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Chapter One

WREN GALLAGHER WASN’T the type to drown her sorrows in alcohol, but tonight seeood a time as any to start

“Another Malibu and pineapple, Russ,” she said to the bartender, who gave her a look before nodding reluctantly She’d known Russell Fry since she was a kid Went to school with his daughter Araduated high school She’d received a full scholarship to soe and never looked back

Many tiht of Amelia And envied her tremendously

She’d gotten out

And Wren hadn’t

Not that Wildas a bad place She was happy here She had a great job as a bookkeeper for various businesses around town, plus she’d invested in her friend Delilah’s dance studio She had her fa off and finding love All she could find was the bottoht

Woe is me and all that jazz She’d roll her eyes at herself if she could guarantee it wouldn’talready, despite her internal promise not to overdo it

“That’s your third drink,” Russ said gruffly as he plunked the fresh glass in front of her

She grabbed it and took a long sip from the skinny red straw It was her third drink because the first teren’t potent enough She didn’t even feel that drunk But how could she tell Russ that when he was the oneher drinks? “And they’re equally delicious,” she replied with a sweet smile

He scowled at her, his bushy eyebrows threaded with gray hairs seeht, Wren?”

“I’m fine” She smiled, but it felt incredibly false, so she let it fade before taking another sip of her drink No way could she tell this old man she’d known forever all her troubles He’d tell her ive her a call, asking her to coet it

Forget It

Her problems were hers and hers alone Plus, they sounded ridiculously selfish when she voiced thees broke up, children got bad grades and failed school, people were diagnosed with fatal diseases, for God’s sake What did she have to co lonely? That maybe she felt the teeniest bitstuck?

Yeah, she’d re city, which had been her original after-high-school-graduation dream She’d wanted to escape her tiny life, her family, all of it, but that never happened She stayed home instead and worked and played and dealt with her family

So her dad was a jerk So her mom was a doormat She still loved them Her brothers were a pain in her ass, but she kneithout a doubt if she asked any one of the to be there for her No questions asked That was nice That fact alone made her feel safe