Life Without You

Life Without You
Liesel Schmidt

Moving on from the past was never supposed to be easyOdelle Pearl Simms, Dellie for short, is a writer. A good one in fact. Then out of the blue her own life hits a nasty plot turn she never saw coming. With her recent marriage in ruins, Dellie finds herself alone, with no idea how to move on. So when her friends and family insist she get away from it all, she packs her bags for a month-long stay with her Grandpa. With Grammie gone, he too is facing up to a new life on his own…Returning to a town that is a haven of childhood memories, surrounded by long-lost family and finding inspiring new friends, this could be a chance for Dellie to discover who she really is. As old secrets are revealed, this trip could be just the thing that could save her and bring her right back to where she was always meant to be.

Odelle Pearl Simms, Dellie for short, is a writer. A good one, in fact. Then out of the blue her own life hits a nasty plot turn she never saw coming. With her recent marriage in ruins, Dellie finds herself alone, with no idea how to move on. So when her friends and family insist she get away from it all, she packs her bags for a month-long stay with her Grandpa. With Grammie gone, he too is facing up to a new life on his own…

Returning to a town that is a haven of childhood memories, surrounded by long-lost family and finding inspiring new friends, this could be a chance for Dellie to discover who she really is. As old secrets are revealed, this trip could be just the thing that could save her and bring her right back to where she was always meant to be.

Also by Liesel Schmidt (#ufaf16562-6ecc-5230-935c-c39bf808e7eb)

Coming Home to You

The Secrets of Us

Life Without You

Liesel Schmidt

Copyright (#ufaf16562-6ecc-5230-935c-c39bf808e7eb)

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016

Copyright © Liesel Schmidt 2016

Liesel Schmidt asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 9781474055475

Version date: 2018-06-20

LIESEL SCHMIDT

lives in Pensacola, Florida, where she spends her time writing, drawing, and reading everything she can get her hands on. She is currently in the midst of concocting her next stories and spends most of her days as a busy freelance writer, trying to stay on top of deadlines and keeping the words straight! When she has a few free moments, Liesel plunks away at her blog, Finding Words (fyoword.blogspot.com (http://fyoword.blogspot.com)), where she posts product reviews and offers her readers a peek at the inner musings of a writer finding creative ways to work through the inherent challenges of living a creative career.

Having harbored a passionate dread of writing assignments when she was in school, Liesel never imagined that she would ever make a living at putting words on paper, but life sometimes has a funny way of working out… When she’s not writing, reading, or drawing, Liesel likes to indulge her guilty pleasure of watching competition television shows like Top Chef, Chopped, and Project Runway. Follow her on Twitter at @laswrites

I can’t offer enough thanks to the family who has always shown me such love and support. Thank you for believing in me, for inspiring me, for teaching me the most important lessons I’ve learned in life. Thank you for the faith you instilled in me and for showing me how to live in that faith. Thank you for being my prayer warriors and my champions, and for always reminding me that fear is worth fighting. You all inspire me so much, and for all of you, I will never have enough words to say thank you.

To Ricki Lindstrom, whose life sweetened those of everyone she knew. You will always be missed.

Contents

Cover (#u41220d72-aba1-5826-8122-8b037239f416)

Blurb (#uab989626-5a15-5af6-8bce-95d74f826d16)

Book List

Title Page (#u3dedef38-a876-5e88-8f10-d4124b1a2baa)

Copyright

Author Bio (#u121777f8-76ef-5581-b15b-6f11e86c6008)

Acknowledgements (#u0e3df5b0-8c75-5637-a0aa-a77074299692)

Dedication (#ub555ed5e-ac3e-58ec-afdb-7936f1357cfd)

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen