Juliana and Isa moved out, back to their house, a couple of months after Jules was discharged from the hospital. My prayers have been answered daily, as there’s no sign of her cancer returning or her body rejecting the donor cells. It seems she’ll make a full recovery, and I couldn’t be happier. Although, I don’t see her nearly as much now as I did before she first started treatments. When I push her for an answer why she’s staying away more than usual, she tries to convince me I’m overreacting.
I don’t think I am.
The truth will come out eventually. I’ve learned that the hard way—no secret stays a secret for long. I have a sneaking suspicion about what’s going on in her world, but I’ve behaved and not bulldozed my way into her affairs. When she needs me, I’ll be here to pull her out of the fire, the same as I’ve always been, and always will be.
Daisy tells me to mind my own business and let Juliana live her own life. Maybe she’s right, but I can’t stop being the overprotective brother overnight. I know my sister, and there’s something she’s hiding from me.
In the meantime, the beauty in my bed every night has all my love, affection, attention, and devotion. Without her, I’d be a lonely, terrible man.
Daisy and I have experienced ups and downs in our relationship and in our lives, but we’ve weathered them together. Nothing has been perfect or easily worked out on its own. But we belong together. We’re bound together. We’re all we need to get through one more day with love and happiness.
“What’s going on in that handsome head of yours?” She interrupts my thoughts, and it’s only at the sound of her voice that I realize I’ve been staring at her.
“I was just thinking about how I’ve got all I want and all I need right here in this house. I am so in love with you, and I wouldn’t trade this perfect life we’ve made for anything in the world.”
Completely Captivated Sneak Peek
The End…Or Not
July, Present Day
This is the story of two very different men who are in love with the same woman. To grasp the full impact one person has on another’s life, I’m starting at what seems to be the end of the story. But don’t be deceived by appearances. I’ll just be getting started with my plans for them by the time you catch up with me.
Who gets the girl and lives happily ever after is yet to be seen. My part in this story will be made clear soon enough. Until then, I’d like to introduce you to Christa, Aaron, and Jared. How they started. Where they fell apart. Then you and I will see how they end up—together. This is their past. Their future is still to come.
Buckle up, buttercup. We’re all going for a ride.
Christa and Aaron walked hand in hand into the ultrachic, urbanely modern downtown office building. She was still reeling from their whirlwind weekend. Reality hadn’t yet set in, leaving her to question if she’d hallucinated everything that had happened. A beautiful, life-changing, dream-come-true hallucination.
If I am, don’t ever let me wake up, she thought.
As they crossed the marble floor of the lobby, she glanced over at Aaron for the hundredth time, convinced she was dreaming it all. A recurring unease ran through her mind and plagued her thoughts. She was desperate to ask if he felt as shocked with their new life as she did. Part of her wanted to know if the extreme mixture of excitement, fear, and exhilaration, immediately followed by sheer terror, overwhelmed him as much as it did her. But she didn’t want to be that girl—the needy, clingy, “What are you thinking?” type of girl.
Her thoughts drifted to how different everything she’d ever known was compared to just a few short months ago before she’d met Aaron. Even at her young age of twenty-two, she’d learned firsthand how life wasn’t fair. Her parents had made sure to teach her that valuable lesson.
She’d also accepted she’d never be lucky in anything. She’d been unlucky in having the big, loving family she’d dreamed of her entire childhood. As the only child of a deadbeat dad and a neglectful mother, the only people she could lean on were friends she’d made along the way. The Miller family had all but adopted her, giving her the only stability throughout her childhood.
Luck in money had escaped her, since she had scraped by on her very last dime for anything she’d ever had. She’d worked tirelessly to start her own business, rising early in the morning and remaining in her shop until late at night to get her café off the ground.
Finally, she’d most decidedly been unlucky in finding love. The few men she’d made time to date turned out to be less stellar than she’d initially thought. Or dared to hope. But after the last three days, she was finally convinced her luck had changed for the better, that true love could happen, that happiness could last.
As they walked into the posh office building, nausea washed over her in repetitive waves when she realized she was completely out of place and notably underdressed. Elegant, professional women clicked by in their stiletto heels, with their hair perfectly coiffed and their nails fashionably manicured, wearing their expensive designer business clothes. Unlike everyone else, she was dressed in faded jeans, off-brand Ugg-type boots, and a generic name sweater. Her long, straight blond hair usually refused to cooperate, preferring to hang loosely on her shoulders.
She was grateful Aaron held her hand tightly in his, paying no attention to the beautiful women surrounding them.
