Olivia Graham was twenty-two when she started a whirlwind romance with charismatic Jakob overseas.
By age twenty-five, Liv was back home and checking off the widowed box on paperwork. With zero plans, Olivia and beloved dog Snuggles find themselves...
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Flashback
Joanie and Will had a stunning, emotional wedding. They are the perfect match, and it's hard to look away from their shining faces today.
I can't remember a time when I've seen Will beam like he has been all day.
My cousin Paul stands next to me as we watch them have their first dance slow together. Will has his forehead pressed to hers, and they're both smiling like idiots as they privately talk.
It's as if the rest of the room had disappeared.
My heart wrenches as the romantic scene in front of me transforms; the fog dissipating until the setting becomes crystal clear.
If Will needed me before, that's certainly over now. They look at one another like they walked through a freezing blizzard and now can warm their hands at the cozy fire.
My breath catches in my throat as I realize how disgustingly alone I am—banished to boarding school in another state. My parents are gone. Dead. My parents are dead.
They used to visit me all of the time. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to keep the grief inside as it smacks me in the face like a jackhammer that I don't have a family like I used to have a family.
I clutch my elbows as I hug myself around my middle, fully realizing how self-reliant I need to become.
"They look nice together," I tell Paul. He smiles at me, sliding his arm around my shoulders. I lean my head on him, and he squeezes my shoulder in response.
"Oh!" He says excitedly. "I need you to introduce me to your hot friend Lindsey."
I clear my throat. I had suggested this the other day, and he's collecting on the offer. "Sure. Can you snag a bottle of Grey Goose, some cups, and meet me out back?"
Half an hour later...or really, who knows what time truly is? Is it a measurement of significant events in our lives that pass us by? Is it how we count intervals to our next meal? I'm pretty wasted at the moment.
Anyway, half an hour later, I have never been more intoxicated. My best friend and my cousin Paul have migrated to a picnic table some distance away to make out, and I'm sitting on top of one of the other tables with Paul's twin brother Matt.
