With My Heart Wide Open

Chapter 1

Audrey King stared out the window in her ground level office. She was exhausted. The last ten months had put her to the test, and she still wasn't sure if she had passed it. Ten months ago, the man she thought she would spend the rest of her life with had left her. He left her to chase his dreams, probably when she had needed him the most. She didn't fault him for wanting to live out the life he had always dreamed of, but leaving her the way he did had nearly broke her.

That was nothing though. Her mother, Sara, passed away four months after that. That was what broke her. She was a different person now. A person she was almost scared of. Since she lost her mother, Audrey was no longer content living the simple life she had built for herself.

Audrey worked at a small non-profit organization that focused on providing educational after school programs for youth in their community. She had been working there for five years and had worked her way from the bottom to become the Associate Director of Fundraising. She loved her job, but recently had become restless. She wanted something more.

She also felt alone. Of course she had friends, such as her best friend Macy Stephens. Macy was always there for her; had been since they were in the first grade. Audrey was lonely in a different sense. Her and Jake had been together for six years before he left her and moved to California. One could probably say that she hadn't ever really been alone during much of her adult life. She would be turning 30 in one month. For the longest time, she had been part of a couple. Now she was just a parentless, single, boring small town girl. Audrey thought that 30 meant she was sure to fulfill the destiny of becoming an old maid who lived with a billion cats, except she didn't care for cats. So she would be the old maid that lived with a billion dogs.

Her best friend said there was no way that was happening. Audrey was to beautiful for that life, as Macy put it. Audrey had long blonde hair, big blue eyes, was 5'6'', and had supple curves in all the right places. However, Audrey had always thought of herself as basic. You know....Uggs, Starbucks, and boring. Even though, Audrey didn't even own a pair of Uggs.

Macy had already hit 30 a couple of months ago and always referred to it as the "Dirty 30". She was insistent that she and Audrey do something crazy in celebration of their birthdays. She said that Audrey needed to let loose a bit. Audrey agreed and Macy was on a mission to come up with something that was sure to be unforgettable.

Pulling Audrey from her thoughts, her email dinged. She looked at her laptop screen and saw the 'Non-profit Times' monthly e-blast. Usually she would just delete it; as they were usually targeted towards bigger organizations. However, this time was different. The words "multiple opportunities" caught her eye.

Opening the email, she scrolled down to find a short blurb about international job opportunities in the non-profit sector. Thinking to herself, "what's the harm in looking", Audrey clicked the link. Scrolling through the hundreds of listings quickly became exhausting. That's when she saw it:

INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION SEEKS YOUTH PROGRAMS COORDINATOR

"Hmmmm" she thought to herself, expanding the job posting with a click of her mouse. After reading through the ad in it's entirety, she began to get excited. This could be the chance she needed to take! She doubted that she was qualified, but thought there really was no harm in at least sending her resume'.

In her excitement, she realized she didn't recall where the job was located. Skimming back through the posting, she found the information she was looking for. Although the organization name wasn't listed in the ad, which was pretty standard in the non-profit world, the location was. Madrid, Spain.

"Wow" she said said aloud.

"I couldn't get farther away if I tried" Audrey said with a chuckle.

Quickly, she signed into her personal email account and composed an email. After attaching her resume' and cover letter, the message was complete. Taking a deep breath, she pressed send.