Finding Tara

By Tina M. Manka

An unexpected accident left Tara Smith, a widower on Christmas Day. Alone to raise two children on her own in a world she once thought she knew. She took a vacation in Los Angeles to grieve and heal. Her feelings with her boss changed after losing her husband. Could she love Matt like she did Roger? Was it too soon to get involved with Matt?

 

Matt Lane fell in love with Tara the day he interviewed her for the job ten years ago. A friend of Tara's husband, he could not confess his love. After Roger died, his world changed. The circumstances threw his chance of being with the woman he loved into his lap. But unfortunate events tore them away from each other again when Tara went missing in Los Angeles. Would Matt find Tara in time to save her? Did Tara love him enough to be his bride? 

 

Follow Tara and Matt's love story from the beginning to the end. See how a love can grow stronger every day. 

Finding Tara is a romance book with a surprising twist. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Breckenridge Crossing
• Release date: Jan 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9798215412572

Tina M. Manka

Tina M. Manka lives in a rural town with her husband and three children where everyone knows your name. She began writing small stories at the age of five on paper. She won a writing contest in school for her Journalism class that made her pursue her love of writing. Her days are spent working in the Health Field to give back to society and her nights with a computer in her hands writing. Her fundraising skills are used to raise money for local libraries in her area to get children reading and to enhance their writing skills, in hope they to one day may become authors.Tina M. Manka lives in a rural town with her husband and three children where everyone knows your name. She began writing small stories at the age of five on paper. She won a writing contest in school for her Journalism class that made her pursue her love of writing. Her days are spent working in the Health Field to give back to society and her nights with a computer in her hands writing. Her fundraising skills are used to raise money for local libraries in her area to get children reading and to enhance their writing skills, in hope they to one day may become authors.

Book preview

Finding Tara

Second Chance Romance

Tina M. Manka

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Finding Tara

Second Chance  Romance

Copyright © 2020 by Tina M. Manka

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Published in the United States of America

First Printing, 2020

tABLE OF cONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

About the Author

Other Books By Author

Disclaimer

Any references to historical events, real people or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters and places are products of the author’s imagination.

CHAPTER 1

IT WAS A BRIGHT SUNNY morning in Tampa Bay when Roger and Tara Smith walked into their boss’s office on Christmas Eve Day. Matt Lane sat behind his desk with a pen in his hand. He scribbled words on a piece of paper as he talked into the receiver of his phone. His secretary, Erika Sanders, sifted through the cabinet for files.

Roger and Tara worked under Matt as case workers for the past seventeen years. The two of them worked as a team to protect the children in Fulton County. They started their careers straight out of college at the Department of Human Services. Roger started first and Tara joined two months later. They made it their career to protect the children in their district from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.

They worked along with the police department. The officers did their best to ensure their safety. Sometimes, they played the good/bad cop routing with the officers, which worked well for them and their clients. The officers took the aggressive role. They threatened jail time if behaviors developed. Tara used the gentle and understanding role. It helped their clients to communicate and be more open with them about the details of the situation.

Sometimes Roger and she got into heated discussions over the parents. Roger never watched how he stated his words. She believed the clients only needed to know the facts. The judge should be the one to form verbal opinions, not them. Some of their clients had violent tempers they could not control and the situation escalated quickly. 

Case workers tried to not take children from their homes unless they had no choice. Children needed their parents. There were times they had no choice but to pull the children from the home and put them with foster homes. Those times were tough for everyone.

The children didn’t understand the circumstances and they felt abandoned. Tara hated when the children suffered. It broke her heart. She would never want to lose her own children to the system. Her kids were her life and she would protect them forever.

She got pregnant right out of college with their first child. She was petite and stood only 5 feet 3 inches tall, so her pregnancies were high risk. Lying in bed for three months with each child was difficult, but she survived and so did her children. They named their son, Derek, after Roger’s brother, who passed the prior year in a car accident. Both had fiery red hair they inherited from their grandfather. Roger’s hair was blond with a red tint.  Ashley’s long blonde hair and ocean blue eyes made her look more like Tara than Roger. A boy and a girl were all they needed with their busy schedules.

Matt hung up the phone and motioned for them to come into the office. He dug through the papers on his desk until he found one and handed it to Roger. He then nodded at Erika, and she walked out of the office.

What is going on? Tara asked.

I am giving the two of you a case and it may be dangerous, informed Matt.

She nodded. Who, what and where? She asked. It was her regular dialogue she used whenever Matt gave them an assignment. The words described all the information they needed for a case.

Matt’s face sobered. We have a family who needs investigated. The parents are getting a divorce, he told them. The father is a businessman. Matt shuffled some papers in front of him and laid them on his desk. He devotes himself to the family, though only in his vows. The mother is an exceptional wife until she found out her husband was smoking marijuana. The wife has called the police twice on the husband because of his temper. She filed no charges.

Is the mother or the father claiming abuse? asked Roger. It happened all the time. Parents divorced and then claim the spouse abused them or the child. They investigated hundreds of these cases a year.

It is the wife stating the husband has a temper, replied Matt. 

How old are the children? asked Tara.

They have two children. A boy named Charles and a girl, Helen. Charles is five and Helen is three.

They are young, she commented. They were too young to even get statements from and too young to give any information to them.

Tara had seen it more than once. The parents got too involved with their divorce and the kids came second. Some kids never recover from being neglected and abused.  They grew up with problems. Some turned to violence and drugs.

Matt handed her a piece of paper. Here is their address. See if you need to have the police with you when you question them.

Which parent is living in the house? asked Roger.

I am told the wife is living in the house. The husband is living in a hotel called The Carrington.

Roger looked at her and smiled. I will say they are rich. Tara nodded.

The father works for John Deere and he is high up the ladder in the company, informed Matt. His wife states he likes to have a few drinks at night after work.

"A drink is fine, but