Fuller Creek Series; Secrets of the Stolen Painting

C. Reyes David

Description

As Jess & Katie enter their senior year, the road ahead seems to be worlds apart. But when fate places them together investigating another case, old feelings begin to stir. Suddenly, tragedy strikes their lives, where Jesse finds himself in the race of his life. With his life hanging in the balance, will the power of love conquer any obstacle? Or will the story of their lives end in tragedy? Follow the lives of Jess & Katie in the final book of The Fuller Creek Series. Both guys and girls will enjoy the drama and adventure, so purchase it now to read the exciting conclusion!

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 20 mai 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781622878956
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Fuller Creek Series
Secrets of the Stolen Painting:
The Race of my Life
(Episode #9)

Written by:
David C. Reyes
The Fuller Creek Series
Secrets of the Stolen Painting: The Race of my Life
Episode #9
Copyright ©2015 David C. Reyes

ISBN 978-1622-878-95-6 EBOOK

April 2015

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. No p a r t o f t h i s b oo k pub li ca t i o n m a y b e r e p r o du ce d, s t o r e d i n a r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m , o r t r a n s mit t e d i n a ny f o r m o r by a ny m e a ns ─ e l e c t r o n i c , m e c h a n i c a l , p h o t o - c o p y , r ec o r d i n g, or a ny o t h e r ─ e x ce pt b r i e f qu ot a t i o n i n r e v i e w s , w i t h o ut t h e p r i o r p e r mi ss i on o f t h e a u t h o r or publisher .
Introduction
Chapter One – You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide…
Chapter Two – The Black Widow
Chapter Three – The Homecoming Dance: Round One!
Chapter Four – Fate Or Coincidence…
Chapter Five – The Prodigal Son Comes Home
Chapter Six – Secrets Of The Stolen Painting
Chapter Seven – The Bluffing Game
Chapter Eight – “Bowling”
Chapter Nine – Pieces To The Puzzle
Chapter Ten – The Parable Of The Shrewd Manager
Chapter Eleven – The Arraignment
Chapter Twelve – Memory Lane
Chapter Thirteen – The Senior Prom: Round Two!
Chapter Fourteen – The Race Of My Life
Chapter Fifteen – A Kiss For The Ages
Special Note To Fans Of The Series.
INTRODUCTION

In our lives, we hear all the clichés. “Life is like a bowl of cherries,” “Life is what you make it,” “When life gives you lemons; make lemonade.” However, what these sayings cannot do is to provide you with a way of dealing with your emotions when confronted with any given situation. Last year was a very tumultuous time in my life, taking me from the highs to the lows and everywhere in between. And if there was one thing I have learned from that, is that life can change in a single moment. You can think that everything is so perfect in your life, and then in a split-second; in the twinkling of an eye, it can all be taken away from you.
At the beginning of last year, I thought I had it all. During this time perhaps I began to worship the “things” in my life, rather than the “One” who provided those things. What we do, is we start to take those things for granted instead of appreciating them during that time in our lives. You know there’s a saying… “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” How true that was, as I took my relationship with Katie for granted and thought she would always be there by my side. Not only was I going to miss her as my girlfriend and someone I truly cared about, but even more than that, I was going to miss her friendship. This friendship had become a huge part of my life and she was someone I could always count on to be there through thick and thin. However, due to the way I handled the tragic event of Tami’s accident, I became bitter towards God and lost my faith along the way. And instead of allowing her to help with what I was going through, I pushed her out of my life and right into someone else’s arms.
So as our senior year in high school was upon us, I would have to take the road ahead of me without her by my side. I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task, trying to get her out of my heart. But what I didn’t realize, was that fate was going to make it even harder to get her out of my life.
CHAPTER ONE – YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE…

