Stages | Episode Five

By Katie Paul

Just when Sophie has finally got her life back on track, Michael is involved in a terrible accident. How will she deal with these tragic events? Will her new relationship survive? How will she hold on to her recovery when she is pushed beyond what she thought she could endure?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katie Paul
• Release date: May 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311525345

Katie Paul

Katie Paul has more than one guardian angel. The first additional divine being was sent her way during the first thirteen days of her life when she was left in the hospital waiting to be adopted. She qualified for a second additional supernatural helper forty-five years later, on the day her husband decided to take his own life.Because of the hard-work and long suffering patience of her three guardian angels (who she calls Bob, Fred and Hugo) she has pretty much shrugged off any lingering damage these two events might have caused. She also believes that they might have had a hand in her recovery from bulimia which she inadvertently developed when competing in two body-building competitions. She is now at peace with her natural curves and has discovered that sexy is an attitude and not a body shape.As she approaches middle-age, she has fallen in love for the first time. She found her handsome boyfriend online and is now shacking up with him in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. She tried being married once and didn’t like it, so she’s not likely to go down that road again. Her boyfriend takes her to tropical beaches to compensate for working away too much, makes her go kayaking and cycling with him, and he leaves the room when she watches 'The Bachelor' and 'Millionaire Matchmaker'. He likes that she’s grown her hair long and gone gracefully grey, but he isn’t keen on her getting any more tattoos or piercings.She used to work in theatre, stage managing plays, musicals, orchestras and opera, but she gave it all up to write books. Her stories are about loss, love, lust and longing. Her characters get a bit raunchy at times because that’s the way life should be – full of big juicy moments. She is sure Bob, Fred and Hugo agree.

Book preview

STAGES

a Sophie Walker Novella

Episode Five

Copyright © 2014 by Katie Paul

Cover copyright © 2014 by Katie Paul

SMASHWORDS EDITION

All rights reserved

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.

Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

The author greatly appreciates you taking the time to read her work.

Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends about the Stages series, to help spread the word.

Published by GRETEL PARK PUBLISHING at Smashwords.

Contents

Title

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Want more?

About the Author

CHAPTER ONE

Sophie knew she was filling in time. She had dressed in her favourite black jeans and was standing outside the Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre on a Sunday morning. The small sandstone building was tucked away in a side street, the front path lined with tall palms and cabbage trees. The weekends, recently filled with first dates with interesting strangers, had turned into an ordeal of waiting. Since she had said yes to William’s invitation to be his girlfriend, the dates were over. She had even taken down her profile from the dating website. From Friday night to Sunday night she was alone.

As Sophie climbed the scuffed wooden stairs to a room on the first floor, she felt a familiar sense of uneasiness creep over her. It always amazed her how outspoken and assertive she could be at work, but when it came to meeting new people she was excruciatingly shy. She hovered for a moment in the hallway, reluctant to enter. But if people at the Spiritual Life Centre weren’t warm and welcoming, then who would be? Sophie took a deep breath and walked through the door.

The room had deep blue carpet and cream painted walls. Three rows of plastic chairs faced a stage in front of a bricked-over fireplace. A microphone on a silver stand stood in the centre. Small clusters of people talked together in hushed tones around the edges of the room.

A petite woman in her forties with long grey hair pulled back in a ponytail, came over to greet Sophie. The minister, if that’s what she was called, wore a long dark skirt with a soft blouse. Her cornflower blue eyes sparkled.

‘Hi, I’m Dr Natalie Hunter,’ said the woman, shaking Sophie’s hand. ‘You can call me Nat. Please come and sit down. We’ll be starting in a few minutes.’

As Sophie waited, twenty men and women of various ages took their seats. Some said hello and others just flashed Sophie a warm smile. A frail young man wearing John Lennon glasses stood in the corner playing an electric piano. The soft hypnotic melody reminded Sophie of her meditation podcasts. It had been a long time since she had meditated — not since she had left Michael. She made a note to herself to resume her neglected practice.

Sophie’s eyes rested on the wall-hanging at the front of the room.

We believe in the unity of all life and that the highest God and the innermost God are one.

We believe there is no separation, only love and oneness.

We believe that when we change our thinking we change our life.

We believe that God is good and there is no judgement, only love and acceptance in Truth.

These beliefs were what had drawn Sophie to the Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre that Sunday morning. She had first encountered the words on the Spiritual Life Centre’s web page, and realised they were similar to the ideas in the books she had been reading by Louise Hay, Esther Hicks and Marianne Williamson. Sophie had come to believe in love expressed in both an internal and external divine intelligence; in the feeling of connection with humans, animals and nature; the transformative power of positive thinking; and a religion of acceptance rather than judgement. Perhaps it was ‘new age shit’ as Michael and Liam had called it, but it was better than the restrictive rules and regulations of the church she had grown up in.

Dr Nat moved to the stage and lit a row of candles on the mantelpiece. She switched on the microphone and cleared her throat.

‘Let’s breathe together,’ she said. ‘Om…’

Sophie closed her eyes and let the vibration of the word ‘Om’ spread from her throat up into her skull. A deep sense of peace settled over the room and into her body. She felt her shoulders loosen and relax.

Without any other sound to direct her thoughts, her mind began to drift to William. After he had left on Friday afternoon, she had felt the first seed of doubt creep into her mind. If William worked away most weeks and spent every weekend with his kids, how much time would they spend together? Perhaps she had been too hasty in agreeing to be his girlfriend. Although they hadn’t discussed it, she assumed their arrangement included exclusivity. Had she signed up to be in a long-distance relationship which threatened to leave her as lonely and unsatisfied as her marriage?

As she noticed the sensation of peace begin to slip, she pushed her thoughts away and brought her mind back to the sound in her throat.

A few moments later, Dr Nat was speaking in a melodic voice. ‘I am a radiant being, full of vitality and enjoying life to the fullest,’ she said.

The congregation repeated her words. Dr Nat continued to lead the affirmations, pausing for responses.

‘All I need is always taken care of. I am safe,’ said Sophie. ‘I release the past with love. I move forward with confidence and joy, knowing that all is well in my future.’

‘And so it is,’ said Dr Nat. She sat in a chair at the front of the room.

The skinny man at the piano began to sing. His voice was surprisingly deep and raspy. From somewhere behind Sophie, another musician beat time on an African drum. During the chorus Dr Nat and other voices in the room joined in.

‘I am joy, I am peace / everything else I release / I am love, I am light / I reach up for greater heights.’

At the end of the song, Dr Nat delivered what might be thought of as her sermon, but there was no reading from the Bible, no admonitions to resist temptation or atone for one’s sins. Dr Nat talked about calling on the power of the Universe to create a life that satisfied every want and need. Sophie let the whole experience wash over her, holding at bay the urge to judge and decipher what was going on. Her critical mind was sent on a vacation.

After the service was over, Dr Nat presented Sophie with a gift bag full of inspirational postcards, pretty bookmarks and foil-covered chocolates. As Sophie walked home, she swung the gift bag from her wrist and hummed I am Joy under her breath.

William arrived at Sophie’s on Sunday night, after he had dropped Matthew and Holly back at Emily’s house. The two nights Sophie had been alone, had felt like an eternity. She was relieved, that for this week at least, he was working in Sydney. He wouldn’t have to sneak away in the middle of the night. When she opened the door, William was holding a black overnight bag in