?

Author Bio

J Alex Blane is an author, novelist, and self-publisher. His debut Novel “Where We Left Off” was his first break in the literary world of fiction romance, but definitely not his last as he is currently working on his second. A Multi-Media developer by trade, his creativity is fascinating. And from a number of his reviews, so is his ability to draw you into his writing, his suspense …his story.

A native of Pennsylvania, Alex is a graduate of Wilmington University where he received both his graduate and undergraduate degree. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a Career Counselor within the University and a media developer for design firm he and a friend founded in 2004. He’s always had a passion of writing, telling himself one day he was going to write a book. After nearly eight years of deciding to put his pen to a piece of paper he finally finished, Where We Left Off, a story that has evolved with his many life experiences into something to this day he will say he never expected.

Alex currently resides in Bear, Delaware with his wife and his two small children where they share a small home just right for him to sneak off into a little corner and write more of what he loves and where he is currently at work on his next novel. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Nu Upsilon Chapter in Wilmington, Delaware, a father and a husband. Alex loves to tell a good story, but more than that he loves to make you feel as if you are right there as it’s happening; a part of the feelings, the emotions, the joys and the sadness’s. Pull up a chair, or find that special place where you can escape the world around you and get to know a few new people. That’s how he makes you feel, as if you are just as important reading the story as the characters living it.

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