Publisher's Synopsis
In her last few minutes of life, Lydia stood at the balcony rail sipping wine, reminiscing. She missed mom and dad. Her brothers Daniel and Derek had moved on with their lives. Daniel married Katie, bought a bungalow in the burbs, and was now expecting a baby. Derek moved to New York right after college. They talked on the phone periodically, but she only saw him once a year when he came to visit.
Adopted into a loving family with many warm memories, though dad's cancer diagnosis cracked the protective shell of happy thoughts. That cancer slowly sucking the life out of him, while the family helplessly watched.
Mom stood by Lydia in the quest to find her biological mother. The search ended by discovering her biological mother used a fake name. Dad burned the documents in the fireplace, insisting that was his way of destroying anything that tied Lydia to another family.
Kyle, her lover, and her teddy bear kept her warm at night. Cheryl, her best friend since kindergarten, was more like a twin sister, sharing every moment in life. She had a good job. Should have been happy. But she wasn't. Lydia wallowed in depression, hiding her distorted emotions from Kyle and Cheryl. From anybody. She talked about her unsettled feelings surrounding the search for her biological mother, but nobody seemed to understand.
Kyle and his buddy Mike went to the pub to watch the 9th inning. Cheryl curled up in an armchair to sleep off the wine and weed. Lydia, in her drunken state of mind, tears falling down her cheeks, drags a chair to the balcony rail, wanting to yell at the world. In her drunken state, she gets both feet on the old chair Kyle had found at the side of the road. It wobbled. The rail edge somewhere between her ankles and knees, her hands reaching out with nothing to grasp but the cool night air, as her eyes looked down at the dizzying height.
Lydia falls to her death. But it's not over. Her body destroyed. Her soul lives on. Lydia must face this tragedy. Losing her life, her future, accepting the pain she left behind in those who loved her. These things she cannot change.
Wondering where the white light is, Lydia meets Keith, an EMT who took his life. It is immediately apparent that, in the state of death; they share thoughts through telepathy. And together, they face the road of healing. Reconciliation. Intellectually challenging each other, intrigued by the mystery of life after death, and-what is the soul. They learn new things.