Can a lingering regret and wonder about love that ended tragically decades ago be too great to ignore when empty-nest loneliness, stale marriage, and the stars ‘align’ to give an opportunity to reconnect?

As a dedicated, fifty-year-old mother of three college-age and adult children, Callie Larson lives a storybook life of affluence and access just outside of Washington, D.C. Until recently, her life fulfillment came through her children to the point she barely missed her husband as he traveled extensively for work. But with all three children gone, her life has an unfamiliar emptiness. Her luxurious home is too quiet. And her husband is showing no signs of reducing his business travel to be with her.

Jason Cartwright is a fifty-five year old divorced father of four college-age and adult daughters. He is retired with the resources and freedom to go anywhere when he buys a small, dilapidated, oceanfront cottage on the North Carolina Outer Banks. Twenty-seven years earlier, Jason was engaged to Callie until she returned the ring six weeks before their ceremony.

When a mutual friend shows Callie Jason’s Facebook post inviting friends to visit, they notice his cottage is just a few hour’s drive from Callie's mother. And when Callie's husband coldly abandons her for a boy’s golf weekend, she takes his suggestion to visit her mom which gives her opportunity to make a daytrip to the beach to check Jason out, from afar.

As she sits bewildered at a convenience store near his cottage, Jason pulls in to buy gas. This ‘accidental’ run-in brings them together to reconnect, catch-up, and to finish the conversations they left open long ago - all while dodging family interjections and dealing with Jason’s new friends.

Rich with raw emotion, honesty and insight, TWO ONCE REMOVED is a character rich story that analyzes the extended conflicts, pain and forces of lost love and regret as they affect the pursuit of mid-life happiness.

Anthony J Santora

Stemme