From Dust: 1 (Portland Me)

Pain punished her.The bottle numbed her.Guilt kept her trapped.In the dark alley of a pub the words Please dont take hold of her heart and break the silence she seeks. Thinking herself beyond redemption she tentatively grabs on to the slim thread of hope that unfolds inside of her.Holding her secrets close she cant resist the comforting draw coming from The Skipper. The unconditional friendships it offers the protective roof it provides and the spark that its owner ignites in her--melting the frost off her heart and slowly stripping away her resistance.His life flows from one crisis to the next. Under the pressure of competition crowding him out of his familys pub and the need to protect his children from the ruins of a bad marriage he barely breathes. That is until a mane of strawberry-blonde hair and a set of big pale blue eyes shake him up.He never expected the shadow of a woman he finds on the floor of his washroom to bring him the air―the balance and the light hes been missing.