Then & Now

By Dayle A. Dermatis

Sixteen and pregnant, Kim thinks Kevin left her behind when he got his orders to a new Air Force base.

Thirty years later, Kim’s daughter tracks down Kevin. Happy with her life, Kim still wonders what could have been—especially when she meets the kind and handsome man Kevin became.

And whether she and Kevin can reconcile their rocky past with a promising future, and have a second chance at first love.

A charming and poignant romance short story from the deft hand of Dayle A. Dermatis.

“Then & Now” originally appeared in Heart’s Kiss (Vol. 1, Iss. 1, 2017).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Soul's Road Press
• Release date: Jun 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386490418

Dayle A. Dermatis

Dayle A. Dermatis is the author or coauthor of many novels (including snarky urban fantasies Ghosted and the forthcoming Shaded and Spectered) and more than a hundred short stories in multiple genres, appearing in such venues as Fiction River, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and DAW Books.Called the mastermind behind the Uncollected Anthology project, she also guest edits anthologies for Fiction River, and her own short fiction has been lauded in many year's best anthologies in erotica, mystery, and horror.She lives in a book- and cat-filled historic English-style cottage in the wild greenscapes of the Pacific Northwest. In her spare time she follows Styx around the country and travels the world, which inspires her writing.To find out where she’s wandered off to (and to get free fiction!), check out DayleDermatis.com and sign up for her newsletter or support her on Patreon.* * *I value honest feedback, and would love to hear your opinion in a review, if you’re so inclined, on your favorite book retailer’s site.* * *For more information:www.dayledermatis.com

Book preview

Then & Now

Then & Now

Dayle A. Dermatis

Soul’s Road Press

Contents

About This Book

Then & Now

What Beckoning Ghost preview

What Beckning Ghost

Epigraph

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

About the Author

Also by Dayle A. Dermatis

Be the First to Know!

About This Book

Sixteen and pregnant , Kim thinks Kevin left her behind when he got his orders to a new Air Force base.

Thirty years later, Kim’s daughter tracks down Kevin. Happy with her life, Kim still wonders what could have been—especially when she meets the kind and handsome man Kevin became.

And whether she and Kevin can reconcile their rocky past with a promising future, and have a second chance at first love.

A charming and poignant romance short story from the deft hand of Dayle A. Dermatis.

Then & Now originally appeared in Heart’s Kiss (Vol. 1, Iss. 1, 2017).

Then & Now

Then

Kim hunched over the pillow in her lap, her tears dripping on the knockoff Laura Ashley pink-and-green flowered pillowcase. She was as high on the twin bed as she could go, her back pressed against the corner of the room where two dark-paneled walls met. Wind rocked the trailer, spitting sleet against the window, creeping its way through unseen cracks so that even though she wore sweatpants, a sweater, and thick socks, and huddled under her ratty pink chenille bedspread, she was cold.

Another North Country winter.

She’d thought she would be getting away from it.

She’d thought she’d be happy, make a new life with Kevin.

Simple Minds’ Don’t You Forget About Me came through her boom box speakers, bringing with it a fresh wave of hot tears. Why she was listening to the mix tape, she didn’t know. It was stupid.

She was stupid.

On the wall next to her, hung on a nail, was her calendar. Today’s date, January 30, was encircled with a heart drawn with her favorite purple glitter pen.

Today was the day Kevin shipped to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, his second assignment after being here at Plattsburgh AFB, New York. She thought she’d be going with him.

Without thinking, she stuck her hand in her sweatpants pocket, curving her fingers around the tiny, hand carved, wooden sleeping dog. Kevin had made it for her when they’d first started dating. It looked just like her beagle, Bagel, right down to the way Bagel would drape his own tail over his nose when he slept.

It had become a habit to rub her thumb on the gleaming-smooth wood when she was stressed.

The artistry, and the sweetness of the gift, set him apart from the stupid boys she’d gone to school with since she was a kid. Plus Kevin had ambition, and he was saving up for a motorcycle, and…

And now he was gone.

She pulled her hand out of her pocket.

The knock on her bedroom door startled her. What?

The door opened halfway, and her mother leaned in. Her hair was piled high like Joan Collins in Dynasty, which made Kim wince every time she saw it. Her mother was so old.

Dinner time, hon.

Kim could smell the cooked beef and onions and spices, and remembered it was taco night. Usually she helped grate the Velveeta and shred the head of lettuce, but she wasn’t speaking to anybody in her family right now. She sniffled. I’m not hungry.

Hon, you have to eat. You have to stay healthy for…

Her mom couldn’t bring herself to say the words. God, it was humiliating. Kim threw down the pillow. "Fine. She’d hoped it would be like the Madonna video for Papa Don’t Preach," with her parents being upset but finally coming around and being on her side. Instead they wouldn’t even talk to her about the pregnancy—they’d simply told her, a few days later, that if she wanted to keep the baby, she was going to live with Aunt Julie in Florida until after the baby was born.

Of course, Kim had thought Kevin would propose, take her away to Oklahoma, where they could be a family.

They’d talked about the future, lots. She was sixteen, and smart, so she was going to graduate from high school before her eighteenth birthday. He was so different from the boys she knew in school. He’d enlisted in the Air Force at seventeen, been stationed here, far from his home in California. That in itself had seemed so brave to Kim, who hadn’t been farther than Albany or Burlington, Vermont (except for that time her parents took her to Park Safari in Canada when she was a kid).

Then she’d found out she was pregnant, and she told Kevin, and he said he’d figure out what to do next so they’d be together…and then he was gone.

She didn’t have a phone in her room, even though all her friends did, so it was hard to find a way to call him. She’d ditched school one day and walked to a Stewart’s and called him from the pay phone, but he hadn’t been in the dorm. (When she got home, she’d been in a world of trouble.)

And today he’d shipped out and left her behind. Left her and the baby growing in her belly.

She loved him, and she didn’t understand.

The mix tape switched to Broken Wings, and she smacked the boom box off and followed her mother out the door.

She didn’t want to eat, but she didn’t want to hurt the baby, either.

Now

Kim cradled the plain ceramic mug between her hands, breathing in the sweet, almost nutty scent of the green tea. Outside, the Portland rain turned Belmont Street into a