Romance Writer

Despite the setting sun, long shadows, and crisp autumn wind, the woods seemed warmer and brighter.

Almost so warm Eva wanted to take off her jacket.

Something was wrong.

Eva didn’t remember there being such a clear and easy path through the woods.

Perhaps the kids weren’t afraid of it anymore.

Still, strange that she seemed to be the only one on the path.

Eva paused as she approached the edge of Norman’s Woods.

They’d avoided it as kids, whispering it was haunted or worse.

Cutting through it would shave an hour off her walk home, and she didn’t believe in that stuff anyway.

And if she walked quickly enough, she’d make it home before sunset.

Eva would have to ask her dad for a loan.

Again.

He’d lecture her that she should have gone into engineering instead of teaching.

Again.

But he’d help her fix her car.

Eva flipped the collar of her jacket up against the wind.

Her car wouldn’t start.

Again.

Repairing it would cost more than she made in a month. But without it, she couldn’t get to work.

So much for that college degree her parents insisted she get.