Candle in the Window

By Barbara Johannsen

When Jim Trask lands a job on a commercial fishing boat, his wife, Becca, fears the worst. She has lived by the ocean all her life and never managed to overcome her fear of it. Coping with Jim’s absence is a chore, then her worry becomes reality when all communication with the boat is lost. Panicked, Becca searches for a beacon of hope, a way to cope with the awful fear that her beloved Jim may be lost at sea. Can Becca find solace while she waits to learn of Jim’s fate? Can anything ease her fears? Or can Becca finally put Jim’s fate in God’s hands and resign herself to His will?

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Dec 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781554877522

Book preview

When Jim Trask lands a job on a commercial fishing boat, his wife, Becca, fears the worst. She has lived by the ocean all her life and never managed to overcome her fear of it. Coping with Jim’s absence is a chore, then her worry becomes reality when all communication with the boat is lost. Panicked, Becca searches for a beacon of hope, a way to cope with the awful fear that her beloved Jim may be lost at sea. Can Becca find solace while she waits to learn of Jim’s fate? Can anything ease her fears? Or can Becca finally put Jim’s fate in God’s hands and resign herself to His will?

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Candle in the Window

Copyright © 2010 Barbara Johannsen

ISBN: 978-1-55487-752-2

Cover art by Martine Jardin

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Devine Destinies Books

An imprint of eXtasy Books

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Smashwords Edition

Candle in the Window

By

Barbara Johannsen

Dedication

To Tina

Chapter 1

Becca Trask cleared the dishes from the table, wiped up the spills and carried the tray to the restaurant’s kitchen. The muscles in her arms ached. Lifting heavy trays of food, then empty dishes, was putting a strain on her body. She sighed and carried the dishes to the sink. Betty Thorn, the kitchen helper, smiled at her.

Are you getting used to the harried atmosphere of the diner?

Becca grimaced and forced a smile. Since having taken the job, she had been the only one of the crew to complain about sore muscles. I should be more active. Then I wouldn’t have sore muscles. She rubbed her left arm. I don’t suppose the owner would hire a busboy to clear tables.

Betty shook her head. Sam is barely making ends meet as it is, honey. She nodded toward the dining room. Business has slowed down to what it used to be before the steel mill closed.

I know. I’m grateful for the job, Betty. She smiled, but she didn’t feel the glee accompanying the action. Jim had lost his job when the mill closed nine months ago and just two months ago, they were forced to give up their house. Moving back home with her dad was the last thing she ever dreamed of, but circumstances just became too dire otherwise.

I suppose Harold likes having you back home, even though he knows it’s only temporary.

Becca shrugged one shoulder. Dad misses Mom and I guess having someone else in the house takes a bit of the loneliness away.

A year ago, Sondra Newman suffered a fatal heart attack. It had been totally unexpected. She was only fifty years old and thought to be in excellent health. Becca fought the urge to cry. Sometimes she just didn’t understand God’s ways. First He took her mother, and a few months later, Jim’s job. Neither event made any sense. Grief still gripped her heart and just looking at her poor dad, made tears come to her eyes. He and her mom had been high school sweethearts and their marriage was ideal. Her dad still surprised her mom with fresh flowers occasionally and invited her out for impromptu dates.

Time heals all, Betty said, placing the soiled dishes in the dishwasher. Or so they say. I, personally, find time only prolongs the hurt.

Betty had lost her husband ten years ago and came to work at the café to make ends meet. She cooked and managed the kitchen when Sam needed time off. She was a tall woman with gray hair that she wore in a tight knot on the back of her head. Becca had known her since childhood, when she used to trick or treat on Halloween. Her house was just down the shoreline from her father’s. When Jim lost his job, and she finally won the argument about returning to work, she was glad to have Betty as a coworker. Seeing a familiar face at the workplace took the edge off having to learn to be a waitress.

Becca returned to the front of the restaurant. As she pushed through the swinging door separating the rooms, she saw a couple just seating themselves. She took her pad and pen from her apron pocket and stretched a smile across her face.

The afternoon crowd at the restaurant was smaller than the morning customers. Working people crowded into the diner for Sam’s hot coffee before work. Some were regulars to have breakfast and others ordered Betty’s homemade cinnamon rolls to take with them. It was hectic for about two hours, beginning at five o’clock in the morning. She stifled a yawn and wrote the couple’s order on her pad. As she turned toward the kitchen, she glimpsed Jim coming through the front door. She paused, made eye contact with him and resumed her trek to the kitchen.

Once Becca placed the order, she glanced at the front counter and saw Jim sitting on the end stool. She surveyed the tables with customers, making certain she could take a minute, before rounding the end of the counter and joining him. He smiled as she came toward