Her Love Lost (Love Shattered Series Book 1) (2 page)

Courtney

“Mommy, I don’t feel so good” Caleb cried from the side of my bed later that morning.

“What’s the matter baby?”

“My head and throat hurt” He cried out.

“Okay Sweetie let’s get you back in bed and I’ll call and set up a doctor’s appointment for you.” I walked him back to bed, and the second I sat down beside the bed I heard Jason groan.

“Mom, better make that an appointment for 2 sick kids, I don’t feel that great either “Jason, he may be the oldest but he is the most pitiful when he is sick.

“Oh, and what is going on with you? I need to know what to tell the doctor.” I asked.

“My throat feels like it is on fire, Mom” he exaggerated holding his throat like he was choking or something.

“Okay boys, you stay put while I go get the thermometer. I need to check your temperature before I call the doctor.” I quickly walked to the bathroom and got the thermometer. By the time I got back to the boys room little Miley had crawled into bed with her brothers.

“Mommy, My neck hurts” Miley whined. She always referred to her throat as her neck, that’s her 2 year old way of saying she has a sore throat.

“What is this? A freaking epidemic?” I swear these kids hardly ever get sick, but when they do it’s always close to the same time. Usually not all at once, but usually within a week of each other they are all sick. I took all three kids temperatures. Sure enough all three were running fevers.

“I better call the doctor now, you guys sit tight. I’ll be right back.” Heading in search of my cell I went to call the doctor. Then came back to the room and gave them all a dose of Tylenol to lower their fevers, and got all the kids ready to head out the door for a family trip to the doctors.

Three co pays and three prescriptions later, all three kids were back home lying in bed with a terrible case of strep throat. Luckily, I had run into Elise as she was leaving the doctor’s office and she paid me the money I would have made if I had watched Chelsea today. With that money I was able to purchase the prescriptions for all of them.

This was unusual. Normally the kids all got sick one week at a time and it would be a month worth of trying to get everyone healthy again. This could actually work in my favor, sure it’s terrible my babies are sick but I may actually get a little time to myself to read a book or watch some TV since they will all be in bed for the next few days. When my kids get sick, all they want to do is sleep. The second they were feeling better it would be back to the constant cleaning and chasing after everyone. Don’t get me wrong here, I love every minute of it, but sometimes you just need a break and being a single parent I did not get many of those. I can treat this like a little vacation over the next couple days until everyone was back to their normal selves.

It wouldn’t be a real vacation of course nothing like a real vacation at all really. I hadn’t been on a real vacation in years, only short quick- sometimes even day trips- to a secluded little island that was only accessible by boat. I would go there often just to clear my head and think, not to mention the most beautiful shells that would wash up on the beach there, I have collected hundreds of shells on my trips to “shack” as I liked to call it. I have not been able to get over there in a long time though. I need to try and get over there soon or at least take our boat for a ride.

My husband had bought us a boat years ago. I have thought about selling it several times over the years for some extra money but could never bring myself to do so. It was a little piece of Dave that I still had and I knew he would want me to keep it to use as a getaway to our Island anytime I wanted. 

As far as this family sickness that seems to be burdening them went, I would take this time to enjoy some me time the best I could. Maybe I will start to watch that vampire show my sister Lillian had been telling me about.

Hmmm what was the name of that show again? I made a mental note to remind myself to call my sister Lillian later to find out. Once the kids were settled in for the night I was going to take full advantage of this time.

I made some homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner, cleaned up a bit around the house, got all the kids bathed and ready for bed, then I called up Lil to ask her the name of the show she had been dying for me to watch for the past few days so that we could talk about what happened together.

“Hey Lillian, I had a question” I asked with a little too much excitement. The things that get me excited now a days, I swear I am so lame.

“Oh yea and what’s that?” Lillian replied.

“Well, you know that vampire television show you have been telling me about? I was wondering the name I have some down time so I was going start-“ I was cut off by the squeal of excitement from my crazy sister.

“OH MY GOSH,” She shouted into the phone so loud I had to pull it away from my ear.

“You are just gonna love it Court! You really are, it’s called
By the Light of the Moon
, there are four seasons so far, I am on season 2. Now, I am warning you, once you start watching you won’t be able to stop so be prepared.” Lillian let out in a rush.

“O-okay a little ecstatic about a TV show are we now?” I joked.

“You just wait Courtney in a couple hours you are gonna be just as excited. I will let you go now so you can get started, Enjoy. Night Love ya sis!”

“Night Lillian! Love you too.” I couldn’t help but laugh at Lillian that girl was crazy, 6 months pregnant talking about vampires and wanting to travel all over the United States to follow them around.

