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CHAPTER ONE
A FEW MONTHS AFTER THE ACCIDENT
DANIKA
Physical therapy was hell on earthIt was pain, futility, and frustration, all with a feeling of hopelessness because I knew that it could only do so rit inside ofelse
I was only twenty-one, quickly approaching twenty-two, but I’d never inbefore TristanWith hi and carefree, withlife
As though it had all been a dream, some kind of a spell, that careless joy disappeared froain as quickly as it had co the oh so responsible woman that I was meant to be
I never cried a tear of self-pityThat had never been my poisonBitter was my poison, and it took every ounce of character I possessed not to let it consume me
I missed himI couldn’t even lie to myself about that
I missed him dreadfully
I convinced myself that it had all been passion, not true loveTrue love was a s in lifeWhat I’d felt for Tristan had been big and all consu, but I told myself, like a mantra in my head, that it had never been solid
Even so, every little thing brought hih toohad a s, shows, and ain
It was that kind of a breakupThe ruinous kind
When the longing got truly unbearable, I fell back on pure survivalinto that blank place I’d had to perfect as a sexually abused teenagerIt served me well at those timesAnd luckily, those times always passed
I kept so busy that I had very little ti that was neverout my dream career was a very involved process
I could throhole life into my ambitious future, in fact that wasa family of my own had been ripped so violently from the table
I did not feel whole for a long tiStrong enough to go on, with soe i
And I did
TRISTAN
“Welcome to the floor,” my counselor told me, the first time I walked into his office
I thought it was a good way to start thingsI wouldn’t have been able to pour ood sense of humor
He was a sray, and unrulyHis glasses always perched right on the tip of his nose as he studied me
And he didn’t even have a brown leather chaise lounge, as I’d fearedI got to sit up and talk to him like a normal person, not lie down like in the movies