Doctor Valerie Fogarty studied hard to become a competent surgeon, but losing a patient during an operation made her throw everything out the window and now she can't set foot into an operating room anymore. Until her best friend Ryan is brought into the ER on a stretcher, fighting for his life after a terrible car accident and she’s the only one who can save him. Meeting him as a teenager in their hometown in Ireland was the turning point in her life and she knows she will never be able to live without him. Will her determination and skills be enough to save Ryan's life?
Jazz Star Ryan Wyler grew up in Dublin, with a dream of becoming a professional pianist and continuing the legacy of his musical hero, Frank Sinatra. When opportunity knocks and he's offered the chance to pursue a real music career, he's happy to accept it, unaware that what he's actually accepting is a package deal he will have no control over. But when success keeps him away from Valerie, his best friend since adolescence, Ryan will have to question his choices.
A story about the value of true friendship, the power of dreams, and the unpredictability of love.
An avid reader since her childhood years and being an only child, Roberta always enjoyed the company of her fictional friends from the children’s books she loved reading, while she dreamed of writing her own stories one day.
It was when she discovered novels by authors Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy in her teenage years that she realized it was time she put down in words the stories she had kept well hidden in her mind until then.
What started as a hobby, soon turned into a real passion and a way of life, until she could no longer keep the stories to herself, and decided to get over her fears and share them with the world.
Roberta lives in Italy, but her dream is to move out of her country and live either in a thatched cottage in the Irish countryside or in a country house with a swing on the back porch, somewhere in the United States, where she would love to spend her days writing novels as a full-time job, and maybe one day even get as far as writing a screenplay for a movie.
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On the other side of the world, Ryan was at school and couldn’t sit still at his desk. His left leg had been aching since the previous night and now it didn’t allow him to concentrate on what the teacher was saying. The doctors had warned him, three years before, that it would trouble him every now and then, especially when the weather changed, but he didn’t think it would be so annoying. He stirred and looked at his classmate Todd, who grinned at him as soon as they exchanged glances.
He wondered what Valerie was doing at that very minute, whether she was already at home or she was walking down Grafton Street, shopping with her schoolmates.
She kept saying she didn’t hang out much with her schoolmates any more than was necessary and he somehow felt responsible for that: He had literally monopolized her and all of her free time ever since they first met and, even though she had always said that she didn’t fit in at school, he understood now that he should have pushed her to spend more time with the other girls. He wished that, now that he was gone, she would be more willing to make new friends or catch up with the old ones.
He bent his knee then stretched his leg again; the pain was starting to get worse now and he decided he needed to get out for a while, even just for a short walk. He lifted his hand up and caught the teacher’s attention, asking politely to leave the room. The teacher nodded and he stood up, walking with a slight limp towards the door.
As soon as he was out of the classroom, he took a long deep breath and walked down the corridor, towards the balcony, hoping that some fresh air would do him good. He opened the window and walked out, looking out at the familiar sight of the Boston skyline. The clouds were coming in from the western horizon, making it clear that it would be raining soon enough and he wondered whether it was raining now in Dublin. He had never liked the rain too much but, like everyone else in Ireland, he had got used to it. Now, on the other side of the world, he sometimes missed the Irish rain, that familiar drizzle that fell almost constantly on Dublin city, and when it rained in Boston, he would sometimes close his eyes and pretend he was back in Dublin.
His leg started to pound and he pulled his foot behind his back, hoping some stretching would help. He thought back to the accident; he still felt stupid about it and he wished now that he would have paid more attention and had avoided the other guy who had tried to stop him from scoring yet another goal. But then again, the accident had helped him leave the team and dedicate all his time to the piano lessons, so he couldn’t really complain.
He remembered the day he had been taken to hospital and he smiled alone, recalling the moment when Valerie had come to visit.
While breaking a leg wasn’t exactly what he had planned, it turned out to be a great solution to most of his problems. He had been working quite hard, what with school and the piano classes taking up most of his time, and he had been trying to find a way to tell the coach he wanted to leave the soccer team, although he knew that he’d never let him.
But now, as he was lying in a hospital bed, his left leg in traction, he knew he would finally have an excuse to leave the team and concentrate on school and on the piano. He had never really wanted to become a professional soccer player, nor had he intended to be one of the best players in the school team and he had always felt the pressure of this.
His dad was proud of him and he was hoping that soccer would become his full-time job, since he was so gifted and it would be a pity to leave it all behind just to end up playing the piano in some downtown old bar, which would barely earn him a living.
But playing the piano was all he had ever wanted to do. Music had been his life since he could remember and Grandpa Thomas had always known he’d succeed, he had always had faith in him. He and Valerie had been the only two people who’d always supported him and his dream.
Just then, as if he had telepathically called her, the door opened and she came rushing inside, making him flinch.
“Oh my God, what happened?” she gasped, getting closer to his bed and trying to catch some breath, after running through the corridors.
He smiled and shrugged. “I needed an excuse to leave the team, so I thought I’d do it properly!”
He chuckled and she slumped down on the chair next to his bed.
“That wasn’t funny, you know. Julie called me saying that Mark told her you’d had an accident during the training session and that they had called an ambulance to take you to the hospital. I was scared to death and I grabbed my mom by the arm and pushed her out of the door, to have her drive me to the hospital straight away.”
He reached out for her hand and she let him hold it, feeling the warmth spread on her cold skin as he held it.
“Okay, you can breathe now,” he said, smiling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. And I didn’t mean to break my leg, either. It was just a silly joke. But you don’t have to worry, it’s nothing, really. They’re releasing me tomorrow; I’ll have to use crutches for a while, but I’ll be okay in a couple of weeks. Shiny and new in no time at all.”
“Too bad you’re leaving the team though. I enjoyed coming to your matches. There were a lot of nice sporty guys to check out.”
She winked as he stared at her with a pout.
“I’ve always known you didn’t come to the matches to support me. You, cheap traitor!”
They both laughed and she finally relaxed, knowing that he really would be okay soon and that she needn’t worry.
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLES | KOBO | CREATESPACE | SONY | SMASHWORDS
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