Jude Calohan has been keeping his head down for years. In the quiet town of Bower Bliss, Texas, he has tried to be a good man, a good father, tried not to think too much about his relationship with his own father ... and yet despite this, in the gentle autumn of an uneventful year, Jude Calohan soon finds his relationship with both his eldest child and his own identity as a father called into question.<br><br>Amidst the sleepy apple groves of small town America, will Jude Calohan be able to keep his family together while his eldest child Charlie discovers the confidence to make one of the biggest choices of their young life?

Love Among Strangers

“I just want you to know that you have a friend; you have lots of friends. We all want to be able to help.”


“You can’t help,” Marta whispered, her voice trembling, and Sally felt a shiver run through her as she recognized the truth the other woman spoke. “We need to work it out as a family before we can work it out with anyone else.”


“Will you be okay?” Sally asked tentatively, and Marta laughed, the gesture hollow and empty, and shook her head.


“No,” she answered, “but maybe we can start learning to be okay if you help me drag my drunk husband into the house, and then I can make you a cup of tea or something.”


Sally smiled, warmly and with such compassion.


“That sounds like a very kind offer, thank you.”


Marta laughed again, this time with a little more humor, and pretended to roll up her sleeves.


“First, though, you’ve got to help me get Jude to the couch. I warn you, though, he weighs a ton.”


Chapter 19