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ALONE

Not a soul around

Annabelle ht guiding her She had no destination in mind There was no place she needed to be And no one as expecting her

She should be kicking up her heels and savoring this ained so over her shoulder There were no reports filed with her father, detailing any of her activities And that’s because the security detail had been officially diso was arrested

Annabelle stopped walking and turned to the water It wasn’t until that moment she realized her freedo all of this time Because if it was then she wouldn’t feel so utterly alone and adrift

Grayson was gone

For a s and walked out the door, she’d thought he e his mind She’d prayed that he would co some sort of reaction to the scene at the landmark Maybe it was shock or fear and it would pass It didn’t

But how could he just walk away? He did care about her Didn’t he?

There had been lunches and dinners The chariot race The gown he’d given her Their collaboration over the coded es And there were so many small momentsa look here or a touch there Didn’t those all add up tospecial?

Or had she just been fooling herself?

Maybe if she’d been s for hi it all locked safely inside Maybe if she’d have taken a chance, he’d still be here

A breeze off the water rushed over her skin and coh her hair She folded her arms over her chest and rubbed her arms with her pal anyone could give her Real freedo her heart to others—so Grayson

Shehole in it and she didn’t kno to stop the pain By now, he’d be on his way to Italy or California

Hoas it that this man had crashed into her life on a city sidewalk and so quickly, so easily snuck past all of her defenses and burrowed so deeply into her heart? And how did she learn to live without his warentle touch?

She groaned with frustration This was a tiirl really needed her mother Tears blurred Annabelle’s vision and she blinked them away What would her mother say to her?