Refuge

By Amanda Uechi Ronan

When Shannon returns to her hometown for the first time in three years and a hurricane strikes, she is forced to face her past and take refuge with the man who broke her heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amanda Uechi Ronan
• Release date: May 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310274275

Amanda Uechi Ronan

I'm a unicorn jockey, autocross padawan, and lover of tacos.

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Refuge

Amanda Uechi Ronan

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 Amanda Uechi Ronan

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"The rain set early in tonight,

The sullen wind was soon awake,

It tore the elm-tops down for spite,

And did its best to vex the lake:

I listened with heart fit to break.

When glided in Porphyria; straight

She shut the cold out and the storm,

And kneeled and made the cheerless grate

Blaze up and all the cottage warm;"

- Robert Browning

6:15 pm

Shannon tossed the black bag into the metal can on the curb. The trash stunk like rotten fruit and vegetables, a consequence of her mother’s attempts to eat healthier and complete incompetence when it came to noting Sell By dates. Most of it sat rotten in the fridge, untouched in their knotted plastic bags from the grocery store. She wondered if her mother even ate between shifts at the hospital. Maybe her diet was really the same as her daughters – coffee and candy bars.

She stood with her hands on her hips, staring up at the sky. It was dark and cloudy. It would have been sticky with humidity if not for the strong wind that had started up that afternoon and refused to relent. Her mother had been home for only 2 hours since Shannon arrived yesterday. She’d spent the first day of her vacation cleaning out the refrigerator, wondering why she’d come home at all.

Contemplating your life? came a cocky voice from her left. She looked up to find Thomas grinning at her, smirking really. He was the most handsome boy she’d ever seen, even compared to the ones in movies, even compared to vampires she’d once told her friend Maddie who’d gasped with eyes bugged and a hand held to her mouth as if she’d just uttered something sinful. Thomas had dark blonde hair that was now cropped short and bright green eyes that he almost always kept hidden behind black sunglasses. His skin was eternally tan, flawless and in Shannon’s opinion the only thing remotely suitable for housing the perfect musculature that adorned his bones. He tucked his chin to his chest, staring up and over the rim of his shades. Shan? he said as if he were making sure she was still conscious.

She slammed the metal lid down. He was cute, but also an intolerable bastard. Crossing her arms on her chest she stalked up the crooked rock path to her backdoor and let it slam shut behind her.

THREE YEARS AGO ~ June 5

Shannon let her toes drag through the sand. The chains of the swing creaked and groaned as she let her weight shift ever so slightly.

Forward.

Backward.

Forward.

Backward.

Creak.

Groan.

Creak.

Groan.

The lines always messed each other up. She tried to keep them straight, but no matter how stiff she held her foot, it was