She Left Me Breathless (38 page)

After the meeting was over, Sydney called Karen up to her office. She offered her congratulations for graduating with honors, and then offered her Allen’s former position as Assistant Vice President of Computer Logistics, reporting directly to Caitlyn since she had also been promoted to President of Computer Logistics.

Karen being true to herself, happily accepted the position and then proceeded to do a cartwheel in Sydney’s office. By the time she had left, Sydney and Caitlyn were practically rolling on the floor with laughter.

Rachel’s mother kept her word and had made no attempt to smooth things over with her daughter, but Lou on the other hand, did keep his and called Rachel several times over the past few months. He even managed to have dinner with them at least once every other week. Sydney had always believed that where there was life, there was always hope and she hoped that one day, Roberta would see that not only was she hurting herself due to her narrow-minded way of thinking, she was hurting her daughter and granddaughters as well and missing out on getting to know three really incredible people.

As for her own mother, Sydney held out as much hope for her changing as she did Roberta but that didn’t stop her from wishing it.

She thought about Edward, AKA Martin Hollis, and how he had already found himself a new wife but he had not attempted to contact Rachel or Alyssa and Sydney didn’t think he ever would. She had decided to keep an eye on him just the same and received monthly status updates. She would keep getting them as long as he remained alive.

She shook her head as she thought about Meredith. There wasn’t much to say really. She was still the same woman doing the same things, using women for her own selfish needs and then tossing them away like yesterday’s newspaper.

The part that bothered her most about everything that had happened was Maureen. She hated a part of herself for not being more feeling and compassionate all those years ago regarding her business practices. Unbeknownst to Maureen’s parents, she had made an anonymous deposit into their bank account for one-hundred-thousand dollars and she kept her word about allowing them to keep their house. She had made a promise to herself to look at the whole picture, to look at the people specifically involved or affected when making business decisions in the future.   

What surprised her most was how Caitlyn had figured out that Maureen was the embezzler. The cd Jackie had accidently left in Caitlyn’s office didn’t just contain the computer code she had written, it also had Maureen’s grocery shopping list on it, a careless mistake that unraveled their entire plan.

Rachel reached over and took Sydney’s hand in hers, pulling her from her thoughts. “It’s beautiful here,” she said as she looked around their campsite.

“Yes it is.” Sydney frowned. “Where’s Caitlyn?”

“I’m right here,” Caitlyn answered before Rachel could answer.

Sydney shifted in her chair, smiling as she watched Caitlyn step out of the trailer, holding hands with her new girlfriend of three months—Natalie from the shipping department at EMCOR.

Caitlyn dropped down into one of the chairs, pulling Natalie down on her lap.

Natalie looked at Sydney. “I still can’t believe that the trailer has a fireplace and a central vacuum in it,” she said, shaking her head.

“My idea of roughing it,” Sydney laughed as she got up from her chair. She looked at Rachel. “I’ll be right back,” she said and went inside the trailer.

“What’s she up to?” Caitlyn asked, looking at her mom.

“Knowing her, it’s hard to say,” Rachel laughed.

Sydney came out a few minutes later. She kept her hands behind her back as she squatted down in front of Rachel. “Umm ... I was thinking since you’re legally a single woman now ... that ... um ... I would love to make an honest woman of you.” She brought her hand out from behind her back. She was holding a black velvet box.

Rachel gasped as Sydney flipped back the lid. Laying in the box was the most gorgeous diamond ring she had ever seen, lying next to it was a channel band wrapped in diamonds. “Will you be my wife, Rache?” Sydney asked.

“Oh my goodness, Yes! Yes,” Rachel yelled as she jumped up from the chair and proceeded to knock Sydney backward on her butt. Rachel pushed her back further so that Sydney was laying flat on her back. She fell down on top of Sydney and with tears streaming down her face, she kissed Sydney on the mouth. “Yes, I will marry you.”

“About time,” Caitlyn laughed as she did a fist pump in the air.

“Uh, Mom, what about the neighbors?” Alyssa asked. “They’re kinda watching.”

“Let em, watch,” Rachel said as she kissed Sydney again.

“Do you think we can roast hotdogs now?” Alyssa asked in a serious tone, causing everyone else to burst out laughing.

“Yes, baby, we can roast hotdogs now,” Rachel laughed as she helped Sydney up off the ground. 

