Blogger’s note: As I get ready to launch Operation Javelin, I want to share a little bit more about the characters you’ll be reading about. Today, you get to meet Shelly Wise, the protagonist. Though it’s natural to think that living on Hawaii’s Big Island is all happiness and no complication, sometimes it’s not.

Hi, everyone. I need to fill you in on my adventures on the Big Island, or at least where I stand going into the Christmas of 2017 because my adventure you’ll read about begins on New Year’s Day 2018. I know that seems like a long time ago, but sometimes it takes a bit to get a story out.

Of course, you may wonder how I came to live on the Big Island. Regina, one of my best friends from my early working days in northern Virginia, had moved to the Big Island in 2012. We’d kept in touch over the years, and in September she called me and told me that her mother in Texas was in need of a bone marrow transplant. She was a match and planned to return to Dallas that October, and I offered to cover for her at her workplace. Since she and I are both in the same field, it would be easy to do. I would come onboard as a contractor and continue the work she’d begun until she could return. I see it as a way to love my friend when she’s going through a really hard time.

Miracles of miracles, it worked, and in mid-October, I found myself on a plane headed to the Kona airport. Part of it was hard, though, because I was leaving behind Butch, my boyfriend of over a year. We were very serious, like marriage serious, but I knew he wanted me to have this opportunity. Thank goodness for technology! We text every day, talk on the phone, and video chat twice a week. Not to mention, before I even left, he’d scheduled two trips out here, one over Thanksgiving, one coming up at Christmas. We had a blast over Thanksgiving. And now I pick him up for Christmas in a few minutes. Things have changed. You see, my parents visited, and after they left, things haven’t felt right in my heart. Oh, my three roommates, all female contractors like me, have been great. But I’ve also noticed that one of them hasn’t been herself either. It’s like this tension exists within this house. Her with whatever is bothering her and me with a decision I just made. You see, the bone marrow transplant for Regina’s mom failed last week. She’s now terminal and in hospice. Without talking to Butch, though I know I should have, I extended the contract until April. Now I need to tell him since he fully expects me to return to Arizona in mid-January. What a mess—and one of my own making.

Question: What more do you want to know about Shelly?