The Love of a Good Friend--story sketch

The Love of a Good Friend

Setting
Oregon back roads; mostly in a spacious, beautiful wooden home. This is set in the near future, but goes into the past for important secrets that have to be revealed.

Characters
Celeste Montgomery-27 years old, woman with a secretive past in Maryland--sexually abused as a child, killed her father in self-defense--went to college at USC under this new name and moved to Oregon shortly after

Manuel Padrez-28 years old-knew Celeste in college; tutored in English by her--became a police man and moved to Oregon to be close to Celeste, having feelings of more than just friendship; is curious about her past and wonders why she's never had a close relationship with anyone, but him because he refused to give up their friendship; stays in Celeste's home after returning from a much needed vacation, waiting for his house to be built down the road

Kasey Rawlins-10 years old-emaciated,runs away from home after hearing his parents arguing and ignoring him again; tired of being around the drug environment and the physical abuse his parents had put him through; packs and goes to a public park, where he meets a beautiful Irish Setter, which belongs to Celeste; had no where to go in particular, so he decided to follow the well-groomed dog to her owner; The German Shepherd, a retired drug-sniffing dog, tears off his backpack as Celeste commands him not to attack; Celeste apologizes and takes him in;


Manuel returns from his vacation to find that she had let Kasey spend the night. She had a softness for the emaciated child that he hadn't seen before.
Every time Celeste looks at Kasey she remembers that horrible day that her life changed forever. She had had a horrible childhood, with a mother that was away all the time because of her career and an abusive stay-at-home stepfather. She took the abuse and covered up for him for several years, until the age of 17, when she had had enough of the sexual abuse. Her stepfather had come at her, threatening her with a knife, so she took it from him and killed him. She was forced into an introverted state of mind, never wanting to fall in love or anyone falling in love with her. She hid herself in baggy clothes, had her name changed, and hoped that she could run her life her way.

When all this comes to the surface in her mind again, Manuel tells her about wanting to move their relationship in a different direction and that he loves her. Celeste must come to grips with her fears and her affectionate feelings for Manuel. She knows she must tell him about her past, but isn't sure how he would react. He tries to break her out of her protective shell.

Manuel investigates Kasey's parents, but doesn't tell them where Kasey is. He arrests them for drug possession after taking his reliable Cocoa--the German Shepherd into the scene. He, then, seeks child abuse charges against them, and comes clean about where Kasey is.

Celeste finds peace within after her confession to Manuel about her past. There is a long road, however, to accepting her love for Manuel and accepting his love in return.


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Decisions, Decisions. What to write?  (E) So many story ideas for novels, so little time. Help me, please. #914238 by Beth Barnett