Anne's retreat

 One of two romances

The second romance

This is the beginning of the second romance I mentioned in a previous post.

The snow-covered hills drew Annie like a magnet drawing iron filings. Since her days as a teen, she spent the Fall, and Christmas in her family’s lodge. To her, there was no finer place to be as the snow gently floated down and covered the land.

Anne Oliver had become a best-selling historical fiction writer in the last five years. Her success led the world to think she had all money could buy, but she had a hole in her soul - she had no man in her life. Annie had driven herself so hard that it became hard for her to grow attached to anyone, and so she kept to herself. She had been invited to all the best parties and all the top conferences, but she always made an excuse to avoid contact with people.

An only child grows accustomed to being alone, and Anne’s life was no different. She had few friends, other than her agent, Paula Crill, and found herself awkward in the company of strangers.

Anne and Paula were friends, long before they became business partners. It was their friendship that made their partnership thrive. Paula knew how much to coax Anne to get her to work that bit harder, but she also knew when to back off and let Anne have her way. Anne, on the other hand, knew how much Paula wanted her to succeed and was willing to push herself to please her friend - sometimes too hard and too long.

With the sales of her latest book Sexual Explosions going well, Anne decided to take the break she’d been promising herself for months. She rang Paula up to tell her the news, “Hi, Paula, I’m taking this year’s vacation next week. I’ll be up at the lodge if you need me, as always you’re more than welcome to join me.”

Paula smiled as she twisted the phone cord around her long fingers, “Thanks for the offer, Annie, I hear the wildlife is lovely up there. I may drive up later in the week, for the next few days I’m busy trying to launch your new book.”

Anne put the receiver down and thought about her trip; It will be fun to get out of the city for a few weeks, she thought as she walked to the coffee machine to top her cup of coffee up. She’d worked long hours through the night so often that she forgot what day it was until Paula reminded her. Paula was wary of Anne’s habit of doing too much to please her readers, after all, it is less than a year since she had her breakdown, a time when Anne quit writing for months and became a recluse. Anne’s reluctance to acknowledge her success was the reason for her breakdown, she was never happy being considered a best-seller - even if the sales proved the fact.

After her breakdown it took Anne months to get back to writing, most days she’d sit at her laptop and wonder if it was worth the trouble to write? With gentle coaxing, Paula was able to convince Anne that her work was appreciated, once this was achieved the joy returned and the sales started to build up.

The sun’s last rays cast their golden shadows across Anne’s room. As she closed her suitcase and packed her laptop. Although this was “officially” a break, Anne couldn’t stop herself from writing; this was one of the reasons for her breakdown, Paula told her. Rarely a day passed without Anne thinking of a new story to add to her collection. She took a last look at the city outside, and then waved it goodbye, as she turned the key in the lock of her apartment.

The drive to the lodge was a beautiful experience with the leaves turning to a variety of colors ahead of the winter cold, and on some of the lakes along the way, the icy fingers of winter could be seen freezing the still water at the edges of the lakes.