HER FIRST MISTAKE

Her First Mistake

Haunted by her past and unable to settle and find a permanent way of life in the present, Mia Thornton will undergo changes that will forever impact her in the future. As a young child her mother had man boyfriends but in the end one would take her away and never allow her to return. Just what happened to her mother when she locked her away in the shed in the cellar while she was going to have a night with this man? Waiting in the darkness and hoping for her mother’s return Mia would have to learn the meaning of survival. How does a young child dig her way out of a shed and hopefully to safety? Mia never saw her mother again and now 20 years later in the present, this would haunt her and bring back memories of that time.

Have you ever felt like when people see you that you look transparent, and they really do not pay attention to you at all? Did you ever feel alone and when you enter a room invisible to those present? Mia is now living with her Aunt Misty and is under her total control. Worried that something or someone from the past is still out there and lurking in the present to take her away once again, she keeps her under strict guard and control. She is now working in a school with young children and seems to love what she does, but the staff of this school is anything but supportive and friendly towards her. Invited to dinner by one of the student’s parents who later backs out she runs into a group of teachers from her school. It is at this point things turn dangerous and one young teacher, Celeste is not exactly very friendly towards her nor are the others and when she leaves the bar and drops her keys, why does Mia pocket them and not yell after her that she dropped them. Revenge, just getting even or her way of dealing with rejection but this one incident would change the course of a family’s life, friendships that will never be the same and send Mia back and forth to counseling until the harsh realities of her actions and that of others become known. This was not only her first mistake but the start of more to come.

When Mia goes the location where everyone is searching for Celeste she meets her sister Angelica who says she will buddy up with her until her brother shows up and things get out of hand as he looks drunk and his actions towards Mia are anything but proper. With the help of Angelica and her mother Alma, she is whisked away to their home, given a change of clothes that belonged to Celeste and from this point on her life takes a different turn.

Not realizing the hidden truths behind their friendships and volunteering to put up posters, drive Alma to church since she is not allowed to drive due to medication that she is taking, Mia tries to become a part of their lives and their family.

But her past haunts her and when dealing with the detective she relates what happened at the bar where she met Celeste, then with her brother and after that with one of the parents in her school relating information that is confidential and causes her more than she expected. Mia seems to be outspoken at times, justifies her feelings and really does not know reality from fiction at times and yet you wonder if someone is trying to gaslight her as the story moves ahead. Baxter and Alma have been married for a long time and she met him when Celeste was just six and needed someone to support her and help care for her child. Alma lets you know it is all about money and Angelica and Isiah are both of their children but there is something off about his family.

Mia learns that Celeste is missing and that the police are now looking for her since she did not return home, refused a ride from her co-workers nor did she call for a lift or uber. What exactly happened to her and where was she will not be revealed until the tangled web of lies, deceptions and deceits are revealed within  family and community that might never survive the truth and the links to Mia’s past.

For some reason Mia enlists her help during the search for Mia and continues to try and figure out what happened to her and seems to feel it is her responsibility to give the police information, find clues and of course find Celeste. Is this guilt or does she just want to be needed, noticed and wanted? Throughout the novel she constantly calls on Detective Stevens hoping to feed him clues to help find Celeste but never telling him about the keys which she has buried with the depths of her mother’s hope chest and yet the events that follow will shock you and what she does to hide the truth behind her actions even more. Everyone is questioned including her, Isiah her brother had an argument with his sister over a family issue and he is questioned too. The family seems to be ruled out and friends have alibis for the time she went missing. All the periods and dots seem to be in place but where is Celeste?

Mia sees Dr. Baquero who helps her deal with her past, and the issues in the present and even agrees to put her under to see if anything comes back to her. The sessions remind her of what happened and the man that took her mother away and from that point on she realizes that her mother is no longer alive but why? Added in Ruth Hudson’s husband Paul is stalking her, and she even repeats something she overheard to the police and the school comes down on her actions twice causing her to lose her job. Even before that she wants to have a book club at her school and that scene starts out supportive and the ending will let you know just how cutthroat the teachers are and the length they will go to hurt Mia and more.

But someone is behind what is happening, and Alma needs her to help with her mail and do errands and since she lost her job and needs a place to stay they invite her in until something happens and a harsh reality about the keys becomes known. Added in she thinks she is being clever talking to Keisha, the assistant manager of the club where she met Celeste and what happens, and the threats made take her in a whole new direction. Added in she takes aim at a reporter who comes too close to Alma and causes her to fall and before she can stop what has occurred she incident is all over the news and the school plus her allegations about the parent force them to let her go. A story ripped right out of the headlines and characters that are vividly depicted and a young woman whose mental problems are perfectly described and yet you wonder if what she thinks is happening is reality or not? Mia learns some hard and fast life lessons and she learns the true definitions of lies, deceptions and will have to learn how to trust.

Mia justifies her actions and yet you wonder if what is happening to her is real or imaginative. A sweater from Celeste’s closet winds up in her own. Notes are placed on her car and she receives other threats. The author takes readers inside the mind of someone whose mind is already fragile and damaged until we learn the truth behind what happens to Celeste and one other at the hand of the same murderer. The detective is not thrilled with her interference and the final scene with a twist and surprise you will not expect, and you will wonder is Mia will ever survive Her FIRST MISTAKE.