The Encounter: Short Read Love Story

By Peggy Chan

Happily anticipating gift shopping for her little girl, Merry collides with a man on the busy street. Looking up as his hands steady her, she sees the face that has haunted her the last three years. Shocked, she turns and flees but the memories that lay buried surfaced to taunt her. Darryl isnt going to let her off that easily. He goes after her and soon realizes the depth of his loss when he discovers two things that turn his life upside down.

Will life be the same again for Merry and Darryl?

Peggy lives in The Land Below The Wind.

She is a retired educationist, holding an Honors Degree in English. She has published English grammar books in Malaysia; English Grammar: A Malaysian Student Guide and Casey and Pennys Guide to English, a series of four books. She has also published the Yes, I Can Read series of well-loved tales, retold in simple language for young readers.

Bragging rights include three children and four grandchildren. Her hobbies are golfing, travelling, reading and creative writing.

Her short stories and non-fiction books are also available in the Kindle store in amazon.com.

She also blogs at Blogger.com.

www.swingingby.blogspot.com shares places of interest which she has travelled to.

In www.bubblyluv.blogspot.com you can read the musings and random thoughts of an Asian woman straddling a liberated society and a conservative background.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Mar 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543744613

Peggy Chan

Peggy is a retired educator, holding an Honors Degree in English. She has published English grammar books in Malaysia: English Grammar: A Malaysian Student Guide and Casey and Penny’s Guide to English, a series of four books. She has also published the Yes, I Can Read series of well-loved tales, retold in simple language for young readers. Bragging rights include three children and four grandchildren. Her hobbies are golfing, traveling, reading and creative writing. Her short stories and non-fiction books are also available online. She also blogs at Blogger.com. www.swingingby.blogspot.com shares places of interest which she has traveled to. In www.bubblyluv.blogspot.com you can read the musings and random thoughts of an Asian woman straddling a liberated society and a conservative background.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Peggy Chan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

CONTENTS

1 Aru Avenue

2 Memories Revisited

3 Against Her Will

4 Meltdown

5 Beginning Anew

6 Surely, Surely?

7 The Gods Laugh

8 The Reality

9 The Past

10 My Wife Laura

11 My Husband Darryl

12 Darryl

Dedication

To those who believed in me

1

Aru Avenue

Merry stepped out of the hotel, the shopping list clear in her mind. She had come to visit her dear childhood friend who had made good in this bustling city. A shopping spree was also on the cards as she wanted to buy new clothes for herself and her child.

She had always loved shopping and was happily looking forward to the next couple of hours now that she was financially free. Money was no longer a problem, not like in the years past when she had to be careful with her budget.

It was a mild afternoon, a light wind lifting the leaves, sending speckled shadows dancing along the pavement. Merry was caught up in the crowd hurrying along during the lunch break. Though in no hurry she was swept along by the crowd intent on getting to where they were headed. She stepped around the slow movers, picking up speed and bumped hard into someone coming from the opposite direction. A pair of hands grasped her arms to steady her.

I’m sorry… she apologized and looked up into the last face she had expected to see in this bustling metropolis.

Merry? Merry??? Is it really you? he blurted out, surprise and pleasure written all over his face.

Flabbergasted, her mind reeled in shock but she managed a cool reply.

I don’t think we’ve ever met. Excuse me.

She shrugged off his hands, turned and retraced her steps, ignoring the voice calling after her.

"Merry! Merry!