In Love with a Stranger

Someone was knocking at the door. She couldn't stand the thought of it being him. Luckily when Lucy, a tall, stunning brunette with piercing blue eyes, opened the door she was pleasantly surprised to find a neighbor girl selling Girl Scout cookies. After ordering a couple of boxes Lucy shut and locked the door.

It had been nearly a day since she kicked Bill out of her house. Lucy changed the locks and invested in a security system, just in case he decided to come back to haunt her.

After years of dating and the possibility of marriage, Lucy discovered a secret life that Bill had been hiding from her. It turns out, this shy, blond man she had dedicated a decade of her life to was not at all who he claimed to be.

Bill's deceit ran deep. The office he claimed to be his was in fact a friends. The car he drove he couldn't afford.

The successful career as a financial advisor that Lucy believed Bill held was a lie. Bill had lost his job years ago. Every morning when Lucy watched Bill leave for work, he was really heading off to the local casino. When he returned at night, he often looked beat but it wasn't due to the stress of a hectic day at the office. No it was a tough day at the tables.

The business trips Bill took to Las Vegas or Reno were not for business at all. The trips were all for the sake of gambling.

Lucy started to notice her own savings account dwindling. Her credit cards with small cash advances she did not recall doing. She had a hard time finding some items around the home such as a pair of diamond earrings, her camera and other small, yet valuable things. When she mentioned this to Bill, he'd just shrug it off as her memory must be going. All along knowing he was the one responsible.

It all came to a head one day when Lucy was home sick from the office. She received a phone call from her credit card company. They were calling about an unusual transaction. Someone was trying to take out a large cash advance on her credit card. Lucy was able to stop the transaction and then cancelled the card and all the others she had on hand.

Shortly after the phone call from the credit card company, Bill arrived home, upset and confused to see her. When Lucy asked him what was wrong, he lost it. He asked her for money, only telling her at the time that a friend was in trouble and needed money. After his request, Lucy confronted him about her credit card and Bill broke down.

After years of living a lie, Bill confessed to Lucy that he was thousands of dollars in debt Bill told Lucy everything. About the job, the gambling, the selling of her personal items including her favorite pair of diamond earrings. After his confession, Lucy kicked Bill out.

Bill had nowhere to go and with no money to his name, Lucy was not sure what he would do. But she knew she could not continue to let him live with her any longer. She could no longer enable him to gamble his life away.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. This time, she knew it must be him. A quick look through the peep hole revealed a different visitor, however. Lucy opened the door to discover an armed officer waiting for her.

The officer asked if she knew Bill. Lucy broke into tears as she answered yes and feared the worse. The officer continued and asked Lucy when she last saw him. She responded, "Yesterday." Lucy asked the officer "Is something wrong? Is Bill in trouble?"

The officer informed Lucy that Bill had been in an accident and was in a coma at the local hospital. The only information they could find on Bill was Lucy's address. There was no information on Bill in their systems and no record of anyone named Bill Weinstein in the state.

Shocked and confused, Lucy shut the door after the officers left. She fell to floor crying knowing she had lost the love of her life without ever really knowing who he was. And now she likely never will.