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Chapter One

AMARA SAT HUNCHED OVER HER desk, staring at her laptop in despair On the screen, perched atop nearly a dozen forrant sponsors, there was an unread est of them

It had already sat unopened for a day The last few eh, and A the final one would be the end of everything

She pushed back froh her curly, voluminous hair, disheveled from her frustrations For the last three days, Auest-lecture gig at another campus

What else was there to do when your life’s as falling to pieces right in front of you? Withdrawing seemed the only option

The sunny scene outside her officehands, people studying together around the fountain, an i a number of the new arrivals Their enthusiasm marked them as freshmen, and she knew they’d be stripped of that perkiness before long by the academic load they’d carry in their second year

She easily recalled her ti over texts about not only agriculture, her chosen field, but also econoy All those classes helped cement her future path

A back and forth from bookshelf to bookshelf, half-whispered curses and frets spilling fro, hopeful students outside only further drove hoht in front of her … and for the most pedestrian, pointless reason possible

An asshole of an ex

“One wrong decision is all it took,” she h of frustration

She stopped pacing and stared up at the ceiling “I can’t believe this If soreat Any time now Anyone?”

She paused for a longin further theatrics to vent her frustrations “Worst Nightmare Ever”

It was tiet it over with Time to open the final email

As she turned back to her laptop and leaned over the desk, her phone chimed quietly in her pocket She pulled out the phone and read the text e from her best friend, Kari Henson

Are you in your office?

I’ over

Be there in a sec

Kari, usually upbeat and vociferous, was uncharacteristically terse in her wording Amara pocketed the phone

Of course it was Kari Every time Amara was in need, whether she knew it or not, her best friend always tried to parse out and solve her probleement

A soood Unfortunately, she was a little late to rush to the rescue this time, and she’d likely kick herself over it for months