THE END

Author Bio

Trin Denise lives with a house full of rescue pets, which all happen to be physically challenged. She is a huge advocate against bullying, especially when it comes to physically challenged children and she also writes children’s novels under the name T. Denise Robinson. Her writing career began eight years ago when her love of movies led her to write her first screenplay. Since that time, she has become an award winning and produced screenwriter and multi-published author.
Find out more about the author at:
www.trindenise.com
If you have the time, friend her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. She is always happy to meet new people.
Web site:
www.trindenise.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/trindenise
Twitter: @trin_denise

Listen To Her Heart

Due to be released late 2012

Yalen Martinez is a bestselling author of lesbian fiction. She has thousands of fans that come from all walks of life, yet she is alone.

Since the breakup of her ten-year relationship two years ago, there has been no one special in her life. She just doesn’t have the time or energy for it.

After countless attempts by her two best friends to set her up on blind dates, she decides to use the internet to get to know a few women because she thinks it’s safe and she can do it anonymously. They don’t need to know who she really is or what she does for a living, thus eliminating her constant worry of whether the women in her life will like her for her, or for what she can give to them materially.

She joins a lesbian dating site called, “Lesbian Neveah” and soon finds herself on the receiving end of several beautiful women who would love to get to know her better. One in particular named Emily gets her attention and they begin conversing.

Over several months, they develop what could be viewed as a romantic relationship but then something goes terribly wrong. Being an author, Yalen has a way with words and when Emily sends her a poem that she supposedly wrote for Yalen, alarm bells go off. The poem is just too perfect.

Being somewhat internet savvy, Yalen copies the poem that Emily wrote and pastes it in the Google search engine. What she finds, turns her world and her stomach upside down. The poem comes up under a website detailing copies of letters used for online dating scams. Part of the scam Emily is running, leads Yalen to believe that she’s from California and is away in Japan at chef school. To make matters worse, Emily claims to be hearing impaired, therefore, Emily’s often chopped vocabulary never sent up a warning sign.

Yalen chastises herself for not doing a more thorough investigation and everything she thought she knew about Emily, is now a lie. She’s not even sure that the pictures that Emily sent of herself are real or if Emily is even female. Not only is she hurt, she’s pissed off and is now determined to discover Emily’s true identity.

Yalen’s curiosity gets the better of her and she starts an investigation by tracking the IP addresses from Emily’s emails. Lo and behold, the emails are originating in the United Kingdom and being rerouted through San Francisco and they are being sent by a Blackberry.

Without letting Emily know that she suspects that she is a con artist, Yalen hires private investigators in Japan and the United Kingdom to track down the owner of the Blackberry, and once she knows their identity, she is determined to confront them face to face. Her investigators determine that the woman running the con is not the same woman shown in the pictures that Emily had sent and that the chef school is not a chef school at all. It’s a cooking school that offers one and two days classes for those interested in learning Japanese cuisine.

Yalen, though disappointed, becomes obsessed with finding out who the woman in the picture is and she’s willing to go to any length to get that information, starting with posting the woman’s picture in all the major newspapers in the U.S. and on Billboards. She anonymously offers a $50,000 reward for any information that will lead to the woman’s identity. After only two days, she gets the call she’s been waiting for and passes the information onto her investigator. The report comes back that the woman is a former Victoria’s Secret model, single, and a lesbian.

Armed with the woman’s name and address, Yalen boards a flight to Tennessee without any idea as to how she plans on approaching this woman. She’s just going to have to wing it and hope like hell that the woman doesn’t think she’s some kind of psycho head-case.

Determined to get to the bottom of the online dating mystery, Yalen and her new found friend in Tennessee, set out on a high-risk adventure that will have them criss-crossing the globe and risking their lives repeatedly as they come face to face with a million-dollar, underworld crime syndicate that specializes in on-line dating scams.

Is it possible that two women who live very different lives who never knew the other existed can meet after being forced together due to unforeseeable circumstances, only to discover that they were brought together because it was their destiny? Sit down, buckle up, and hold on because Yalen Martinez is about to find out the answer to that question.

Dedication

This novel is for all those ladies who have finally found the woman who left them breathless. For those who haven’t found her yet, be patient, she’s out there. I promise!

Acknowledgements