First Love, Take Two

Love is enough. Its society's views and old-world thinking that broke everything.

You can’t escape being judged in this world. Everything is hard. You have to choose your hard. Someone is going to shove out their unsolicited, hurtful opinion no matter what you do. You can’t live for others.

i know my daughter. I might not have carried you in my belly, but I have lulled you to sleep at night, I cradled you when you were sick, I held you when you fell, I wiped your tears. i know the sound, the look of pain in you.

Don’t let a few bad days and a few idiots unravel the determination that you’ve had since you were a kid. You’ll make mistakes, Pree. You’re not perfect, no one is, and although you hold yourself to incredibly high standards because you take your responsibility and privilege seriously, you can’t beat yourself up for every mistake. But the fact that you do shows how much you care. Mistakes are just that. They don’t always reflect your skill or intelligence.

I know what I did caused you a lot of pain. And the guilt has eroded my confidence and trust and so many other aspects of my life. It made me feel unworthy of forgiveness. And I am not asking you to forgive me. But I have to forgive myself. I can't hang on to my mistakes forever. I can't undo any of them. But I've learned, am continuing to learn, and this whole thing - how I hurt you, how I left, why I left, what I failed to do- has helped me to evolve.

Sometimes all a person neede was for another person to just be there. No words. No explanations. Just silence. And tears. And hugs.

We don't live for ourselves because we're not selfish. We have family and community to consider.

He raised himself onto his elbow, his temple cradled in his hand. “I won’t bite. Well, unless you want me to.” Butterflies thrashed against my insides at the thought of his lips on my body. I suddenly burst into laughter. “Remember what happened the last time you tried to bite me? I accidentally jumped and backhanded you.” That had been an erotic rendezvous, until he nipped my hip. He dropped his face into the pillow and groaned. “Mood killer.” “Heh.” I wiggled deeper into the covers, grinning.

I knew this floor plan. I’d never been here before, but I knew every room. “Daniel,” I said and looked to him with tears in my eyes. “Is this our house?” He stuffed his hands into his pockets, pressed his lips together, and nodded, pleased.

Is this the ring from the gala shopping trip with Brandy? When she told me to try on rings while I was there because she wanted to give Jackson an idea for her engagement ring?” “Yep.” “Think you’re slick, huh?” “Yep.