Destiny by chance: A Contemporary Romance Fiction Novel by Margaret Ferguson Page A

broken heart… or maybe he’s…”
    “Gay?” Rita finished her question for her, shaking her head.  “Not gay,” she clarified.  “Remember Claire, who transferred to LBJ High last year?  Well, she went out with him a few times, I think, just before she transferred.  Apparently something happened because she told more than just a few of us that he has a kinky dark side.”
    Destiny remembered the rumors, simply because she and most of the other females on staff had been skeptical.  Claire was very explicit with those who would listen about her sexual escapades and short-lived relationships.  Most of them ended quickly or poorly or both, so no one put any stock in what she had claimed, assuming a date gone very badly. 
    “I can’t go because I promised a friend I would help out at the Senior Center tonight.”
    “That’s so great, Destiny.  I’m glad to know you are getting out more.”
    Destiny picked up her purse and carefully slid it over her shoulder.  “I’m trying.”  She hugged her friend. “Thanks.”
    Rita winked.  “Anytime.”
    As Destiny walked from her office, Rita held open the door, watching her go.  “One day at a time,” she sighed to herself, before closing the door behind her.

Chapter 15
    When Bill became both mom and dad to his daughter, not only did his family dynamic change, but his job changed, and his housing changed.  He went from planning for their family to planning for him and his daughter alone.  His entire adult life he had worked for someone else.  After Sydney was born, Bill cut working sixty hours a week to forty so he could spend more time with his new family.  When Justine left him, his mom offered to babysit.  Three months of his mother’s daily infant-child-rearing and health remedy advice accelerated his desire to raise his daughter on his own.
    Before Sydney’s first birthday he sold all his investment stock and his house and bought the bed and breakfast.  It was big enough for them to have a place to live and allow them to make a comfortable living.  It was a colonial with a full wrap-around porch, including oversized rockers and swings on every side.  The older Sydney became, the more interested she became, not only in the workings of a bed and breakfast but the people who stayed there.  On many occasions, she would greet the guests with cookies and milk or slip special cards, notes or pictures that she had drawn, under their doors.  And the guests loved her.  Sydney was simply part of what made their stay so special.
    It was Friday night, and after prepping for breakfast the following morning, Bill handed the reins off to Deborah, as his presence was required at the Senior Center.  Sydney was staying overnight at a friend’s house.  It was an eight-year-old’s birthday party so he knew they’d be up all night eating cupcakes and popcorn, and watching Disney movies.  As long as he wasn’t the one dealing with ten eight-year-olds on a sugar high it was all good.  Bill wasn’t overly strict on Sydney’s diet, but because she was a little high-strung, he usually rationed her sweet and soda intake. She was always a little grumpier and less attentive when she over-indulged.  He would detox her tomorrow.  Tonight he would have enough to handle with two hundred hungry veterans; hungry for fish, hungry for bingo.  Hungry for companionship.
    Bill loved volunteering at the Senior Center.  His father, a veteran of the Army with thirty-seven years of service under his belt, encouraged his three sons to serve their community wherever they could.  His father’s hope that they would follow his path and join the Army never happened.  Bill’s oldest brother, Leonard, went into the Marines and served there faithfully for almost twenty years until his death in Afghanistan in 2004.  Owen, the middle son, went on to college to study economics and sociology and worked at the VA.  Bill, the only one whose career had no military ties, studied