Excerpt from chapter 5 of my book

Don crossed her mind. She wanted to hold on to him. She was scared and he had a way of comforting her. She laughed with James, but not the way she did with Don. She realized that suddenly. Don had certain things about him that comforted her. Making her laugh was one of them. She remembered the smiles that she herself had when she was with him. Other memories came to her.... She suddenly missed him. When she was cold, she would climb into bed with him and snuggle up to his back. He was so warm and she would bury her face in his back and say “Ohh Yeaahh” in such a way that she could only say in that situation.

She missed other things about him. She missed the way they would look into each other’s eyes and have entire conversations without saying a single word. She missed stroking his cheeks with her fingertips. She missed the way he said “Hmm” and had a certain head movement when he had nothing else to say during a playful confrontation. She missed how he said “Awww” when singing along with Luke Bryan to “Country Girl, Shake It for Me” on the radio, especially when he had been drinking. She missed the way he traced the features of her face with his fingertip when they lay together. She missed watching him sleep when she was having a bout of insomnia. She missed the way he would close his eyes and kiss in the air to get her to kiss him. She called them his Fishy Lips. She missed Don. She was not sure now why she had left him so coldly and without compassion for him.

Thump! Angela turned her head toward the door to the bedroom, unsure of what she had just heard. She was sure, but in her mind, did not want to be. Thump! Her heart started racing. Thump! Thump! Thump Whump! Thump Whump! As she feared, the sound was coming closer. The cane at first, then as the old man approached, the other foot could be heard. Thump… Whump…