Page 4 of It's Never Not Been You

When I had arrived in Coralship, my aunt had been waiting for me, and she’d been kind enough to let me live with her under the radar for as long as I’d needed to. However, because I wasn’t a freeloader, in exchange for her help, I had worked my ass off on her ranch from morning until midnight most days. I had learned so much, and the solitude had been such a welcomed reprieve during that time in my life. Seriously, my aunt had been a godsend.

It hadn’t been until four months after I’d moved in with my aunt that I’d met Pierce. He owned and had been managing the nearby horse ranch, and according to my aunt, he’d been her hero many times over the years. Aunt Sheryl had been widowed a few years back, but instead of selling her land and living comfortably off the profits, she had chosen to stay on the ranch and work it with the help of a few of her loyal ranch hands, Pierce teaching them everything that he knew.

“I’m a big girl, Pierce,” I teased. “I can drive, buy beer, and even vote.”

“You can also be a pain in the ass,” he replied dryly. “Such a talented woman you are.”

“I’m glad you finally noticed,” I sassed back.

“Noticed that you’re a pain in the ass?” he retorted. “I noticed that about you the second that your aunt introduced us, Blue.”

Even though the nickname had come about from a very painful time in my life, I didn’t mind it. Even after four months of licking my wounds, Pierce had begun calling me Blue almost right away because he’d said that he could feel the sadness radiating off me, no matter how much I’d lied about not being sad anymore. Unable to deny it for long, the nickname had stuck, but I was okay with it now.

When the videographer had burst into my dressing room at the church that day, I’d never felt such a level of betrayal, though heartbreak might be a better word. She’d overheard Raddix and Troy talking, and she’d felt that it’d been her duty to let me know what she’d heard, possibly preventing me from making the worst mistake of my life.

Thankfully, no one in my bridal party had tried to talk me out of my emotions. No one had placed their opinions over how I’d been feeling at the time, and that had been the support that I’d needed to fuel my escape. Even with all the money that my parents had spent on the wedding, they hadn’t tried to convince me to talk to Raddix or work it out for the sake of ‘appearances’. I had needed to disappear, and they had helped me do that, keeping my secrets all this time later.

Honestly, without the help of my aunt and Pierce, I have no idea if I would have been strong enough to come back to Fidelity. Aunt Sheryl had provided me with peace, and Pierce had provided me with purpose, and I was never going to be able to pay them back for that. I’d never felt a heartbreak like that before, and when I remembered how I’d cry myself sick during those first few weeks, it was a miracle that I had managed to move on in just a year’s time.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I retorted, sticking my tongue out at him like a child.

“Luckily, I still have my ranch in Coralship in case living with you starts to drive me crazy,” he said as he kept unpacking the kitchen boxes.

“Coward,” I muttered as I started unboxing the living room stuff.

“Hey, be grateful,” he said. “If I had sold the place, packing up everything, we’d be up to our necks in bullshit that needs to be unpacked.”

“Okay, that’s a valid point,” I agreed. “Moving does suck.”

“Plus, it’ll give us an excuse to visit Sheryl when I go back to check on the place,” he added.

I eyed him over the box sitting in front of me. “Do you plan on going back a lot?”

Pierce caught the tone in my voice. “No, you cuckoo clock,” he replied. “In case you’ve forgotten, I have a job here that will require my utmost dedication for the first few years.”

I grinned, taking the hint. “Then you can become lazy after that?”

“There’s a lottery win in my five-year plan,” he said, throwing me a wink.

“What a coincidence,” I joked. “That happens to be in my five-year plan, too.”

“All we have to do is start buying tickets, then we’ll be halfway there.”

The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking everything that we’d brought with us, which hadn’t really been much. While Pierce had been adamant about wanting to move back with me, I understood why he hadn’t sold his ranch. It was easier to make a big move in your life when you had a safety net in place. Fear of failure was a real thing, and while Pierce didn’t suffer from that particular affliction, we all had our own emotional baggage that seemed to follow us around like melted gum on the bottom of our shoes.

Nevertheless, we’d made the decision to come back here, and the plan was to make the most of it. While living together was going to take some getting used to, I knew Pierce well enough to know that our little idiosyncrasies weren’t anything that we wouldn’t be able to work through. Plus, the things that we did have in common were the important things. Above everything else, Pierce and I had a mutual respect for one another, and that was far more important than whether or not someone left the cap off the toothpaste.

Hours later, my phone chimed with a text message, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Eris: Dinner at my place 2night

Despite the painful memories, it really was good to be back home.

Chapter 3

Raddix~

The night sky was blanketing the entire city of Fidelity, and though beautiful, the sight wasn’t enough to make me forget that I wasn’t whole anymore. Nothing was strong enough to do that, and I’d seen my fair share of empty liquor bottles during these last twelve months to know that.

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