Welcome back to the Avery After Dark podcast. Today's story is one that's going to give you goosebumps. It's my favorite kind of

story, a psychological mystery thriller. So I want you to envision this. Your boyfriend, girlfriend,

husband, or wife goes missing. Just one day up and vanishes. There's no trace of where they went or what happened.

Your mind goes to the worst possible scenarios.

When surprisingly a week later, they show back up on your doorstep.

You're overwhelmed with relief.

Your prayers have been answered.

Except when your partner returns, they're acting differently. It feels like you

don't even know this person. Something is just off. Sit back and listen and let me tell you a story.

This is called a kiss on the hand. Sam and I had been married for three years. Three fun and beautiful years. We met at a

party in college and had been inseparable ever since. It sounds corny, but we were soulmates,

and we both knew it. He knew everything about me and I knew him better than anyone. Sam was a

brilliant writer. He had already finished two novels

by the time he was 30, and he loved writing. The look in his eye as he was working on a book,

I loved watching him. It was truly his calling, and I found myself sometimes jealous of him.

He knew he wanted to be a writer since he was a kid. If you googled my husband,

you'd find pages of articles and blogs singing his praise. Sam Ford is the next big thing in literature.

And they were right. He had a gift. Me, I worked in real estate. I'm a people person and I like it, but it's more of a job for

me. I'm not in love with my work like Samas. After getting married, we purchased our first home together.

I found us a ranch through one of my real estate listings. It was a fixer-upper, and that's putting it mildly.

The ranch sat on an acre of land here in Tennessee, and it was stunning, but needed so much work.

From the floors to needing a new roof, we spent a year and a half in almost all of our savings,

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