Lance: A Hathaway House Heartwarming Romance Read online

  “Oh, my God, even Dennis is here.”

  “Are you kidding?” Shane said. “Everybody wanted to come, but we only had so many vans.” And she knew why. Because, when this man makes music, he makes everybody’s heart sing. And she sat back to watch the rest of the evening. When it finally came to an end, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. As his fingers slowed, and the music drifted over their heads on the last refrain, the place erupted as everybody stood to cheer. She knew that, of all the things he planned on doing, this was his return to the world, and she had just watched him making his first mark as a smashing success.

  Lance listened to the applause, feeling his heart settle and his soul relax. He realized that this was the thing he’d always wanted to do in the back of his mind. God and country came first, and then his music. And now it was time. When everybody stood, stomping and cheering for an encore, he lifted a hand, and immediately there was silence. He said, “I do have one more song. It’s not exactly a blues song,” he said, “but I’d like to sing it and to dedicate it to one person who’s been a guiding light at my side for the last many months, as I’ve made the journey from being a fully broken-down man to the partly broken-down man you see before you now. She’s been there giving me confidence, pushing me when I didn’t want to be pushed, and walking away when I needed to be left alone. She is here in the audience tonight,” he said, “so this song is for her.”

  And he started singing “Sweet Caroline.” And the audience loved it.

  Everybody turned to see where Jessica sat. Beside Shane, she smiled with tears in her eyes, the tears slowly dripping down her cheeks, as Lance said that the song was just for her.

  When it was over and done, there was a moment of silence, and then Lance whispered through the mic, “You’ll always be in my heart, honey. And I hope one day to make you mine.”

  The place erupted as she burst from her chair, raced to the stage, and was beside him in two seconds flat to wrap her arms around him. As soon as he saw her coming, he stood, opened his arms, and held her close.

  She was bawling in his arms, but he knew that they were happy tears, and he just held her close.

  “I didn’t tell you,” he whispered against her hair, “because I wanted to surprise you. I’ve always been the one hanging back, the one taking his own sweet time, while you were out there pumping and jumping, ready to go. I wanted to show you that this time I was ready too.” And he tilted up her chin, looked down, and kissed her. And even he couldn’t hear the sounds of the noise around them. He only heard her words.

  “I love you so much,” Jessica whispered to him.

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

  More than ready for the future standing in front of him.

  Epilogue

  At times in Melissa’s life, she’d made rash decisions. Most of them had turned out okay. Sometimes not. Then sometimes she deliberated for so long that the opportunities passed her by.

  She stared down at the crumpled letter in her lap. Not just crumpled but also tearstained. Her one and only friend had gone to the trouble to track her down, even after years of silence. Then Dani had known Melissa before her parents’ death. Afterward she’d moved into Dani’s place as a retreat. They’d finished school together. Then Melissa had entered the navy and what she had hoped would be a brand-new life.

  And it had been, … until her accident.

  Now she was at a crossroads yet again. And this time, once more, Dani offered a pathway open to Melissa. Back then Dani had pleaded with Melissa to continue staying with her and her father and to not go into service. She’d chosen the navy over her friend back then.

  Now Melissa had a chance to choose Dani this time. She had spent many years building up a VA rehab center called Hathaway House—originally built to help her father regain a life after his own injuries had sidelined his military career. With the upstairs part of this center growing, Dani had quickly installed a veterinarian clinic down below. Then that was Dani; she couldn’t help herself from trying to save the world, one person, one animal at a time.

  Just as she had tried to save Melissa back then, Dani was trying to save Melissa now.

  She had refused back then, but now …

  Looking around her four-person room, Melissa took in the apparatus attached to her bed, the wheelchair, and the crutches close by. The life she lived here, while recovering from her latest surgery, was filled with hopelessness at the thought of staying here. In reflection, going into the navy had felt like she was running away instead of running to a new future.

  Now it felt the same again.

  On impulse she picked up her phone and called Dani. When Melissa heard her friend’s voice, her throat closed.

  “Hello? Hello?”

  “Dani,” she finally got out.

  Silence. Then Dani exploded, “Melissa?”

  “Yeah,” she said, half in tears, half in laughter.

  “Oh my, I’m so glad you called. I’d be even happier if you’ve filled out that application to come here.’

  “No, I haven’t. At least not yet.”

  “Please do it,” Dani pleaded. “We can help you here.”

  “I don’t know if you can,” she whispered back. “I’m in pain all the time. The journey itself will be incredibly hard.”

  “Yes, it could be,” Dani said quietly. “But, once here, we have specialists on staff who can help you.”

  Melissa sniffled her tears back. She wanted to believe her friend. She really did. But hope was a little thin on the ground.

  “Please,” Dani said into the phone. “Take a leap of faith. Let me help. Last time I pleaded with you to stay. This time I’m asking you to come. You needed someone back then and walked away. You need someone now. Please don’t walk away from me this time.”

  Melissa took a deep breath and capitulated. “All right. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “I do,” Dani said. “Come. You won’t regret it.”

  This concludes Book 12 of Hathaway House: Lance.

  Read about Melissa: Hathaway House, Book 13

  Hathaway House: Melissa (Book #13)

  Welcome to Hathaway House. Rehab Center. Safe Haven. Second chance at life and love.

  Health-care worker Shane has been at Hathaway House since the beginning. He’s watched patient after patient scratch and claw their way to recovery and has watched relationship after relationship blossom into love and marriage. He believes in love. Wants a true love of his own. Yet he wonders now whether anyone is out there for him.

  Until Melissa walks into his gym.

  Broken and beaten by life and overwhelmed with endless pain was never part of Melissa’s long-term plan. But a year after an accident sidelined her navy career, she’s still fighting her way back to a normal life—if such a thing exists for the woman she’s become. Her transfer to Hathaway House is a lifeline to her oldest friend, but, even with Dani’s encouragement, Melissa’s journey back to health is long and hard and maybe just a pipe dream. But she’ll try again. One more time.

  Separately, Shane and Melissa have been battling their own personal demons. When they meet at Hathaway House, the tough physiotherapist vows that his newest client will reach successes unimaginable to her. Together, working through her rehab plan, Shane and Melissa find a special tenderness behind each other’s strength.

  Find Book 13 here!

  To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for reading Lance: Hathaway House, Book 12! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.

  Dear reader,

  I love to hear from readers, and you can contact me at my website: www.dalemayer.com or at my Facebook author page. To be informed of new releases and special offers, sign up for my newsletter or follow me on BookBub. And if you are interested in joining Dale Mayer’s Reader Group, here is the Facebook sign up page.

  Cheers,

  Dale Maye
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  About the Author

  Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).

  She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

  To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.

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  LANCE: HATHAWAY HOUSE, BOOK 12

  Dale Mayer

  Valley Publishing Ltd.

  Copyright © 2020

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-773363-83-7

  Kindle 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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.