Coming Home (Only Time Will Tell #1)
Read Coming Home (Only Time Will Tell #1) Online
Authors: Caroline Spencer
Coming Home
Copyright © 2014 by Caroline Spencer
Editing by: Meagan Dyer
Cover Design by: Caroline Upton
The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which has been used without their permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
I don't know where to start.
First off, thank you to everyone over this past year who has been in my life. I know I'm not the easiest person to socialize with, but I honestly can't get my head out of the clouds.
My Mum and Dad. You have been so supportive with all of this. Allowing me time to coop myself away for nights on end in order to get this book written. You're the best and I know everyone says this about their parents, but you really are the best.
Kirsty. Thank you for letting me use your face as the cover and also Claire and Pink Voice Photography for taking the pictures, even if I caused you tons of stress.
Lisa. You have been amazing. You have been with me from the start and have been my own personal cheerleader throughout this. I can honestly say, if it wasn't for you, I would have given up months ago. Instead you gave me advice and helped boost my mood to get to this point.
Lena. Lena, Lena, Lena. I met you after I'd completed the first draft and needed help and fresh eyes. Since then, along with Lisa, you have become a friend. I know you were worried at times that you overstepped the mark, but I can honestly say that without you, the book wouldn't be as good as it is now. You helped chop, grow and scrub parts that really needed it. Love ya shugs xoxoxoxox ;)
Meagan. I have never known anyone work as fast as you! Not only that, you managed to get it back to me one minute after the 'deadline'. You're like superwoman of the editing world!
Thanks to you three especially, I am finally at this point and I can't thank you ENOUGH!
I could probably write a book thanking everyone who has been a part of this book, even if it's just for making me a coffee, so although I haven't listed your name, I want you to know that I am extremely thankful and grateful for everything.
Finally,
I think to myself.
I look around my lovely little apartment all new, fresh, clean and…me.
This is what I wanted. A new beginning, a clean slate and no memories. I hadn't felt this content with life in eight years. Not since before we moved from Mississippi, to start a new life in England. Now, at twenty five, I was back to try and find myself, my old self that I left here in the States, too many years ago.
My Dad was born and raised here, whereas my Mom grew up in England. They had the whole holiday romance thing going on in their early twenties, which blossomed into a marriage and two kids.
Life in England was good. We moved to a small town, in Derbyshire, which was close to my Mom's childhood home and extremely close to family, people I had never met, but we quickly built strong relationships.
It turned out that I had a lot of relatives in England, and considering that I’d had very little to do with them for my whole life up until that point, we got on. I was stupidly shy to start with, so many new faces and an accent that I couldn’t understand made me uncomfortable, but I managed in the end. I loved all of my family, but it was with a small group that I gelled.
They’re all sisters, so I was a bit of an outcast at first but I did become an adoptive sister to them. Well, in my eyes, they were mine.
The town we moved to in Derbyshire was an old mining town. It was only around ten minutes from the city and a few miles away from the countryside. You got the best of both worlds. It was a good second home, and I do miss it at times, mainly when I miss my family.
I love them so much, they have supported me through all of my tough times and helped me pick up my crumbling pieces. It was hard leaving them all behind, just like it was hard leaving here all those years ago. But I had to do it. For me.
I had always hoped that I'd, one day, set foot on American soil again, and hoped that my roots would re-grow. I'm lucky and thankful that I got that chance.
I looked into various destinations once I decided to move back: either somewhere new, or back to my old neighborhood. I did miss Grenada and it was a tough decision, but I realized that if I did that, it would be hard and all the old memories would flood back. So I opted to start my new life in Boynton Beach, Florida. Okay, so I wanted sunshine and beach days too! After living in England, you kind of feel like you need to see summer for more than one week a year.
I've been here for about two months now and it's the first time I've stood in the middle of my lounge and felt happy. Up until today, I've been stressed; working my ass off, decorating, planning, and having a few drinks with Nadine, my bestfriend who I could no longer live without.
I had enough money to start off my new life. My parents had put a sum of the money, from the sale of the Grenada house, in a savings account, and I also worked and saved—after I had
finally
finished school.
I had enough to put a down-payment on the apartment, buy essential furniture and survive until I found a permanent job, which was hard. So to make do, I got a job as a waitress in a local bar, which was where I met Nadine, and also how I eventually landed myself a great—permanent—job in accounting, meaning I could quit with the waitressing... after a week.
