ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to acknowledge Heather, my editor, for her excellent work and unending patience.
I thank my dear friends Natalie, Naomi, Stephanie, Claudia, Mindy, and Jane for your helpful feedback as beta readers. Your insights have made this a much better story.
Thank you to family friend Charlie Colucci for your help with my Italian translations and delicious Italian recipes.
I thank my husband, Scott, for our time in Venice together and for your encouragement as I wrote this book. You are an inspiration to me, and I thank you for 36 years of happy endings.
Lastly, I thank God for seeing me, hearing me, and blessing me with adventures and windows of opportunity.
I am blessed by His presence daily.
Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 1
Open windows let in light.
Open windows let in dreams.
New vistas and endless opportunities await through open windows…
The shimmering reflections in the windows whispered promises of untold adventures awaiting her wounded heart.
Joy stepped onto the cobblestone streets of Venice, Italy, with a wide grin that made passersby glance her way. The scent of the Venetian sea breeze and the echo of her past life clung to her like a fading dream.
Joy never realized she’d be taking chances at age fifty-six. She resembled a woman in search of something. But not a hotel room or lost purse.
No, Joy’s twinkling eyes revealed a woman in search of a new chapter filled with adventure and possibilities.
The possibility of rediscovering herself.
Of rediscovering romance?
Joy didn’t know. But one thing she did know was that Millie, the new friend she’d met in Rome, inspired her to try something new even at age fifty-six.
Fifty-six?
Could life begin anew after middle age? Joy could hardly wait to find out.
Outside of the Santa Lucia train station, Joy smiled at the distant sound of seagulls as well as the warm sun on her skin that late afternoon in April. Tourists scattered in all directions, making their way to water taxis, water buses, cafés, and nearby shops. As Joy headed to a vaporetto stop for a boat ride to the gardens near the Piazza di San Marco, her phone vibrated.
“Jaime?” she answered the call.
