Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 20927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
I lean back in my chair, feeling the familiar throbbing in my temples. Since I’m not sleeping, I keep near constant headaches. Even the strongest coffee won’t chase them away.
“You never told me about Jane,” she says softly.
I shrug. I’ve thought a lot about this over the past few hours, about why I didn’t tell them. “I was embarrassed. I put my whole heart in, and she didn’t want a backwoods mountain man.”
“It’s hard to put yourself out there again,” she says. After Harrison left her at the altar, she fell in love with Kasey but wouldn’t admit it. Not that it mattered. He chased her for over a year. He knew when he laid eyes on her that he’d love her forever. Maybe that’s why her scars never scared him.
I set my empty coffee mug on the desk and study her. “How did you do it?”
“There was this moment when I realized I couldn’t imagine my life without him and that’s when I knew I had to try again.”
I think of how bleak my life seems now. I can’t muster up the energy to look forward to anything. There’s only the yawning chasm of the coming years and the loneliness that will follow me until the day I’m buried. “I want Piper, but she doesn’t want me.” Admitting that out loud makes me feel raw and exposed, like she’s seeing everything in my heart.
“Did she say that?” Luna prompts.
“She didn’t have to. She’d say it at some point.” The loss would have crushed me. I’d never recover from Piper.
Luna’s tone is soft as she asks the probing questions. “So, did you actually give her the chance to reject you? Or did you just make the decision for her?”
“I love her.” My voice cracks on the words. With Jane, I wasn’t scared. I was so convinced she felt the same way that it never occurred to me that she’d still marry the senator’s son with the million-dollar trust fund.
“Then you need to give her a chance to love you back,” Luna says. “Love requires bravery and vulnerability and risk. And when it all goes wrong, it hurts like hell. But that moment when you find the one person meant for you—the one who loves you back—that makes it all worthwhile.”
I’m quiet for a long time as her words sink in. “You’re saying I fucked up.”
“Yeah, but it’s probably not beyond repair.”
I nod and take a deep breath. “Then I’ll need a favor. A big one.”
9
PIPER
I finished the book. It’s not my first completed book but it’s the one I’m proud of. I want to share it with other people, and I’m ready to take that step. I have some money in savings. Dad wasn’t rich but he left me a small inheritance. I’ve kept it in savings and let it grow for a while because I didn’t know what to do with it. I do now.
“What is this?” Brock looks up from the paper he’s holding in his hands. It’s my resignation letter. “Is this about the vacation? Look, I’m man enough to admit that it’s my fault that happened.”
It’s been over a week since I went away to the Forever After Lodge. Every day, I’m greeted with a new delivery of sunflowers at work and another one at home. Each time, I donate them and throw the unread note in the garbage. I don’t want to read Gray’s lame apology or other excuses. He made it clear he was only in it for sex. Well, he got what he wanted.
“No, the vacation was exactly what I needed. I want to honor Dad’s memory, but I’m not happy here. Not anymore.”
He lets the paper flutter onto his neat desk. The two of us finally finished digitizing the files last week. “Is that why you’ve stayed all this time, trying to be strong for Dad?”
“I know it sounds silly when I say it out loud, but it felt like I was keeping him alive by staying.” The more I thought about it, the more I realized he wouldn’t want me to stay for that reason. My dad always encouraged me to follow my dreams. He never forced the station life on me. I chose it and up until he passed away, I was always content with that choice. Now though, it reminds me of how much I miss him.
Brock nods. “If this is what you want, then I’m happy for you. But what are you going to do with your time?”
I give him a small smile. “I’ll write books. Live off what Dad left. It’s not much but I won’t have to eat cheap noodles either.”
“He’d be proud of you for finding a new dream.” He gestures toward the letter. “Guess I gotta put the word out that I’m looking for a new dispatcher.”