Getting Married and Running Off Into the Sunset for a HEA is Bullsh*t!
My goal in 2017 is all about vision.
A good story requires vision. It is easy to write boy meets girl, couple falls in love then moves into his mansion for the happily ever after, but that is not how it works. I am challenging you to read past the surface. Happily ever after requires some work.
Some people have opened this story and see nothing more than a man offering his woman a chance to cheat. If that is all you get when you read this, you have missed so much. Put aside what you believe is right and wrong and truly look at the two people who are struggling to save their marriage. It has been eight years in a stagnant relationship. The shine is off the penny and now this couple has to make a decision. Marriage is the fantasy. The relationship is the real story. You are reading and seeing just an onion; allow me to help you unpeel it.
In the old days, it was called the seven-year itch. Most people thought it only applied to men. The itchiness also applies to women. Gentlemen, it is very common for a woman to question if she could have done better. At some point in a long term relationship when the real you comes out, other people start to look a whole lot better. Especially, if the whole lot better, looks a whole lot better. It doesn’t mean that it is. It just looks really good on the surface.
On the surface of this story, you see a man, Franklin giving his woman, Mia a pass. If you look deeper you see a man who loves a woman that he truly is questioning whether she married him for security or if she really loves him. He knows he is not the best looking man, but he is a good guy. He tells her from the beginning when he meets her that he is the man to give her a home, a three car garage and great vacations. Eight years later, childless and uncertain of what to do with herself, Mia starts to doubt her good guy, thinking maybe he is not so good after all.
He is a good man.
Something, the other women on the island also see. For the first time in a long time, his wife is starting to see it as well. Sweetheart, other women want what you have. It’s time for you to open your eyes and figure out if you truly appreciate and want it for yourself.
Mia, is staring down the barrel of 40, her husband has said he wants a divorce and vanity is 
kicking her in the butt. Her thoughts, although unspoken, comes across in her actions. Insecurity shows up in the oddest way and she is reacting. In the back of her mind other thoughts pop up. If he leaves me, can I pull another man? Will I have it as good with who comes next as I have it with Franklin?
The trip to the island is an opportunity for them both to take a hard look at their lives and what is truly important. Mia wants to feel attractive and beautiful again although she swears she is ready to be a mother. Franklin knows that this is only a ruse and something more is going on. He wants to get to the bottom of it.
A sexy bartender named Diego serves as a catalyst. Not only does the barkeep make Mia feel attractive, he sparks something in her that is real. Honesty. A little something which has been missing in her relationship with her husband. Franklin has been honest with her; yet she is realizing, she has been less than honest with him.
Being married is not easy. Being honest is even harder.
So now I get to be honest with you. I am okay with lazy readers. Be as lazy as you want but not all of my stories are for you. My job as a writer is to make you think. When you finish the story it should stick with you. A good story is not junk food for your brain. Bouncing from quick romance to quick romance to get a love fix isn’t how it works. Understandably, reading should be an escape.
I don’t believe you should escape to feast on junk food.
We all love in different ways. Morally, staying married to someone for security is reprehensible. Love is subjective. Romance is subjective. Finding your way back to each other to build a solid life is romantic to me because then the happily ever after is real.
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Olivia Gaines Author 