So Far From Home

By Jean Gillespie

karen macintyre is the envy of all her friends. she has a great job in new york city, a boss who is her best friend, and a wonderful social life. so why is she so dissatisfied? It's only when she is sent to london to head a branch of her company that she is willing to admit to herself that she is pining for a former love in her hometown in scotland. while attending a conference in edinburgh, karen finally gets up the courage to drive to lauder -ton to revisit her past. once there, she must come to terms with her feelings and decide whether to follow her heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jean Gillespie
• Release date: Jul 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476085838

Jean Gillespie

I am a native Scot who resides in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. I alternate the settings of my books between West Virginia and my hometown of Strathaven, Scotland. "A Death on Faculty Row", "Secrets of the Powmillon" and "The Road to St. Cecelia's" are available on amazon.com.

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SO FAR FROM HOME

BY

JEAN GILLESPIE

SO FAR FROM HOME

Published by Jean Gillespie at Smashwords

Copyright © 2012 by Jean Gillespie

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

SO FAR FROM HOME is a work of fiction. Though some actual towns, cities, and locations may be mentioned, they are used in a fictitious manner and the events and occurrences were invented in the mind and imagination of the author. Any similarities of characters or names used within to any person past, present, or future is coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles or reviews.

CHAPTER 1

Karen walked into her apartment, dropping her small suitcase and purse on the floor the second she did so. After closing and double chaining the door, she walked over to the couch and plopped herself down like a sack of potatoes. She was too tired to move. What a week! But it was her own fault. She should have known better than to spend a week at her mother’s after Avril Carson’s wedding.

You need to take a page out of Avril’s book, Karen. She just graduated from college last year and already she’s snagged a doctor.

Yeah! I know that. You’ve reminded me often enough. And I’ve seen the doctor in action, clutching the bums of all the female guests under fifty when he gave them a hug.

It’s probably force of habit. He’s used to examining people.

He’s an ear, nose and throat specialist, not a gynecologist.

Jealousy will get you nowhere, Karen. I’m just pointing out that Avril has certainly been a lot quicker on the uptake than you.

What’s that supposed to mean?

Simply put, it means that at the age of twenty-three, Avril Carson has feathered her nest for life.

Meaning what exactly?

Don’t be so exasperating, Karen. You know what I mean. She has already found a husband at the appropriate age for marriage.

Ah, You mean as opposed to your Christmas cake daughter, as the Japanese so bluntly put it.

Exactly. You’ll soon be thirty-two. And what do you have to show for it?

I’m a successful business woman who loves her job.

But you’ve got none of the trappings.

You mean nothing you can boast about to your weekly canasta group.

Well, I don’t think having a daughter who lives in a crappy three story walk-up is anything to brag about.

It may not have an elevator, Mum, but the apartment is far from crappy.

Well, I wouldn’t hand out your address to any friends or acquaintances headed for the Big Apple. And, please remember that on alternate Thursdays we play bridge.

Canasta. Bridge. What’s the difference?

You know darned well what the difference is.

Karen could have continued the argument but decided to stop before her mother got to the part about her friend and boss, Jeremy Deighton, leading her on. After Jeremy, she’d attack Karen’s long-standing crush on Fergus Cameron, someone from Karen’s past whom she’d no wish to discuss, at least not out loud and definitely never in the presence of her mother.

Slouched down on the couch, Karen closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander back to Lauderton, her hometown in southwest Scotland. The MacIntyre family had left Scotland for northern England when Karen was only ten, but there had been gazillions of visits back to Lauderton to visit friends. Fergus Cameron was two years older than Karen, but they’d always enjoyed each other’s company and would frequently walk up past Sanford for picnics at the Primrose Braes on the banks of the Kype Water well within earshot of the water splashing on the rocks at the foot of the Spectacle E’e Falls. That was where Fergus had kissed her for the first time. Although it was in the presence of friends, Karen would always treasure it as the most romantic moment of her young life. She often wondered if Fergus remembered that kiss. Hell, she’d settle for him even remembering who she was at this point. Karen’s mother didn’t approve of these outings or her relationship with someone she considered too old for her daughter. She was terrified that Fergus would lead her young daughter astray, but the closest she ever came to warning Karen about the dangers of a pre-marital sexual relationship was to make it clear that if she ever brought shame to the family in that way she, Karen’s mum, would climb to the top of the highest building in Lauderton and hurl herself to the ground below. That threat did more to amuse than scare Karen since there weren’t many buildings in the village much higher than eye level.

Fergus Cameron went off to St. Andrew’s after Hamilton Academy while the MacIntyre clan, all five of them: mum, dad, Karen and her two brothers emigrated to the United States when her father was given an offer he couldn’t refuse in the huge insurance conglomerate he worked for until he died. Karen hated Chicago. But it was reassuring to know that if she ever brought shame to the family in that way her mother would have a plethora of skyscrapers to choose from for her grand finalé.

After high school, Karen returned home to work on a degree at St. Andrews, the university of her dreams. Needless to say, her mother was not happy with her daughter’s choice of a college or a major in Scottish history and accused her of being relentless in her pursuit of Fergus Cameron. At one point, she even accused Karen of being man-daft, warning her that she’d end up like so many love-crazed young women she knew who thought with their hearts instead of their heads. Since Mrs. MacIntyre could never produce