Page 61 of One Spicy Summer

After meeting with Bill, I check into the Marriott. Temporary digs until the house closes.

I’ve had my eye on this place for a long time. Even back then, when dreams felt impossible.

Graduated top of my class, degrees in business and architecture. Could’ve gone anywhere. But Texas needs architects like it needs air, and building things with my hands has always been in my blood.

Football paid for school, but it wasn’t the dream.

This was.

I didn’t get to design this first house exactly how I wanted, but that's fine. There’s plenty of room to expand. Plenty of space to build the life I’ve been fighting for.

Still...I don’t know where to start. Rafe’s not an option right now.

Agatha?

Maybe.

But it feels too soon to show my face just yet. For now, I'll stay low. Grab that coffee with Mindy. See what she knows. And when the time’s right?I’ll find my Presley.

And this time, nothing,no one, is taking her away from me.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Presley

Rolling onto my side, I feel warmth spreading across my face and think it’s from the rising sun.

If only that were the case, I think, cracking open my eyes to feel more tears spill over the sides.

Today marks seven years my baby has been dead.

It also marks seven years that I’ve been dead.

After I delivered, Reese, that’s the name I chose for my son, because he was the sweetest thing to ever happen to me, my life ended.

Bittersweet, but he was my son.

My sweet, baby boy.

Every year is the same when his birthday comes around.

I party like a rockstar and ignore all responsibilities.

That’s what happens when your life ends one day, in a way you never could have imagined.

Agatha didn’t know how to help me and eventually told my parents about the pregnancy and that I’d lost him.

They were so overcome with grief and the pain of his death, that it left no room for them to be mad at me.

But the years that would come to pass, I’d give them more than enough reason to stay mad at me.

I couldn’t finish school because I had no desire or will to live.

I fell into a deep depression and turned to drugs to numb the pain. When that didn’t work, I started sleeping around, drinking,anddoing drugs.

Here we are.

Seven years later, and nothing’s changed.

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