Page 3 of Beautiful Storm

Only I still don’t know what that means. We spend all our spare time together but he’s never made a move. Is this his way of telling me he likes me?

Amelia

Age Nineteen

It’s been a month since I saw Preston, and I’m not going to lie, I’m struggling. He was touring for our two-year anniversary and while he sent me roses and another love song he’d written for me, I was a mess. I am a mess. How do people do this long-term? How are we going to do this long-term? Music is his dream. If all goes to plan this is the first of many tours to come. And who knows how my filmmaking will go. I want to take on the world.

I miss him so much.

Amelia

Age Twenty One

We did it. We got engaged. Preston proposed to me backstage at a music festival, just the two of us. It was his first big tour and when I surprised him in the audience, he ran off stage to find me.

Spending time apart is never going to be easy, but we love each other and I know we can make it work.

Amelia

Age Thirty

I’ve been putting everything I can into this marriage but it’s not working. Preston is great. Always has been. But our spark is dwindling. Maybe it’s been that way for a while now. We barely have sex anymore, not that we hadit regularly to begin with, but at least there was intimacy. Now, I can’t remember the last time we held hands.

I shouldn’t be complaining… After all, he supports my dreams and we’re making beautiful magic together with his music and my storytelling. The music videos I’ve directed for him have propelled him to stardom and he’s taking me along for the ride.

We still laugh together. We have fun. I’m his muse. I never go without.

Objectively, he’s the perfect husband. But we’re both so busy and…

I need a break.

Age Thirty Two

I fucked up. It’s been years since I wrote about him but I couldn’t leave this out.

I slept with Luke. I was trying to move on and I stupidly slept with a man I despise.

And now I’m pregnant.

Send help.

CHAPTER ONE

Amelia - Age Thirty Two

TWO MONTHS EARLIER

It’s time to get back out there. Let’s hope I know what the hell I’m doing. If I’m honest, I’m terrified.

I tap my foot against the leg of the chair and mindlessly stir my espresso martini. The same drink I’ve been staring at for the last hour.I don’t even like coffee…yet somehow, I’m addicted to the smell and thought this would be a good idea.

“What abouthim?” my friend Hayley says as she sits down beside me, immediately knocking back the remainder of her drink, pointing to the fit-looking man in a business suit busting a move on the dance floor. “He looks like he couldsatisfy some needs,” she adds when he thrusts his hips.

“I’m not having sex with some random guy.” I huff out a laugh and roll my eyes. Not to mention, I’ve never really beenattracted to well-groomed businessmen, and lately, I’ve found myself drawn to men who are a little more rugged. But I digress. “Just because I’m single—”

“Okay.” Hayley cuts me off as she lovingly squeezes my leg, knowing all too well the rant I was about to launch into. “I get it. I won’t suggest…” Something catches her eye and she trails off, peering over my shoulder with a giddy smile replacing her sympathetic expression. “What about a guy youdoknow?”

“What?” I foolishly spin around to find Luke Bennett, infamous tight end for the San Francisco Storm football team swaggering our way. Yes, he’s more of theruggedtype I was referring to, despite currently wearing a suit, but he’s also a former friend. One I’d prefer to keep in the past. Actually, I’dpreferhe didn’t exist.

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