Page 30 of The Love Duet
Cover: Adobe Stock
Warning: This book contains sexual situations and other adult themes.Recommended for 18 years of age and over.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
1.Pepper
2.Josiah
3.Pepper
4.Josiah
5.Pepper
6.Josiah
7.Pepper
8.Josiah
9.Pepper
10.Josiah
Epilogue
Dedication
For Kam and the rockstar that she is.
––––––––
In Loving Memory of
Gene Oliveira
Prologue
Now, while most peoplemight think me crazy for daring to open a business at this time in my life, it was time that I did something crazy.However, as I looked around the shop with only the light from the moon outside to guide me, this didn’t feel crazy.
It felt right.
For twenty years, I had lived my life always doing the right and safe thing, as I should have when you considered that I’d had a child to raise and set an example for.Nonetheless, the safe road that I’d taken had also been a boring one.So boring that I had lost my sense of self somewhere along the way.
Now, did I regret it?The obvious answer would be no, simply because there wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t do for Leah.However, I regretted how I had confused safe with boring, and I couldn’t believe how much I’d begun to miss the old me.Once upon a time, I hadn’t cared what people thought of me, but becoming a wife and mother had changed all that.I’d been so concerned about making sure that I was someone that my husband and child could be proud of, and I’d forgotten that love didn’t work like that.I’d lost sight of what real love was supposed to be, and that had contributed to the end of my marriage.
Nevertheless, things could be worse, and I understood that.My marriage might be over, but my life wasn’t, and the proof was all around me.For the first time in my life, I was a business owner, and tomorrow was our grand opening.Every cent that I’d gotten from the divorce had gone into this place, and while the world might not need another flower shop, my life needed one.I needed something for myself, and this was it.
Leah was also heading into high school, and instead of sending her in there as a confused kid that was doing her best to navigate her parents’ divorce, I wanted to send her in there with the belief that life was still good, despite the hard times.No matter how I felt about her father, I wanted Leah to see both of her parents thriving, and I wanted her to see that bad things didn’t equal the end of everything.I wanted her to always be grateful for what she had.
Iwanted us all to always be grateful for what we had.
Including her father.
