How to Save a Life
Read How to Save a Life Online
Authors: Amber Nation
How to Save a Life
Copyright 2014 Amber Nation
First Edition
All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of these publications may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the Author. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the publisher.
This book is a works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Cover and formatting by
ShoutLines Design
T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS
O
THER
B
OOKS BY
A
MBER
N
ATION
The Brown County Series
Not Alone
– Grady and Emmalynne’s Story
Runaway Love
– Charlie and Maggie’s Story
How to Save a Life
Unconditionally – Toby’s Story (Coming Soon)
D
EDICATION
I dedicate this book to a group of fabulous, kickass women, in which I am so blessed to be able to call my friends, The IndiePendents: Annalisa, Delisa, Tara, Ashley, Alissa, Kay, Casey, Cassy, Savannah, Ashley, and Rachael. Each and every one of you mean the world to me. Spork friends for life!
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost the three people who mean the most to me in life: My husband
Jarrod
and my girls,
Alexis and Olivia
: Thank you for being my constant support system and encouraging me every single step of the way. I would’ve never ever started this journey if it weren’t for the three of you.
My besties: My cousin and BFF
Melanie Brock
, my fellow Neon Trees fanatic
Amanda Evenson
, my author twin
Annalisa Nicole
, and my Facebook BFF
Delisa Lynn
, thank you for always being there for me. I am so glad that I can always count on the four of you. Near or far, no matter the distance, no matter if I haven’t met you in person yet, I love each one of you more than words can even express.
The IndiePendents
: What can I say that hasn’t already been said? It’s so nice to be in such a tightknit group of ladies who can answer your questions within a moment’s notice. I hope I have the opportunity to meet each and every single one of you, or even to get us all in the same place at the same time. That would be one hell of a good time!
Nation Fixation
: You ladies are a fabulous group of supporters and I greatly appreciate all of your help with trying to get my name and my books out into the world of reading! I love you all!
My betas:
Chelsie Leverette, Chrystal Nation, Keesha McCallum, Melanie Brock, Ashley Volk, Delisa Lynn, Tracy Brewer, Ashley Ragsdale, Ashley Hampton, and Crissy Sutcliffe
: Thank you so much for taking the time out to read and review
How To Save A Life
before it was released and for making sure that it was the best it could possibly be! I greatly appreciate your time and your support!
The two people that without them, this book would’ve never been possible.
My cover designer and formatter Rachel Mizer with Shoutlines Design
: You’ve done it again, created a masterpiece out of FIVE different photos! I cannot wait to work with you again to see what you will come up with next! I greatly appreciate our talks and your awesome creative mind! And my editor
Anna Coy
: What can I say that hasn’t already been said? You are absolutely amazing and have a great eye for editing! I am so thankful that I was introduced to you and can’t wait to continue to work with you!
Enticing Journey Book Promotions - Ena and Jennifer
: Thank you again for organizing everything from the cover reveal, to release day promotions, and the blog tour! I greatly appreciate all of the hard work you do for us authors!
And last BUT certainly not least -
The Readers, Reviewers, and Bloggers
: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for the constant outpouring of support and encouragement! I appreciate it more than you will ever know! I love each and every single one of you!!!
Mike
4 years ago
Little did I know, that one single, solitary phone call would change the course of my entire life, alter my outlook on the world, and how I perceived things. I wanted to disengage myself from everyday mundane activities to just wallow in my self-infused misery. To let the guilt consume me.
Why did it have to happen?
The day started off as any other normal Monday morning. I was awoken by the tiny little human that thought it was hilarious to act like a monkey and climb up on the end of her mother’s and my bed. The light from the hallway filtered in as she shoved open the bedroom door, and I heard the patter of her feet as she ran across the floor. I could just picture her placing her little size eight foot on the first spindle of our footboard and hoisting herself onto the mattress, then having to push her mass of curly ringlets out of her face with her pudgy, little hand. Giggles ensued as she crawled up in between my wife’s and my resting, prone form. I had to feign sleep, because if she didn’t get to do this next part, it would result in tears. But not just any tears, alligator tears, the ones that could turn on and off like a switch, it was just better not to deal with an enormous meltdown.
Inching her way up towards my face, I waited for when she would take those little hands, smash my cheeks together and smack a big sloppy good morning kiss on my lips, and then a massive tickle fight would take place. It was our morning routine, one that she looked forward to every morning. Ok in all seriousness, I did as well. She thought it was the best thing being able to wake up daddy in the mornings.
Right before she got to the best part, Erin, my wife had to spoil our fun. “Hannah would you stop it already?" she screamed at our precious three year old daughter, which had her halting in place.
Throwing the blankets off of my body, I sat up in bed to at least get my good morning hug from my little princess.
Grasping her tightly in my embrace, I gave her a kiss atop of her strawberry blonde hair, a color she inherited from her mother. Those beautiful baby blues looked up at me with unshed tears gathering in the creases of her eyes. “It’s ok princess. Why don’t you go potty and put your clothes on that we picked out last night, yeah?" I said lightly, trying to diffuse the situation, and get her mind off of it before the meltdown occurred. She smiled so brightly, it revealed the little gap in between her baby teeth and shook her head up and down.
I helped her off the bed, and she ran off to get dressed and ready for school. Scrubbing my fingers in my unkempt hair, I turned to look at my wife, who had turned on her side away from me and obviously went back to sleep. I sighed wondering if and when things would ever get better between the two of us. We were high school sweethearts, but I’ve felt us drift apart for quite some time now.
I normally took Hannah to preschool on my way to work, but today it would be different. I had to go into work early to open up my father’s mechanic shop, since he had to take my ma to a doctor’s appointment, first thing this morning.
I was the head mechanic for Jameson Auto, owned by my father Michael Jameson Sr. so it was my responsibility to step up to the plate. Jameson Auto was the most reputable auto mechanic in Wentzville, a suburb just outside of St. Louis.
I enjoyed working with my father, some people didn’t have the luxury of saying that. But my parents were amazing people, and I honestly couldn’t see working anywhere else. Erin wasn’t too thrilled being married to an auto mechanic, but when it was in your blood and you enjoyed doing it, you went with it. I began tinkering with cars at an extremely young age, taking apart my bicycles and putting them back together again.
When I was sixteen, my father bought me basically a shell of a 1966 Ford Mustang; you thought I’d hit the lottery. I was ecstatic to be able to build my first car from the ground up. Dad and I would spend our weekends rummaging through the salvage yards, looking for parts to use for my car. It fascinated me how mechanical things worked, so it was also a learning experience as well as bonding between father and son. We continuously worked on it until it was in prime condition, well for a totally restored muscle car. It was painted a cherry red, and you could see your reflection in the hood whenever she was freshly washed and waxed. I was going to keep that car forever, until it ran to the ground, then I would rebuild it all over again.
I was able to keep my Mustang for six glorious years, until I heard the words, ‘I’m pregnant.’ I sold my old favorite girl so I could be a daddy to my new favorite princess. I still miss that car to this day, but it was a sacrifice that I didn’t resent or regret making. I would always make sure Hannah had the world, she would always come first to anything and anyone, including Erin.
After having Hannah, Erin suffered major depression. At first it was just a mild case of postpartum depression, but within a few weeks it escalated to full blown and out of control. Things would get better whenever she took her medicine, but when she didn’t, I often came home to a messy house and Hannah screaming her head off while in her swing, or forgotten food on the stove. It took me threatening divorce and taking Hannah away for her to finally get help and stick to her medication regimen.