Evergreen Drive

By S. A. Jenkins

On Evergreen Drive the past collides with the present.

Erika K. Hunt has lived an idyllic life. A married mother of two, she has a loving sister and a reliable best friend. Each day she questions her love, devotion and awareness. A comfortable lifestyle steadfast by her husband's side has begun to disintegrate. In just a few short weeks, lies surround her, and her marriage is in jeopardy.

If the people you trust most can betray you, then where does hope reside?

Evergreen Drive delivers a series of punches through the fragile walls of Erika's sanity, a narrative that will leave the reader stunned. Can she love her husband, without ever really knowing him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Oct 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781456629182

Book preview

love.

The Slap- We All Tell Lies

I was content with the disapproval of my Mama. Found the bitterness of my daddy’s words a comfort to the pain I caused. But it is the distrust I feel for that other half of me that pours acid into my veins.

In a cold sweat, I woke that summer morning wondering how the air-conditioned chill still felt so hot. Evan was still asleep snoring as usual. If I kicked him, all he would do was flinch and continue his horrid tune. The sun was barely raised, and the birds on the eaves trough chirped with rapid ease.

I got up and washed the sweat off my face, looking deep into my eyes as the reflection of the mirror portrayed my unease. At that time, my world was closing in, my fears dissolving the most basic hope. Celine called it a temporary funk. Best friends can be counted on for optimism, even at the dimmest hour.

My prayers go unanswered, or I'm just too caught up in misery to see the answer. My husband has ignored every discontent and shallow act I had displayed, trying my best to silently exhibit my discomfort with the current state of our marriage. Just the other week, Evan had called me a ‘lifeless tick’ – an expression I’d heard before, his single recognition of my depressed state.

The only person to see my flagrant need for consolation was my sister Gwen. She bought herbal remedies, how-to-books and uplifting CDs, even paid for a spa weekend on her modest salary, all because my douche of a husband insisted I could get my nails done at home for less, his having no realization that what I was desperate for was escape.

Hearing sound behind me made me turn. The tiny steps of Nibbles, our black Cocker-Poodle, were a relief. She was twelve years old and seemed to know exactly when her company was needed.

I finished by patting my face with a hand towel. Quickly, I let the dog out and back in again before returning to our bedroom. I stood in the doorway and watched Evan still sleeping as if he had no burdens. In my view, he always had life’s journey at hand a little too easily.

At first I thought to head back to bed, but instead I went to the den and switched on the computer. Without hesitation, I logged onto my personal email account and hurriedly clicked open the crude message from two days ago.

The subject simply titled, He and I, brought a rush of heat to my core, and still I felt cold. When I’d first read it, I thought it a cruel internet prank, a sort of virus or phishing scam, but the words were too direct, too curt to be impersonal.

I read it now for what was the fifth time. So far, I had only shared it with Gwen. Three spaces down in the body the message read:

I exist. I know him best! When he moans, it’s me he thinks of. He has told me everything I need to know- each and every secret, and I love him more for it each day.

He may sleep beside you at night for now, but in the end he will be mine. So let him GO! Walk away with what you already got. I need him more.

I please him more than you ever could. If you are woman enough to see the truth, meet me at Strawberry