Katie Mettner

White Sheets & Rosy Cheeks Katie Mettner

As Eli Sheets stared at a rundown house in the tiny town of Bearsfield, Wisconsin, he wondered if the peeling paint and sagging porch were a home renovation nightmare, or a second chance. His three-year-old daughter, Molly, was convinced it was their second chance, a chance they both desperately needed. As a single dad, Eli couldn't remember how to live outside the safety of his box, but he wasn't sure 617 South Beltrane Avenue was going to give him a choice. Diana Forrester had been hurt too many times in her short life. When she pulled into her driveway one afternoon, she didn't expect to see a young, handsome, suit clad man standing in her neighbor's yard, or the little girl peeking out at her from behind his legs. Her heart, long since dead to the hopes and dreams of most women, ker-thunked again in her chest. Brought together by an old man with one last wish, Diana and Eli searched for absolution of past regrets in a house filled with them. If they paved the path with acceptance and forgiveness, they would find the love of a lifetime waiting for them at the end of the yellow brick road.