From Melissa Payne, bestselling author of Memories in the Drift, comes an emotionally rich, feel-good novel about hope, second chances, and seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from The Night of Many Endings by Melissa Payne, which is out now!
Orphaned at a young age and witness to her brother’s decline into addiction, Nora Martinez has every excuse to question the fairness of life. Instead, the openhearted librarian in the small Colorado community of Silver Ridge sees only promise. She holds on to the hope that she’ll be reunited with her missing brother and does what she can at the town library. It’s her home away from home, but it’s also a sanctuary for others who, like her brother, could use a second chance.
There’s Marlene, an elderly loner who believes that, apart from her husband, there’s little good left in the world; Jasmine, a troubled teen; Lewis, a homeless man with lost hope and one last wish; and Vlado, the security guard who loves a good book and, from afar, Nora.
As a winter storm buries Silver Ridge, this collection of lonely hearts takes shelter in the library. They’ll discover more about each other, and themselves, than they ever knew—and Nora will be forced to question her brother’s disappearance in ways she never could have imagined. No matter how stranded in life they feel, this fateful night could be the new beginning they didn’t think was possible.
Nora shot from her chair and knelt in front of him, where the stench of moist clothes and unwashed human permeated the air. She ignored it. “Lewis, what’s wrong with your foot?”
“I’m fine, leave it alone.”
“I think we need to take your shoes off and see.” She touched the toe of his boot, and beneath her finger, the leather was squishy. “Your socks must be soaking. It’s not good for your skin.”
“C’mon, Lewis,” Marlene said without a hint of gentleness. “Take off your shoes. Old-man feet are bad no matter who you are. My father had the thickest, yellowest toenails I’ve ever seen. Yours can’t be any worse than that.”
Nora wanted to pinch Marlene hard, but Lewis grunted a laugh. “Lady, you’re too much.”
And with effort, he slid his shoes off, then his socks, exposing his pale, wrinkled feet, which looked like they’d been soaking in water too long. On his right heel and toe were small white blisters, a few popped open and an angry red. Nora grabbed the antibiotic ointment from before and dabbed some on the blisters.
“You need to dry your feet out, Lewis,” she said.
“But it’s s-s-so cold,” Jasmine said. “His feet will freeze, won’t they?”
Lewis started to put his shoes back on. “She’s right; it’s warmer in my shoes.”
“Your shoes and socks are causing the problem, Lewis.”
“How do you know?” There was defensiveness in the glint of his eyes, and Nora imagined how he must feel with his damaged feet on display, glowing like little white fishes in the lantern light.
“My brother had something similar, although his was much worse.”
Lewis didn’t say anything, but he put his shoes down and left his feet bare.
Nora had an idea and hurried into the stacks, coming back with the box of knitting supplies.
“Oh, Nora,” Marlene said. “I don’t think more knitting will help the man’s feet.”
Nora ignored her and took out the yarn. There were discarded pieces in the bottom, ragged squares of past attempts, some big enough to wrap around his feet like socks. It seemed like a good idea. She took them out, held them up and wondered what she was going to do next. Vlado handed her duct tape.
Nora smiled. “Perfect.”
Marlene snorted. “This seems like a really bad episode of a home-improvement show.”
She gently wrapped the knitted pieces around his foot, lightly securing it with duct tape so the air could still flow and allow his sodden skin to dry without giving him frostbite at the same time. She did the same with his other foot until he wore a pair of mismatched knitted duct tape socks. Marlene came over and laid the blanket that had been around her shoulders onto Lewis’s legs. He immediately took it off and held it out, and it wobbled in the air from the shaking in his arm.
“Take it,” Marlene said. “Now.”
“You remind me of a drill sergeant I once had.”
“Yes, well, I think I might have been an exceptional drill sergeant.” Nora felt her eyes bug wide. Was Marlene joking? “Take it,” she said again.
“No thank you, lady. You’re as old and broken down as I am. Keep it.”
Marlene laughed. “It’s Marlene, and you’re not wrong, but my clothes are dry, unlike yours, since I wasn’t outside dying in the snow earlier. Take it. This is about as nice as I get.”
A smile cut across his face, so broad it made a moonscape of pits and lines, but the look of delight that lifted his eyebrows was a first, and it lightened the mood almost immediately. She heard Jasmine sigh.
“That is a true statement, Marlene,” Lewis said and let the blanket fall to his lap.
Nora quickly tucked it around his legs and lightly draped it over his feet before he could shoo her away. The icy plop of water in the bucket, the sting of cold air on her cheeks, the tingling numbness in her fingers faded, and in the afterglow of the unexpected camaraderie, Nora felt warmed all the way through.
