The Narrow Path by Kris Laubscher

” A heartwarming, moving story about overcoming grief and finding love again”

– Maria, Amazon Reviewer

” An inspiring, romantic tale of living through tragedy and finding your best life”

– krlin, Amazon Reviewer

Amazon (Print) | Amazon (Kindle) | The Wild Rose Press

Rebecca clenched her fists, her nails biting into her skin. She narrowed her eyes out the car window into the bright blue sky as exit signs flew by. Could she find the sweet spot on the window where one punch would shatter it? She’d seen it on Oprah and suddenly that useless information filled her every thought. The world had been so cruel—taking away the man she loved and leaving her with two daughters to raise alone. Ever-present magma bubbled under the calm demeanor she presented to the world.

Rebecca snorted, folded her arms into her chest and curled herself into a tight ball to hug the door. Her mother pushed her into this car, and she would have to pull her out.

When the car passed under the sign for the airport, Rebecca blinked away a tear, shook her head and sighed.

Her mother stopped the car at the Departures curb and reached out to take Rebecca’s arm. A sad smile tugged at her lips. “Are you sure you want to go?”

“Yes, Mom.” Rebecca turned to her mother and rolled her eyes like a spiteful teenager. “We’ve been over this before. It’s time I start moving on, and going to Rome is the first step.”

Her mother’s wrinkled hand squeezed her arm tighter. “It will do you good to get away. You’ve been looking forward to this trip for your whole life. You put pictures of Italy on the walls of your bedroom. You begged me to take you.”

Rebecca pulled her arm from her mother’s grasp and reached for the door handle. “It’s just so hard to accept that I am going alone. I was never supposed to be going alone.”

Her mother latched her hands onto the doorframe and pulled her aging body out of the car. She walked around the front and stood next to the passenger door. Rebecca remained motionless. Her throat was raw and her body vacant. How did I get here? She belonged at home with her husband, tangled in their bedsheets, listening to the girls making breakfast downstairs.

After a few moments, Rebecca unlatched the seatbelt, planted her feet on the pavement and drove her heels into the ground. As she rose, her mother’s flowing white hair filled Rebecca’s field of vision. Her mother’s hands gripped Rebecca’s shoulders. “Jack would have wanted you to go.” She stared Rebecca in the eyes.

Rebecca glared back with pursed lips. Her mother couldn’t know what Jack wanted her to do. She wasn’t sure of it herself and she’d been married to him for fifteen years.

Her mother pulled her into a hug—but not the way she used to hug her. The hugs had once filled her with love and warmth, but now she hugged her the same way everyone else did—like she was glass. Like, if they hugged her too hard, she might break. Since suddenly losing Jack three years ago, nothing felt the same. Hugs felt distant. Colors faded…