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Prologue

1997 Portland, Oregon

“Kacey, wait up!” Travis ran after her, tears strea so hard Kacey was his best friend, but only in his heart In real life, she hated hiht years old he did the best he could to show her he liked her, but she always ended up getting her feelings hurt

Girls were dumb

His younger brother Jake finally caught up to them “Why’d you do that, Travis?” He shoved him in the side

Travis’s tongue suddenly felt thick in hisKacey, really he did, but words wouldn’t come He hated his stutter It made it so hard to talk, and it only happened when he was either trying really hard or in front of Kacey

“Ugh!” Jake kicked the dirt with his foot “Now she won’t even kiss me!”

“Kiss you?” Travis yelled, horrified that his brother would even say the word kiss, let alone think about doing so like that with Kacey Besides, ould his six-year-old brother get a kiss over him? “She doesn’t even like you like that” He crossed his arms

Travis at least knew that irls didn’t like boys They likeda man In fact, he had just found a hair on his chin He’dby the end of the week He puffed up his chest and scowled at his brother

“Oh yeah? Well, she hates you” Jake stuck out his tongue “She told me so, plus…” He shoved his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath “I’onna marry her”

“Are not!”

“Am too!”