Free A Love for All Time by Dorothy Garlock

Cottage for rent.” Judy turned into the driveway and half an hour later the “for rent” sign was taken down. The gas station and fruit market were run by a retired couple from Salem. Four cabins were set among the trees and Casey rented the one on the end. It was a one-room efficiency and bath, rustic, but comfortable and only a couple of blocks from the beach.
    “I wish I was staying a week,” Judy said after they unloaded the car. “However, it could be that on the bus ride back to Portland I’ll meet a handsome stranger with wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and bulging thighs.”
    “Don’t count on it.”
    “I won’t. He saw you first.”
    “I told you I don’t want to hear one more word about Dan Murdock!”

    Judy stayed until Monday morning and they drove into Newport where she took a bus to Corvallis. After shopping at the supermarket, Casey drove back to the cabin and parked the car in the carport. By the time she unloaded her groceries and put them away she was exhausted. She was thankful that she could lie down on the bed and take a nap if she wanted to and there would be no one to bother her.
    Tuesday and Wednesday slipped by. Casey lounged in the sun in front of the cabin, went for short walks on the beach, and read three paperback novels. She made occasional trips to the stand for a newspaper or a bag of fruit and carefully avoided going beyond the “Hello, how are you?” stage with the owners and the other occupants of the resort. She had seen the cashier looking at her hands when she paid for her purchases and had almost expected her to murmur, “Oh, you poor thing,” or something equally as pitying. She wasn’t strong enough to face that yet, so she beat a hasty retreat to her cabin.
    Wednesday had been her worst day. Try as she might, she couldn’t get the thought out of her mind that this was the day Dan returned from Japan. After he left she had convinced herself his leaving had been a good way for him to break off the visits to the hospital. He had already signed the necessary papers to take care of the doctor and hospital costs. She had to admit it was considerate of him to pay without a hassle between her insurancecompany and his. He had told her that it was a cut and dried case, and his company would pay.
    Sometime during the day, she decided that Dan was a consummate actor, if there ever was one. He had seemed so sincere, so gentle. She could have easily fallen in love with him if she had been exposed to his charm much longer. Ha! She snorted in self-disgust for even thinking about him. He could be another Eddie Farrow, for all she knew, with a wife and six kids waiting at home.
    By the end of the week Casey was walking into town and back without exhausting her strength. She found a health food store and bought a mixture of nut meats, raisins, and whole grains to munch on. No one paid much attention to the slim girl in the soft, faded jeans and baggy sweat shirt, with the scarf tied over her hair and a floppy hat tilted over her eyes. The weather was still warm during the day. It was past the first of September and school had started, so the tourists came now only on the weekends.
    With calm precision Casey carefully made plans for what she was going to do with her life. In a few weeks she would go to Salem or Corvallis and scan the want ads for work. She didn’t particularly care what it was, just something to support her while she waited for the series of operations that would take the scar from her face and replace the missing portion of her earlobe.
    When not working, she decided, she would use her spare time to sew clothes to sell in a shop sheplanned to open in one of the small coastal resort towns. Handmade garments sold for premium prices and she was an excellent seamstress. She had made her own clothes, even her jeans with her own label, for years. She liked clothes and knew she had a knack for adding special touches that made them unique. Casey spent hours each day going