In Her Eyes
By Wesley Banks
Blurb:
When Ben Wilder is given a second chance he focuses on the one thing he's always been good at: running. After walking on to the University of Florida Track and Field team he begins to quickly move up the national rankings, paving a path towards the NCAA Championships. Everything is going the way he planned, until the day he bumps into Casey Taylor.
New to Gainesville, and focused on her first year out of medical school, Casey is initially hesitant to let Ben into her life. But the truth is she's worried about letting a guy near the one thing she loves most: her daughter, Emma. After one fun and fateful night Casey can no longer bury her feelings behind these excuses, and takes a chance on a guy she is slowly falling for.
Casey's relationship with Ben starts to gradually build into a love that she has never felt before. But more importantly, Emma has taken a particular liking to Ben. As they all spend more time together Ben is forced to confront painful memories when he starts to notice something hauntingly familiar in Emma's eyes.
After a local journalist uncovers the secret of Ben's past their lives begin to converge on a single promise that Ben Wilder has long since made: to never give up...no matter what.
New to Gainesville, and focused on her first year out of medical school, Casey is initially hesitant to let Ben into her life. But the truth is she's worried about letting a guy near the one thing she loves most: her daughter, Emma. After one fun and fateful night Casey can no longer bury her feelings behind these excuses, and takes a chance on a guy she is slowly falling for.
Casey's relationship with Ben starts to gradually build into a love that she has never felt before. But more importantly, Emma has taken a particular liking to Ben. As they all spend more time together Ben is forced to confront painful memories when he starts to notice something hauntingly familiar in Emma's eyes.
After a local journalist uncovers the secret of Ben's past their lives begin to converge on a single promise that Ben Wilder has long since made: to never give up...no matter what.
Release Date:
March 14, 2016
Excerpt
Coach Melvick stood just a few feet behind him. Their
conversation from this morning still weighed heavily on Ben. He had run one way
for as long as he could remember, and the morning of the most important race of
his life, Coach Melvick had asked him to change everything. It wasn’t just the
change that burdened him though. It was the impossibility of it all. “Ask me
again with a 1,000 meters left.”
Coach turned his head and just kind of stared off into
the distance. Without looking at Ben, he asked,
“You ever watch the Nature Channel?”
The random question caught Ben off guard. “Umm, no, not
really. Why?”
“I love that damn channel. Chalked full of interesting
stuff.” Coach paused again and his eyes seemed to wander towards among the stands.
“The other day I was watching this documentary on wolves.
You probably wouldn’t think it, but they are absolutely fucking magnificent
long distance runners.” He paused again. “You know how they figured that out?”
Ben shook his head again not entirely sure what this had
to do with anything.
“They chased bend
the damn thing with a snowmobile just to see how far it could go. Now,
if I was that damn wolf, I would have
turned around and chewed their sorry faces off. But this wolf must have been
one cocky SOB, because he just kept running. Those idiots followed him for
hours, until eventually they had to turn around. But that damn wolf just kept
on runningtruckin’.…”
Coach looked down
at Ben now. “You know how he did it?”
Again Ben just shook his head.
“He did it the same way you do anything in life, by
putting one damn foot in front of the other.” Coach Melvick’s eyes burned into
Ben and then without another word he walked towards the infield with the rest
of his team .
Coach Melvick sat down on a wooden bench painted with the
green and yellow colors of the Oregon Ducks. He pulled out a half-smoked cigar
and held it between his lips while he struck a match across the glass powder
surface until the phosphorus and air created a small flame. He spun the cigar
around in the modest small orange light flame and then tossed the expired match
onto the ground next to him. He smiled as he took the cigar out of his mouth
for a second, examining the tip he had just primed.
Then his smile faded as he thought about the wolf, the
hopeless expression on the animal’s face when he realized he could. He had
never outrun the guys on the snowmobile. After about four hours, the wolf had
collapsed. That amazing animal ran his heart out, literally.
About The Author
Wesley recently moved from Florida to Oregon to get back to the great outdoors that he loves so much. He lives with his wife Lindsey, and his two dogs Linkin and Story. Most of his time these days is spent writing, with as much rock climbing, hiking, or skiing as they can fit in.
You can find Wesley at
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