Mystery Man

By Stephanie Glass

A dejected woman feeling alone and crazy finds a chart of a solider that intrigues her and she obsesses over him. Can she truly love this man from his chart alone? Can he overlook her crazy side? Will he be able to love her like she loves him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephanie Glass
• Release date: Sep 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311481955

Stephanie Glass

Stephanie Glass is a working mother living with her boyfriend and their 4 children. A son just starting ninth grade, and daughters in first grade, sixth grade and kindergarten. She has 3 dogs and a cat who help make their house into a home. She loves to read, write, and mostly recently learned that she enjoying painting. She loves turtles and collects them. They are found throughout her home and her office.

Book preview

Mystery Man

Written by

Stephanie Glass

Copyright © 2014 Stephanie Glass

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1502349728

ISBN-13: 978-150234972

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you Seth for making me feel like I could actual write something that others might like.

Chapter 1

Come on Annie, just 2 more hours. Oh no, talking to myself was not a good sign. Medical records can be so repetitive sometimes that time just seems to stand still. I have been working at the hospital for a few years now and most days it is fine but other days I just can't wait to leave. Ok just refocus and move on to filing the S's. Wait a minute what is this, something interesting for a change. I see a picture of a really detailed leg tattoo that has definitely caught my eye. The tattoo is of a soldier kneeling down with his head bowed and a hat covering his face. He has a long gun in one hand and a flag in the other. It is so beautiful that I barely notice the staples that are going through it holding his leg back together. There are no words tattooed and I am instantly curious about what this tattoo means. I start looking through the chart wanting to know more about this man. I discover that his name is Caleb Stone he is in his early twenty's. He was in an accident with a horse and was here for physical therapy and was also seeing one of our psychiatrists. Apparently he was riding a horse when it threw him off and he badly broke his leg. Now he is undergoing physical therapy sessions to regain the strength in that leg. The psych section of the chart causes me to pause. Why would someone with a horse riding injury be seeing a psychiatrist here? I start reading his psych evaluation and now time seems to be going by way too fast. It is suddenly 5 o'clock and I really didn't want to put his chart down. I had barely begun reading it and putting it down was the last thing I wanted to do.

This man was so complicated and his history so sad that I just wanted to find him and hold him. I discover that he is seeing one of the therapists because the accident on the horse was caused by problems with post traumatic stress from the military. He was a marine and since returning to civilian life he sometimes has problems that make reality blur with his military past.

The day of the accident something most have triggered him and he suddenly felt that he was being chased and had to get out of dodge as quick as possible. He was working as a farm hand at the time so he jumped bare back on the nearest horse and took off at a run. He was forcing the horse to move as quickly as possible and tried to make it jump the creek near the farm. The horse was not made for jumping though and stopped dead at the creek's edge. Caleb flew over the top of the horse and landed on the rocks near the edge. One of the other farm hands has seen him when he left with the horse and had gone after him to see what was going on. If it haven't been for that man Caleb might have bled to death there at the creek's edge. The other farm hand rode back and called for an ambulance. When Caleb got to the hospital he was confused and continually asked how his squad was and if they made it out safely. His ramblings caused the doctors treating him to call for a psych evaluation. That was six weeks ago now and from the amount of notes in his charts he has been seeing the therapist at least twice a week.

Unfortunately, even reading Caleb's chart until the end of the day had not quenched my thirst for knowledge of this man. Not only was he a military man but you could tell from his tattoo that he was truly touched by being a marine. As I drove home I ran through all the different possibilities of what this man could look like. I mean you can only get so much from a person's chart. The first picture that came to my mind was a tall, well built man with dark hair and his standard issue crew cut. Then next image was of a mid height man who still had some of his young looks about him even though he had been to war. Once again every image I had came with the same basic look, only slightly altered. It's no wonder that my night was filled with dreams of him.

I love watching him work with the horses. He is so patience and tender with them. He turns and sees me watching him from the fence. He starts to walk towards me and I feel my breathe catch. It never fails, every time I see him coming near me I forget to breathe. His has to be one of the sexist men alive. My eyes start at his feet and take in those cowboy boots and slowly move up to those tight worn out jeans that allow me to see his thigh muscles flex as he walks. Then my eyes take in the slight pull of the jeans at the zipper and I notice my mouth starts to water. I move my eyes up farther. He is wearing a button down faded blue work shirt that shows off his wide chest and broad shoulders. I follow the line of his neck to his face. It is so beautiful that words can't begin to do it justice. He has a squared jaw, full kissable mouth and those eyes, those striking beautiful blue eyes hold me there. I can't see anything else, I can't tear my eyes away from his. Wait am I even breathing. Take a breathe Annie. I mumble to myself.

"Hey