Page 1 of Summer Redemption

CHAPTER 1

SUNSHINE

While driving through Wintervale, it becomes clear that not much has changed in the eight years I’ve been gone. I recognize some of the people around town, who have aged, but I expected it with so much time passing. Still, it’s kind of jarring. Maybe it’s because when I left, I was still a kid. Now I’ve chased my dreams and grown up.

The plan was always to come back home. There was no way I could leave forever, it just isn’t in me. Wintervale isn’t without faults, especially when it comes to some of the people, but it’s home.

When I left to go to school, something became clear to me. People can be awful, and it doesn’t matter where you are. I also found out there are more good people out there than bad, people who care, people you can connect with.

The best thing about leaving Wintervale was that I foundmyself. I already knew what I was passionate about, it was something I knew from an early age. Helping animals, understanding them when it seemed no one else did, came naturally. It became my calling before I even understood what it meant to have a calling.

My entire personality became about reaching my dream of becoming a veterinarian. It wasn’t necessarily a terrible thing, but that’s all I was. I focused on school because it was what I needed to do in order to become a vet. The way I studied, for everything, bordered on obsession.

It wasn’t lost on anyone that I was nerdy, and school was my focus. There were some people who never let me forget it.

Making friends wasn’t easy. Even with the size of Wintervale and how close-knit the community is, I only had one good friend growing up. Sofie made me feel human and gave me a feeling of belonging, when everyone else seemed more than okay with me being on the outside of things.

There was only one other person I wanted to get to know, but then he ruined it. Huxley Burns was larger than life, along with the rest of his brothers. He was popular and liked. To everyone else he was even kind and giving.

Not me though.

I shake off those memories because thinking about Huxley always makes me spiral. Even after all this time, I can feel the scars left behind by his words and actions. He was a bully, my bully. And I still had the biggest crush on him.

How pathetic is that?

Leaving allowed me to find myself. Not only did I become the veterinarian I wanted to be, but I found out who I am without mynose buried in a book, and my only focus being my grades and the next hurdle on the way to achieving my goal.

When I drive past Wintervale High, my stomach flips. Part of it is because I know Sofie made her dreams come true. She’s an English teacher at the high school. How she can go back into those halls is beyond me. I know she thinks she can make a difference. Maybe she can—she sure as fuck made a difference in my life in those same halls.

The pride I feel for Sofie doesn’t overshadow the lingering memories from that time.

“You would be pretty if your nose wasn’t always stuck in a book and you put clothes on that fit.”

The words echo in my head. As much as I wish I couldn’t still hear Huxley say them, I do.

It was only one of the things he said to me, but each one was like a slice against my skin. I held my head up and kept going because I knew where I was going. I wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way, not even the boy I had a crush on who never really saw me.

A few times I thought he did. I’d catch him watching me, but then he’d sneer and say something mean. He’d call me names. He’d remind me that I wasn’t one of the girls he was interested in.

Nothing made that clearer than the times he would grab the head cheerleader and stick his tongue so far down her throat I wasn’t sure he’d ever pull it out safely.

I won’t lie and say it didn’t hurt. But the only thing to do was ignore it and work even harder to get the grades I needed.

My parents always encouraged me to follow my dreams. That didn’t mean they had the means to foot the bill. Even though I saved from the job I had working alongside Dr. Wilber Harris at his vet practice, I needed a scholarship to pay for school.

There was only one way that was going to happen. I was never coordinated enough to be good at sports. Academics was the only thing I had going for me.

By the time I make it to the vet clinic, the memories of that time feel like shadows. I wish they weren’t there at all, but that’s just not how it is.

I should be going to see my parents, but I can’t drive through Wintervale and not stop to see Dr. Harris. Not only did he give me a job when I was probably too young to have one, he’s giving me a job now. This time, it’s as Dr. Sunshine Holloway, DVM.

After all this time, after a shit ton of effort, it feels surreal. I almost can’t believe it.

The moment I step inside the clinic, I see Nora behind the desk. Nora is Dr. Harris’ wife and has been working with him in the clinic for as long as I have. It wasn’t always that way, she stayed at home and raised their kids, but once they left the nest, she was bored. She figured the best thing for her to do was work with her husband.

It made for some amazing entertainment, but even when they were sniping at each other, you could feel the love between them.

“Sunshine! Wilber, Sunshine is here!” Nora’s shouting has me giggling as I brace myself for the inevitable.

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