After I got home from my heartbreaking trip to San Diego where I found Katie in Chris’ arms, I knew things were going to be vastly different. You always hear people say that after a break-up, “we can still be friends,” but in reality, that’s not true. Oh you can be friends in name, but not as far as hanging around together and doing things like you used to. If there is one thing I can say about my friend Moses, is the guy has got some serious wisdom for his age. In the past few years of our friendship, he has been there to give me advice and words of wisdom with many situations in my life. It isn’t like I’m not an intelligent guy as far as books and I am very good at investigating into clues and so forth. However when it comes to the “things of the heart,” I just lose it and I let my emotions get the better of me. And before I know it, I’m making some dumb decision or going off and saying something I shouldn’t. One of these pearls of wisdom came in a conversation a few years ago. We were talking about relationships where a guy and a girl are friends. I remember he told me there is no way to continue being best friends if either of you start to go-out with someone else. For this reason I knew my relationship with Katie was going to be far different this coming senior year. So the more I thought about how Moses has helped me, the more I realized I needed to make amends with him. I had lost my faith in God, and with that, I had pushed him away. I guess I didn’t want to be near someone who represented the thing I was trying to avoid. Currently I do believe in God, but I haven’t made my way back to Him yet. I guess you might say, I’m in the “Prodigal Son” stage where I have realized my error and I am picking myself up off the miry floor and thinking about making my way back home. But like any relationship, it takes time. Time not only to ask others for forgiveness, but to allow that healing process to begin. I knew this time in my life was going to be very difficult especially at first. And the one thing I knew was I needed a friend like Moses to help me through this.

We were about a week away from our senior year starting, and so I gave him a call to see if I could patch things up with him.
(Phone rings)
“Hello...”
“Hey Moses, it’s me.”
“It’s me? Who’s me?”
“It’s Jess; who do you think?”
“Jess? Hum…, let me think. I do remember a guy named Jess sometime back, but I haven’t heard from that guy for months.”
“I know, and I’m really sorry. I don’t blame you for being mad at me. I know I was a jerk for not wanting to hang around you, but I called to apologize and I was hoping you will forgive me.”
“Jess, you still haven’t gotten it after all these years, have you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean my humor—I’m joking! Come on, you know me, I’m just messing with you, I’m not mad at you.”
“You’re not?”
“No, why should I be. I knew you were going through something and you needed time to work things out for yourself. I didn’t take it personally.”
“Well that’s good, but I still want to say I’m sorry.”
“I appreciate you saying that. So anyway, how are things going for you?”
“Well as you probably know, Katie and I broke-up and now she’s going out with Chris.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve seen them sitting together in church. Also Katie called me one time to talk about it.”
“She did? What did you guys talk about?”
“Mainly you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, she still cares for you as her friend and she wanted to explain to me what happened when she and Chris got together on that College Prep Cruise. She also told me if I happened to talk to you, that she hopes you are doing well and she’s praying for you. On the subject of praying… I know you might not want to talk about spiritual things, but I just wanted to ask if you’re considering coming back to church.”
“Maybe, but not your church . If and when I do go back to church, it will have to be somewhere else. I know I couldn’t handle going to church and seeing Katie sitting with Chris—at least not right now. I still have a long way to go to get her out of my heart, and that’s going to take time. The less I see of her, the better it will be for me to get over her.”
“I can understand that, but we’ll still do things together, right? I mean after school and on the weekends.”
“Of course, that’s why I called you. I still want us to hang around even though we won’t be going to church together.”
“Alright, any time you want to do something just let me know.”
“I will, thanks. So when do you register for your classes?”
“Tomorrow, how about you?”
“Tomorrow also, I just hope that I don’t happen to get any classes with Katie this year. That would be torture to have to see her in one of my classes all year long.”
*****
Of course as fate would have it, the torture would begin on the very first day of school, in my very first class of the day. The class was calculus, where I entered the room and sat in the second seat from the top of the far right row. As other students filtered into the class, suddenly a familiar figure stepped through the door and immediately my heart began pounding in my chest. She looked around the room; saw me sitting there, and walked over and sat down right in front of me. It was like déjà vu all over again. Like the very first day we met in Mrs. Weaver’s social studies class in the seventh grade.
She turned in her seat to face me. “Hi Jess, I didn’t know you took calculus this period. Quite a coincidence, isn’t it?”
“Yes, quite a coincidence.”
An awkward silence filled the space between us, as I don’t think either one of us knew what to say at that moment. This was the first time we had spoken since our breakup.
“So how are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m alright, how are you?”
“I’m fine,” she said, as the uncomfortable silence continued.
As more and more students entered the classroom, my heart began pounding even harder at the thought of her sitting in front of me.
Was I going to be able to handle staring at the back of her beautiful head all year long? Gazing at those flowing locks where I once ran my fingers through and smelled its sweetness? And was I going to be able to look into those beautiful eyes of hers without going completely crazy?
As I thought about that, I knew there was only one answer to that question, so I got up and started to leave.
“Jess, where are you