I don’t think I will get that hooked but we will see. I will give it a try for Lillian’s sake. Being addicted to a Television show was kind of frightening to me but I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Sitting down on my bed getting nice and comfortable with a tub of ice cream I knew that if I was going to get through this night of watching this show I was going to need it. Maybe even two tubs as a matter of fact. I hadn’t watched any television series since my husband passed away. That was kind of our thing. We always started a television series together and watched every single episode together. I tried to sneak and watch the next episode one time only to give myself away when I blurted out what was about to happen, when I watched it again with Dave later that evening. I only did that one time and learned my lesson. I wasn’t about to do anything that encouraged a tickle war. I hated being tickled and he knew it and always used it as a weapon against me when I did something Dave wasn’t happy about. Not that he ever really got that mad at me for real. It was all in fun mostly.

“Well here goes nothing.” I flipped on the television to the On Demand TV series section and thumbed through all the show listings until I came across
By the Light of the Moon
.  I sat back and clicked Season One Episode One and sat back with a sigh and began watching the show that I was sure would just put me to sleep. Who like actually wanted to watch vampires really? I will give it a go for Lillian though.

After her sister’s phone call, Lillian sat on the sofa with the most excited grin on her face, until she looked over at her boyfriend, Greg, passed out on the floor. She rolled her eyes, “why do I put up with your shit?” Lillian scowled at the man passed out drunk on the floor. Sometimes she wondered if the baby she was carrying was enough to bother keeping him around. Times like this she definitely thought she would be better off without the jerk in her life.

Lillian liked to think that once the baby was born that the second he held his son he would make a drastic change for the better but sometimes she just wasn’t so sure. He was a jerk, ninety-five percent of the time. All he did was get drunk, come home, and demand sex, and Lillian was just about getting tired of his shit. She knew deep down she deserved better than this jack ass, but every time she took a look at her belly, she got a sinking feeling in her gut and thought she would try to stick it out for her daughter’s sake.

She walked over top of him –maybe accidently kicking him in the side out of spite-leaving his drunk ass passed out across the kitchen floor and headed to her room. She slammed the door and returned her thoughts to her heartbroken sister. Courtney was finally going to catch up on the show,
By the Light of the Moon
. Then they could maybe get together for dinner and talk about everything that is happening. Maybe they could even get together to watch the remaining episodes.

Lillian was seriously in need of some down time with her sister Courtney. She was desperate to talk to her about the situation with Greg, but didn’t want to upset her. She thought her sister might think ill of her to speak of her boyfriend in such a bad way. Knowing that Courtney lost the love of her life not long ago and she was still suffering from the loss for love they shared, and for the love of her children who were now being raised by a single widowed mother.

Who was she kidding? This was Courtney she was thinking about of course she would understand. She was the kindest, sweetest, caring person Lillian had ever known other than their Mother. Besides Greg was an asshole and she really needed her big sisters advice on the situation.

Lillian loved spending time with Courtney. They would always take random spur of the moment road trips together and enjoyed just living wild and free. Courtney wouldn’t hesitate packing up the kids and heading out of town for a few days with just a seconds notice. They’d spend hours and hours on the phone talking about the littlest of things. They could text each other in the middle of the night when they had an important thought that just couldn’t wait until morning. She loved the random road trips the most though. Courtney would sing along with the radio, Lillian swears her sister knows every song ever written. She would sing and beat the steering wheel with her hands, and dance around from the driver’s seat and scare the mess out of Lillian with all her crazy singing and dancing she did while driving down the interstate, but she always had to admit it was a quite a sight and one that she dearly missed. She hasn’t seen Courtney that way in years.

Gosh I really miss her.
Courtney and Lillian have 2 other sisters, Becky and Sarah, but they were never quite as fun. Lillian enjoyed their company, but there was just something that Lillian and Courtney shared that brought them closer together than she was with her other two sisters. Well, that was before Dave died.  Once Courtney’s husband passed away it was like Lillian suffered a loss of her own. Her sister hardly came around anymore, and when she did she never really opened up anymore. Courtney would try and play it off like she is doing just fine, that she is just really busy, which Lillian knew for sure she was busy, but she could see right through her sister’s act and knew she wasn’t really “doing okay.” When Dave died, a part of Courtney died as well, and Lillian was determined to get her sister back and make things right for Courtney again. It may take a while, but Lillian saw this as a hopeful beginning.

“I really hope this works in bringing us back together again.” Lillian said with a sigh.

She looked down at her pregnant belly and rubbed. “Your auntie has had it really rough the past few years little one, it’s up to us to bring her out of this slump. I can’t imagine what she is going through, but I am sure going to try to fix this, you with me baby girl?”

