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When Atlas sadly lowered his big head back onto his paws, she said, "Don’t you re to be okay It will just take a little ti That’s what everyone always says"

She stroked his soft fur as she looked out at the other people in the park All happy couples, of course

Refusing to acknowledge the pain zinging through her, the sanore the hollow ache in the center of her chest all week, she told Atlas, "You still have me I still have you We don’t need anybody else And just because those were the greatest teeks of our lives, doesn’t ain, just you andJust like Zach had pointed out that first night in her office when he’d brought her pizza and she’d already wanted him--and liked him-- but awesome Especially hat stretched out before her was an endless rinse-and-repeat of work and faking smiles for her friends and a bed that had never felt so empty

Atlas ish all week So had she

Because she missed the man who had become her best friend

In the span of teeks, Zach Sullivan hadn’t just et into her pantshe’d charhter and warmth had taken up residence in her soul

Just as Atlas couldn’t seem toherself free of the puppy’s teh, was that as the days crept by and the dust settled around her bruised heart, she couldn’t help feeling that she’d let hihts she’d hated herself for thinking she was different, that she could be the one woman a man like Zach could actually fall in love with But that had been anger, and pride, spinning her wheels Because regardless of the way the awful scene had played out between the

And that hy he’d let her go

Okay, so h for the the choice between staying and going, between keeping and giving away But could it be? If she gave it another chance and stayed this time, to push past his walls and find out what had hurt hihs turned to snores as he let the warm sun and her hand on his back lull him to sleep Heather lay down, her head on his back, and closed her eyes What she wouldn’t do for an hour of restful sleep

She took in the srass, the sounds of birds chirping overhead, the laughter fro a sense of peace at the soothing sounds and sensations, she saw her father’s face in hera seventeen-year-old girl confronting her father with his lies The girl was so brave, so strong, as the ers, had laughed in her face as he told her that what she’d found out about his secret life on the road wasn’t true, as he swore she and herto hiirl turn into a woman, one who believed her duplicitous father was the blueprint for all char eyes and easy professions of love couldn’t possibly be real

And then, with perfect clarity, she cut to that moment in the kitchen when the s to try to shield her fro there for her

She sat up suddenly, her eyes opening wide

All along, Zach had fought for her From that first moment when he’d insisted she ith hiotten in that race car last Saturday, he’d been unrelenting in his insistence that they belonged together At first, just as friends-with-benefits, until neither of the that they were so much more than that

Her stomach twisted as she realized what she’d done Or, rather, what she hadn’t

Don’t stop loving me No matter what happens, proed her for that promise as if he’d known it would all come down to one hting for hi hi so hard to push love out of his life, she’d decided it was safer to walk away from him instead Safer for her

Atlas opened one eye as she clipped on his leash and leaned in close to histo be easy to win them back," she said with her first real s to give up, this time No matter what"

"Goddae a tire in his sleep But the spare wasn’t cooperating, kept slipping off the studs, while Cuddles sat on the sidewalk beside hiet out of here to start figuring out a way to win Heather back He couldn’t stand to waste one more second without her

A new spare dropped down next to his head and Zach looked up to see Ryan standing there, shaking his head After all the cracks he’dthe past year, Zach had expected at least one of them to come out to heckle him