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    Housebroken
    Housebroken
    Housebroken
    Ebook90 pages59 minutes

    Housebroken

    By Charmaine Gordon

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Sally and Steve Atwood must make a big adjustment – a fair number of them, actually – when after thirty-five years, three grown children, and a lifetime of memories, they are alone, together, at last... And, then they found River’s Edge. River’s Edge, where the town motto is Kindness to Strangers, is a small town with big heart, and stories to tell that will warm your heart, make you smile, and turn a dreary day into a day of hope for the Kindness of Strangers...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVanilla Heart Publishing
    Release dateAug 3, 2014
    ISBN9781310074776
    Housebroken
    Author

    Charmaine Gordon

    Charmaine Gordon writes books about women who Survive and Thrive. Her motto is take one step and then another to leave your past behind and begin again. Six books and several short stories in three years, she’s always at work on the next story. The books include To Be Continued, Starting Over, Now What?, Reconstructing Charlie, Sin of Omission and The Catch, and her series of Mature Romances, The Beginning...Not the End.“I didn’t realize at the time while working as an actor in NYC, I’d become a sponge soaking up dialogue, setting, and stage directions. I learned many tools of writing during the years watching directors like Mike Nichols and actors including Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, and Billy Crystal. And would you believe, I was Geraldine Ferraro’s stand– in leg model, my first job giving me entrée into all the Unions needed to work. When the sweet time ended, I began another career and creative juices flowed.”You can reach Charmaine athttp://authorCharmaineGordon.wordpress.comAnd on her FB page http://www.facebook.com/charmaine.gordon

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      Book preview

      Housebroken - Charmaine Gordon

      Housebroken

      by Charmaine Gordon

      Copyright 2014 Charmaine Gordon

      Published by: Vanilla Heart Publishing on Smashwords

      Ebook Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

      Table of Contents

      Dedication and Acknowledgements

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      More Great Books by Charmaine Gordon

      Charmaine Gordon Author Bio and Photo

      Dedication

      This story is dedicated to my husband, Don,

      because he knows what’s what about humor and love,

      two ingredients to keep a house from being broken.

      I hear his voice in the background saying,

      You’ve housebroken me, my dear wife.

      Acknowledgements

      To Kimberlee Williams who raised this primitive author by teaching me

      enough to use my computer fairly well. My friend, because you believed

      in me, I believe in me. Thank you for everything. Here’s to success,

      good health, and joy.

      Chapter 1

      Steve and Sally Atwood held their respective breaths and prayed nothing would upset the get-away. Two children out and now, at last, the youngest married and going, going, gone. They waved and watched Johnny and his bride drive down the road and turn the corner in their new Toyota.

      Alone at last. Steve hugged his wife of thirty-five years. Let our honeymoon begin. And to his surprise when he lifted her chin for a kiss, he discovered tears running down her cheeks. What’s this, honey? I thought you’d be happy.

      She sniffled and blotted tears on his shirt. I am happy, but now, Sally raised her arms and walked through the hall into the kitchen and through the dining and living rooms, the house is empty. Once it was filled with children, sweet babies laughing and crawling. . .

      And crying all night and teenagers asking for the keys to the car and thinking they knew more than we do. He pulled her to him. Sweetheart, you’ve forgotten the effort we’ve put in to raising three kids to be good people and now it’s our turn at last. How about champagne to celebrate alone at last and I bought your favorite chocolate covered strawberries? I’ll fill the hot tub and we’ll relax.

      Sally kissed her husband, knew he was right and he’d pushed all the right buttons with decadent drinks and chocolate in the afternoon. She pulled the scrunchy from her hair as she climbed the stairs, and she sucked in her belly, glad she’d done a zillion sit-ups to strengthen her muscles and keep up her shape. The allure of sweets called to her. She’d resisted – so far.

      Steve waited ‘til she entered the bathroom before popping the cork to pour champagne. Sally did a coy strip tease and carefully stepped into the tub to sit and soak in hot bubbly water. They clinked crystal flutes, made a toast To us and breathed in the heady fragrance of lavender. Steve fed strawberries to his wife; they shared each one and, when dessert ended, they had no doubt about the pleasure ahead.

      Chapter 2

      One month later

      Sally? I’m home.

      Steve’s voice broke the silence and Sally felt a tinge of annoyance. In the midst of writing an article for the local paper, she needed concentration and all he wanted was sex. Well sex was good, uh, great but she needed a time-out. As a would-be journalist, getting clients, submitting articles, becoming a name turned out to be hard work. And damn social media for taking over to create another challenge. Steve had a solid position with a large corporation as managing sales director of the entire country. He had no idea how hard she worked in an attempt to reach the first rung of the ladder at her age.

      The weather forecast is grim. Big snowstorm coming. He opened the fridge. We’re short on milk, butter, bread, cat food and what did you plan for dinner?

      Dinner, who gives a flying… She called out. "Fluffy died two months ago and already you’ve forgotten

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