Just at that moment the little baby girl in her belly decided to kick, assuring she was on her Mother’s side. Lillian grinned, “That’s right little one you love your auntie already don’t ya?”  She kicked again.

“Well, I’m wide awake might as well watch a couple more episode before I head to bed.”

Just as Lillian started to turn on the next episode she hesitated a minute and thought about waiting for Courtney to catch up so they could watch the rest together. This was her plan after all, get her sister interested in something that they could share together to help bring her out of her slump since Dave’s passing. Instead of turning on the next episode, Lillian got on the computer and did some research on the main characters of the show. She found out that they actually filmed the show in Alabama in quiet little town, and that they had tours set up so you could go and see the places where the actors worked their magic.

Oh this is perfect! Maybe Courtney and I could take a trip here! It would be just like old times, and it would be amazing to see where this show takes place.
She scrolled through and just about fainted when she read,
You can even meet the cast if you are lucky enough to catch them on a day that filming is taking place.
That was all it took. Lillian was going to get her sister to take this trip with her no matter what it takes. Even if she had to kidnap her to get her there she was going to do it.

Lillian did a little more research on the tour, and wrote down the website. She would have to check more into it after she spoke with Courtney about that. She turned on the TV and decided that she would go ahead and watch a couple episodes before bed.

Courtney

This show is actually pretty freakin good, I thought. I started watching it around 8:00pm and it was now a little before midnight and I had watched 4 episodes back to back. I don’t think I have even blinked this whole time. WHOA want to talk about H-O-T. This show should come with a warning label. How have I never heard of this show or the actors before? Totally sexiness if I don’t say so myself.

I realized that I was clutching a pillow to my chest and holding in a breath that I finally let out once the fourth episode was over. “I need to call Lillian right now” I blurted out. “I know it’s late but I am sure she is still awake doing the same thing I am sitting here doing”. Picking up the phone I decided to give her a call. 

The phone rang a few times and finally Lillian answered the phone. “H-Hello,” Lillian answered in a sob.

“Oh my gosh! Lillian is everything okay? Why are you crying? Did that jerk Greg hurt you again? I swear once I get my hands on that asshole boyfriend of yours I’m”- I was cut off by Lillian’s snickering.

“Chill out Court. He’s been passed out drunk since five this evening. He is actually laying sprawled out drunk in the kitchen floor. I just left his ass there I am getting far too pregnant to be taking care of his sorry ass any more. I am actually crying because of what just happened on the show chill out sis, you worry too much.”

“Oh, well speaking of the show, that’s why I was calling. There are some serious hotties on here. Eric, the main vampire is dreamy, and his ally Mark, is smoldering hot. I can’t believe that girl won’t give either of them the attention they deserve.” I was practically screaming now.

“Oh I know, just wait it gets so much better, I really want to go on a tour of where they film. It’s a small town in Alabama. I think it would be so awesome to go. I will email you the websites and info that I found.”

“Yeah that would be a lot of fun Lil. Maybe we can go one day. Well, I just wanted to call and let you know that I am enjoying this so far. I am going to go so I can watch a few more episodes before I head to bed. Goodnight Lil,”

“Goodnight sis. Enjoy what’s coming next!” Lillian giggled and hung up the phone.

Shaking my head I thought, that girl has got it bad
.
Then I had a great idea pop into my head. Lillian’s birthday was coming up next week. It would be great to surprise her with a trip to Alabama for her birthday so I could take her on the Vampire tour. Who would have ever thought I would be thinking those thoughts. Anyway, it has been a really long time since we took a random road trip.

I have some money in savings that I was saving for a rainy day. I don’t see what it would hurt to go. Besides I would do anything to see my sister happy.
I would also be having a talk with her about that jerk Greg. Lillian deserves far better than some drunk punk.

Lillian is 6 months pregnant and has a boyfriend from hell. He’s never there and doesn’t treat her like he should, and when he is there he’s drunk and unconscious. He always tries to say the baby isn’t his, and threatens to leave more than twice a day. If he knew what was good for him he would cherish every second he had with Lillian, and respect her like she deserves. I honestly don’t know why Lillian puts up with his crap.

Well, that is that! I am calling my parents first thing in the morning to see if they can watch the kids for me, and then I will plan the best girl’s getaway to go stalk down some vampires with my sister. Well not real vampires of course, just the actors who play them, but still it will be amazing to see them film in person.

