Losing Faith Read Free

him. The same day he had decided to give up on his lifelong dreams of making it in the music industry.
    “What does it say?” she asked.
    Seth read the inscription aloud. “To have a dream is good. To chase one is better.”
    Melanie smiled. “I like that.”
    Seth reached down and opened Melanie’s hand, placing the necklace inside.
    “What are you doing? I can’t accept this.”
    “I made you a promise, and I kept it. I’m still here.” He closed her fingers around the necklace. “Now I need you to make me a promise. I need you to stay here with me. I need you to get better, and then someday you can return it to me. Can you do that?”
    Her hand squeezed the necklace, tears welling in her eyes. “I will. I promise.”
    Seth placed his hand gingerly on her back. A flash of light reflecting off the metal of her car caught his eye. He stood and turned around. An ambulance and a couple of police cars were heading their way. Relief filled his tense muscles, and his jaw tightened as he bit back tears.
    “Can you see that, Melanie? Soon you’ll be out of here.”
    But she didn’t respond, and her eyes were closed. “Melanie, did you hear me? You’re getting out of here.” He fell to his knees and placed his hand on her back. “Melanie!”
    Her eyes opened, but something was missing. The light within her blue eyes was all but gone now. The large pit returned to Seth’s stomach, and he wanted to throw up again. He had to do something. She had to make it. He couldn’t let her down. Not her, too. Not now. “Melanie! Stay with me. You promised.”
    Her eyes shut and then opened again. He wanted to scream. He wanted to run. He wanted to do something, anything to get her back. “Hold on!” he shouted. Then the golden guitar pick fell from her hand and swung from the chain still wrapped around her fingers. Tears ran down his cheeks and washed away with the rain. “Melanie! Hold on!”

Chapter 2
    Seth
    January 7th
    Gray clouds blocked all traces of the sun. Trees barren of leaves stood as proof that winter had definitely arrived. Seth strolled up the small hill with a bouquet of white roses wrapped in red paper. Lexi’s favorite.
    He reached the top of the hill and stopped in front of a large, gray stone set beneath a maple tree. Seth bent down, brushing leaves from the stone. He set the flowers on the ground in front of it and ran his hand across the engraved letters. LEXI STORM. It had been a year since her death. A year since he had last been here.
    “I really messed up this time, Lex.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I wish you were here right now. You always knew what to do.” He picked up a small pebble and bounced it in his hand a few times before letting it fall between his fingers. “I just don’t know how we got here, baby. I mean, we had it all, didn’t we? The record was taking off. We had a gorgeous baby girl with your hazel eyes and my love for music. Hell, we even had that house with the white picket fence in the country you always wanted.” He remembered the first time Lexi had seen that house. For a man who tended to get more wrong than right, Seth had definitely gotten it right that day.
    It had been a particularly wet spring that year. It seemed the rain would never stop. After finally seeing some real sunlight one afternoon, Seth had grabbed his keys and headed for the country roads outside of Music City, looking for some inspiration for his next song. Instead, he found something even better. Something that caused him to stop and park his car on the side of the road. He had stared at the old farmhouse for at least ten minutes, imagining the three of them living there. It was the type of house that Lexi would go crazy over. Seth removed his sunglasses and walked up the long gravel driveway.
    The wooden steps leading to the oversized porch creaked beneath his feet. The old man who answered the door told him that the house wasn’t for sale. But when Seth told him what