We can only learn to love by loving

Prologue

It's funny really, how some people consider a perfect family, to be a family of 4, consisting of a mother, father, son and daughter. My parent's spilt up before I turned 2 years old and I was born out of wedlock, my dead-beat dad wasn't in the picture, and as I got older, I was thankful of that. However, I remember growing up as an only child with a single mother.

When I was in primary school, all of my friend's parents were still together, the majority of them had siblings and pets, which was the opposite to my own. My family, consisted of just me and my mum. I wasn't singled out for this by my school friends, but the older I got, the more I longed to have a little brother and a dog of my own, to feel as though I fit in.

I'd lost count of the amount of times I was asked where my dad was, or why he wasn't in my life. To be honest, the question didn't faze me as I was very open to explain to my friends what had happened between my parents but the amount of times I had to tell this, did eventually become draining. The thing is though, although technically I was an only child, in my opinion, I wasn't. There is a very close age gap between me and my two cousins, which made us all grow up as siblings, especially as we lived next door but one from one another. Louise is just two years older than me, and her older brother Anthony, is just one year older than her. So as you can imagine, we caused havoc on our street growing up together.

When I was 12 years old, my mum met my stepdad, who not long after came to live with us permanently. One thing I must say, is my step-dad has always treated me as if I was one of his own. Especially when my little brother Oliver was born when I was 14. Not once was I made to feel left out, if anything, my step-dad went above and beyond to ensure I felt just as much as his child as my brother was.

Being an only child for 14 years had it's advantages, it brought me and my mum a lot closer to one another, she is literally my best friend. So when she tells me I'm good at something and to pursue it I know she only has my best interest at heart, which is exactly why I took her advice.

I've always liked baking, my dream as I was growing up was to open my own bakery. I've worked hard to get to where I am now, I've gained experience through trial and errors and through working in other bakery's. However, I quickly decided I didn't want to work for anyone else and instead decided the time was right for me to open my own shop.

The opening of the shop was happening tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited but the nerves were also beginning to kick in. My stomach felt as though as it was about to erupt due the feeling of the butterflies which were currently overwhelming me as I lay tossing and turning in bed. I knew tonight was going to be a long night.