After being jilted at the altar, Amber Gardner finds herself in a small beach town and stuck rooming with an unlikely person: her childhood nemesis Cameron, the man she is supposed to hate.
***
Amber Gardner and her fiancé were together for two year...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THE NEXT MORNING, I ASKED CAM TO TAKE ME HOME.
I was finally ready to go home and see Pops. While I dragged my stay here, I met amazing people who inspired me to improve. So, it wouldn't be easy to leave here and move on—especially say goodbye to my teenage bestie—but I had to wear big girl pants and face my fears.
Cam said we could leave whenever I wanted, so I spent the rest of the day packing my bag. My eyes skimmed around the room as I folded the last piece of clothing, and I released a huff of breath. The bag was packed and ready in front of me, showing the naked reality of us leaving this small room I'd called ours for weeks. I never thought I'd grown fond of a place where I'd landed coincidentally.
Land's End was much more than a small, undiscovered coastal town.
It was the place where I learned about self-love, sense of self, altruism, and friendship and overcame my fears and doubts. It was the place that taught me you didn't have to please everyone for them to like you—you just had to be yourself.
It was home.
With a smile, I took out my soft blue blouse that Tuesday liked. I wanted to give it to her as a goodbye gift, something she could remember me by. I guess it'd hurt the most to leave her behind. I didn't plan to leave her behind, of course; we'd always keep in touch, and I wanted to persuade her to get out of her comfort zone and go to college in a different state—maybe in New York. She was the sister I never had.
I grabbed my phone and texted Pops: I'll see you tomorrow.
Then, I zipped my bag for now—I'd have to reopen it to place my nightgown—and sat on the bed. I knew it was a great time to get my ass out of this room, wander around the town and say my farewells, but the weight of this thought kept me anchored to the bed.
I had problems with goodbyes—I wish there was a way to avoid it.
The knock on the door put me on my feet, and I opened it, thinking it was Cam. Yet it was Tuesday, in a pink tank top and dark denim shorts. Her eyebrows furrowed at the sight of me, probably because of my miserable face, and she let herself in with a sigh. "Cam said you are packing," she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Of course, he did. "When were you planning to tell me you're leaving? I thought you still had time."