Dexter Sonners plays the main vampire Eric, and Robert Turndale plays the Vampires ally Mark. I clasped my hands together. “Alright this is going to be so much fun.” I jumped onto the computer real fast to check my email from Lil. I went to the websites Lillian had emailed and set everything up. We would be leaving on Saturday, and would be gone a whole week. We would take the tour on Tuesday morning and the rest of the week would be a week full of “vampire stalking” Man I sure hope moms up for keeping the kids a whole week while were gone. This is going to be amazing.

I felt something inside me begin to stir. Something that I haven’t been feeling in a long time, interest in something other than the kids, joy, and maybe even a little happiness in there too. This trip might be just what I need to get over this little depression in my life. Things have been terrible lately. Things can only get better from here on out.

I broke my train of thought to turn my attention back to the Television for episode five. “This is going to be great!” I said with a squeal. One more episode and I would head to bed so I could get up early in the morning to begin planning the itinerary of our trip. My attention was fully on the television now.

Reaching episode seven, I just could not pull myself away from the TV. I was startled by the phone during episode 13. I assumed it was Lillian. Who else would be calling in the middle of the night? 

“Hey Lillian,” I answered with a yawn.

“Uh-Hello may I speak with Courtney Bedford Please?” a confused woman’s voice said on the other end.

“Oh Sorry, this is Courtney Speaking, How may I help you?” Oh My God how embarrassing that I just answered the phone that way. I glanced over at the clock and it was 9:30am. Holy crap! Did I just stay up all night watching TV? Yes, Yes I did. How sad is that.
I could have sworn it was just two in the morning when I started that last episode. Oh yeah that was like 7 episodes or so ago. Oops.

“Yes Mrs. Bedford, this Is Elizabeth Barksdale, you had a job interview here at Sweets and Treats Bakery. We were calling to let you know that you got the job. However, were hoping that you would consider taking on a job as the new manager here instead of the Cashier like you had interviewed for. You would be making better money and you would have off Friday through Monday, so you could still have time to spend with your kids at their activities like we talked about before, however, if you want the cashier position instead, if the manager is too overwhelming for you than you are more than welcome to that as well but we really hope you can consider the manager position. Would you be available to come in this afternoon so we could discuss this further?” Ms. Barksdale asked sounding hopeful.

“Yes! I certainly can come in this afternoon that is not a problem, just let me know the time and I will be there.”

Hell freaking yeah. I was ecstatic! This was the job I most wanted out of every interview that I had the past few weeks. This was a family based company, great benefits, all around great people to work for. Bouncing up and down in the bed with excitement I almost dropped the phone. This would be such a welcomed change in our lives. Things were starting to look up for me and my family.

“How does two-thirty this afternoon sound for you, Mrs. Bedford?”

“That sounds perfect, I will see you then,” I replied with the most professional voice I could while trying to contain my excitement.

“Great we will see you then, Mrs. Bedford. Have a good day dear.”

Just like that the lady was off phone leaving me jumping for joy for several more minutes before I realized how tired I was. Whew I hadn’t slept a wink all night, and now I had a job interview. Calling up my mom, Julie to see if she could come sit with the kids a bit while I caught a nap and then headed for my interview. Of course Mom didn’t mind she loved her grand kids and would do anything for them. She was off the phone and over at our house within fifteen minutes.

Mom knocked on the door, and I walked to the door in a zombie like state. Oh lordy, how tired am I right now. I answered the door to my mom’s worried looking face. That’s where I got the worrying trait from right there.

“Oh Dear Courtney, You look awful. You look like you haven’t slept in days are you sure you’re up for this job interview?” My Mother asked with concern.

“Well Thanks mom… Ugh I have been sleeping fine” I lied, I sure as hell wasn’t about to tell my Mom that I had stayed up all night watching a TV show, she would kick my tail. Even at twenty-eight I still cared a great deal about my mother’s opinion and knew if my Mom found out I stayed up all night checking out hot guys on a television show that the news wouldn’t go over to well with her.

“Well honey I am sure they would understand if you needed to resched-“I cut her off mid-sentence.

“Mom, I have been applying for jobs for two years, do you really think I am going to blow off my very first job opportunity because I have a little case of baggy eye syndrome?” I yelled “No I am not, I am going to go get a little rest for now, and then I will go to the meeting with my head held high. Now, if you’ll excuse me I would like to go lay down for a bit before I have to get up and get ready to go.”  Yes if you haven’t already figured it out yet, tired Courtney equals a cranky Courtney. I am going to need a whole pot of Coffee before heading to this interview later.

Julie sat there with her mouth gaping open shocked by my sudden outburst.

“Okay dear, get some rest. I’ve got the kids covered for however long you need. I will also have a pot of coffee brewed for you when you get up,” Julie declared. Yes my mother knows me so well.