Fiction Friday - Breaking Dawn
Chapter One
Dawn sat at
her computer, staring blankly at her e-mail program. She scrolled down to the
bottom one more time, thinking that maybe she had missed something in the last
sentence. Maybe this was supposed to be a joke. Her fiancé, Patrick, was on
vacation for a few days. He said that he needed some time to think. This e-mail
meant a lot more than a vacation, and he obviously was not thinking at all.
Hey
Dawn!
Just wanted to let you know I got a
great job in Indianapolis
~Patrick
P.S. In case you can’t
tell, I’m breaking up with you, but you can keep the ring. It wasn’t that
expensive anyway.
What a bastard, she thought. What kind of person breaks up with their
fiancé via e-mail? He deserved bad credit, but Dawn really wanted to make this
work. She just needed to bring in enough income for the bank to refinance in
her name and she would be able to live her dream.
Ever since
middle school, Dawn’s answer to the question of “What do you want to be when
you grow up?” had been farming. She wanted to own a ranch or an orchard or
cornfields. She wanted a white farmhouse miles from any major city, and maybe she
wanted a few cows or horses or goats. She grew up in a middle class
neighborhood in Louisville ,
Kentucky Indiana , but she was
trying to make the most of things.
Patrick
proposed two years ago, just before they bought the property and moved out to
the country. The land they bought was over 100 acres. The house sat on the
front corner of the lot, and needed a lot of work. About 40 acres were cleared
when they bought the property, and they had plans to hire someone to clear more
land and build a small barn. Unfortunately, Dawn was struggling just to pay the
mortgage. She made a paltry amount each year from selling corn, but after
paying to rent equipment and hire labor, she didn’t have anything saved up after
two years of hard work.
After
frowning at the computer for a few more minutes, Dawn decided to call in
reinforcements. She picked up her cell phone, checking the signal carefully,
and then dialed for help.
“Hi, Dawn.
What’s up?” Jessica asked, after seeing the caller ID.
“My life is
over!” Dawn whined into the phone.
“It can’t
be that bad, what happened?”
“It is that
bad. Not only has Patrick moved out, he’s not going to help with the mortgage
anymore, and I’ll have to sell the land and move. I put all my savings into the
down payment for this place. I know if I sell it now, I’ll end up losing money.
What can I do?”
“Let’s meet
up at my place for coffee and talk it through. I know you’re great at coming up
with creative solutions, and I want to hang out with you anyway. I can tell you
what I’ve been doing as far as working with the bank on loans for my new
store.” Jessica smiled, “Plus, I’m trying out some new recipes for cupcake
icing. You’ll have to help me pick a few favorites.”
Dawn’s
sweet tooth made her smile back, despite the drying tears on her cheeks. “I’ll
be there in ten minutes. I can’t wait to see you.”
Jessica
laughed, not entirely sure if Dawn was talking about her or the cupcakes. “See
you soon.”
Jessica had
moved next door about the same time Dawn and Patrick moved in. She was lucky to
have found a girlfriend her own age so close by. It seemed like most of her
neighbors were retired or middle-aged farmers. There weren’t very many young
folks this far out in the country. Next door was still a couple of miles away
by the time you travelled a few curvy roads and driveways, so Dawn hurried to
get ready.
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