Decisions in Time

By Dottie Lovato

Darlenes life consisted of several huge hurdles that she somehow got over. The first hurdle is taking place and living in Darlenes head. She has a couple of habits and needs to desperately make some changes. Her father has issues also with his heart, two trips to the emergency room with health issues. There was a third issue with Darlenes father having chest pains that dwarfed into a heart attack. He never comes back home with his wife, Sandra. Darlene spends more time with her mom because she is lost at home alone.
Along with Darlenes troubles, her friend Debbie has her plate so full its running over.
Her troubles start with her the ex-husband recruiting their friend Susan to set them up with two men and the ex-husband, John, hires two other guys to watch Debbie. With custody court coming up, he wanted her to look really trashy by having a date with a man and then having one of these two men trying to hook up with the two ladies.
Everything works out for the best, though, Darlene is closer to her Mom and Debbie has full custody of her kids and the two thugs are in prison for a very long time and finally Darlenes hurdles to her dont look so fearsome. She has moved on and so did everyone involved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504933179

Dottie Lovato

Hello, my name is Dottie Lovato, born in Florida in the late 1950s and transplanted to Colorado in 1980. Although I miss Florida, Colorado is where I call home. The majestic mountain views have won my heart over. I’ve only just begun my journey into the world of writing, and I have discovered that I love it. Writing gives me the power of putting my imagination in my novels for you to read. I hope you enjoy reading this novel as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Book preview

© 2015 Dottie Lovato. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/19/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-3318-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-3317-9 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

About the Book

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

ABOUT THE BOOK

Darlene’s life consisted of several huge hurdles that she somehow got over. The first hurdle is taking place and living in Darlene’s head. She has a couple of habits and needs to desperately make some changes. Her father has issues also with his heart, two trips to the emergency room with health issues. There was a third issue with Darlene’s father having chest pains that dwarfed into a heart attack. He never comes back home with his wife, Sandra. Darlene spends more time with her mom because she is lost at home alone.

Along with Darlene’s troubles, her friend Debbie has her plate so full it’s running over.

Her troubles start with her the ex-husband recruiting their friend Susan to set them up with two men and the ex-husband, John, hires two other guys to watch Debbie. With custody court coming up, he wanted her to look really trashy by having a date with a man and then having one of these two men trying to hook up with the two ladies.

Everything works out for the best, though, Darlene is closer to her Mom and Debbie has full custody of her kids and the two thugs are in prison for a very long time and finally Darlene’s hurdles to her don’t look so fearsome. She has moved on and so did everyone involved.

CHAPTER ONE

Darlene woke up drenched in sweat. She had fallen asleep on the couch watching an old movie. She loved the older movies as they reminded her of times sitting watching them with her father.

Her father, George, had recently retired from the Marines. He had served twenty-five years with his brothers and sisters in arms. But he also couldn’t wait to get home to dive right into his hobby he loved so much. He built and painted bird houses and sold them at the Farmer’s Market.

George was still very well fit. He was six-feet-five inches tall with dark brown hair that he kept cut Military-Style. He loved working out and running every morning. He was in the process of completing his workout room by the garage the day before he was to be deployed to Okinawa. After his stay there he would announce his retirement.

When back home he’d get up early and start coffee then go out to the porch, sit in the old chair and read his paper and drink his coffee. He looked over at the small building that will become his workout room. He smiled and nodded his head at what he’d been able to do so far.

Darlene came home early from work one day and saw that she had a message on her answering machine. She looked at the screen and saw that the message was from her mother. She hesitated punching the button to listen to another idea her mother had for her or a scolding for no good reason at all. But she did punch it and her mother’s voice came on and sounded as though she had been crying. Darlene was very tired and just wanted to go to bed.

Darlene, honey. I have some bad news. It’s about your father.

Darlene immediately picked up the phone and called her mother.

Mom, what’s going on? Did something happen? Are you guys all right?

I had to take him to the hospital because he was complaining g of chest pains. Knowing your father, he hates to go see a doctor. But, when he said, Take me to the hospital—I think I’m dying. I knew I’d best get him there in a hurry. I just about broke the sound barrier getting here."

Oh, God! I’m on my way.

Darlene dropped the phone after her mom hung up and fell down on the couch in tears. She held her head in her hands and cried for a long time. When she stopped crying, she decided to say a prayer for her father. ‘Oh, God. Why him? He did good things all his life. Why let this happen to him? He’s got a lot of living left to do.’

Darlene’s mother, Sandra, didn’t like having George home all the time. She had always tried encouraging him to go to the club and meet up with some of his old friends. Maybe go fishing or hunting. Now seeing him lying there in the hospital bed, she was hating herself for the way she treated him over the years. She paced up and down the halls in the hospital waiting room until the doctor came out to let her know what happened to George and what to expect in the future. And if he is able to go home.

Sandra was five-feet tall and had reddish hair that she kept pulled back and on top of her head in a tight bun. She was one hundred-forty-five pounds and wore clothes that hid her weight. George would tell her she looked good, that she didn’t need to wear loose-fitting clothes. But, she would just ignore him and wear whatever she wanted to wear. They never really gotten along with each other. They all argued constantly.

Before George retired, they both started noticing how much they were growing apart from each other. They stopped going places together. They would eat meals at different times and at times different places. They were doomed to get divorced. But, not wanting the burden of guilt hanging over them, they decided to stay together. It’s for Darlene’s sake. Neither George nor Sandra wanted to hurt Darlene. Now, looking back, she regretted how she treated George. All she wanted was to have him home again and healthy.

George was no saint himself. Since his retirement, he had picked up a few bad habits. He drank an awful lot, and smoked like a train. He would constantly pick arguments with Sandra. He told her that if she didn’t straighten up and doing things the way he wanted them done he was going to leave her.

Darlene snapped out of her stupor and jumped up from the couch. She ran upstairs to pack a small bag. She wanted to be prepared if someone needed to stay with George at the hospital. It took her a half-hour to reach the hospital due to an accident on the freeway. When she finally arrived at the hospital, she ran inside and dropped her bag making a loud noise that caught the attention of everyone in the waiting area. They all turned in the direction of the noise to see what it was all about. When they saw that it was someone dropping their bag and everything falling out of it, they all went back to what they were doing and ignored her.

Sandra turned and saw Darlene and ran over to her. She grabbed her and hugged her tightly. Darlene, the doctors still haven’t come out to tell me anything. I hope your father is going to be all right. I’m really worried.

He’s going to be all right, mom. He’s a strong man.

Just then the double doors opened and out stepped a tall man in his early thirties and resembled a body builder. He had curly-blonds hair. Darlene’s jaw dropped to the floor.

Which one of you is Sandra? I have some news for you.

Sandra looked at him through tear-filled eyes and replied, I am Sandra. How’s George doing, Doctor?

"First of all, you can call me Dr. Miller. Steve Miller. Actually, you can just call me Steve if you wish. Second, your husband is going to be all right. He had a very bad case of indigestion. We got it under control and his chest pains have subsided. But, I want him to stay here over night so we can monitor him. When I checked the tests that were ran on him, I noticed he had a heart murmur, probably nothing to get alarmed over. I just want to keep him here