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Chapter 1
“Dana, the kids are in bed,” Jeff muttered before he turned his back on her and made his way downstairs to his office, his “man town” as he liked to call it, to spend the reht on his computer
She sighed as he walked away This was the way it was now, the way it had been for a long tia else, including her A few years ago that really bothered her, but not now
After a long moment she opened her laptop back up and typed in her password The video she atching when she heard her husband’s approach was still there, paused She clicked the play button and s once again She watched this video ten times today She couldn’t help herself
It wasn’t that she was in love with or even obsessed with this actor There was just so He was handso she used to be once upon a time
She bit her lip to hold back a soft sob Daed so fast It seemed like only yesterday she was level headed, confident and happy Thoseabout someone else's life It wasn’t her At least it hadn’t been for eight years now, not since she met Jeff
Back then she had been a kid, a twenty-one year old kid if there was such a thing Life was good back then She remembered the year of freedom that seemed like such a treasure back then It was the year all her drea a reality She finally rid herself of a boyfriend, well she never really considered hih school and out of loneliness and boredo She couldn’t recall kissing him more than twice in the entire year they dated It felt like kissing her brother He eet, too young and boring in a nice way
It was clearly one of the biggest mistakes of her life to allow that relationship, well, the illusion of that relationship She reo after any real attraction The story of her life, crush on a great guy and settle for a safe guy who couldn’t possibly break her heart There'd been two great guys she fell for that year Unfortunately, she worked with both of the Henry was her excuse to turn down their advances God, she’d been stupid
Henry was predictable and boring He was a nice guy, but not for her He was also inexperienced when it cale date for a year Dana kneas a mistake to allow it There was no chance the relationship was going to be physical shehie It hadn’t been a ploy toshe could think of to , and clearly he hadn’t It would have killed her to hurt such a nice guy
Hurting hiht out advice to get rid of the guy, make hiain she was only twenty-one and didn’t have uys she cared about Usually a break was sis were hurt, but it was always a clean break
It had been a long and boring year with Henry The advice was driving her nuts The worse of it, the one she actually thought was going to work, was calling Henry every day at exactly seven o’clock at night It was beyond old and boring and it didn't work Thankfully she had a cell phone so she wasn’t stuck at her father’s house waiting to call him Not that he knew she left the house She never told hi job so she could hire a taxi, take the train or call up one of her many friends Henry didn’t know about
As the year ame plan She invited hi for dinner It was not going that far When Henry ca to take hi on the table for him Tell him about the tips she received from friends and the internet and let hiether
Thankfully Henry came to his senses at the same time When Dana received the phone call she had to uy and she didn’t want to hurt hi relieved when he told her he wasn’t in love with her She was practically bea with the news That was until he filled the conversation with drama He claimed she was head over heels in love with his When she infor to spare his feelings all these months he scoffed as if that was impossible She was in love with him He actually said so
She ended the conversation on what she thought was a friendly note, but there was noup there was denying she was pissed at his attitude and the way he ended things At least she was going to do it in person Her te if he wanted to help with a charity for their favorite history teacher froh school that had passed away the year before Hiscalled Danaher to call Henry and ask for his help She reluctantly agreed to make the call When he used a tone with her that she'd never heard froht she was in love with him, obsessively
She couldn’t stop herself She sent hi hi she did in the last year to get away from him, how she never felt a ood friend It was harsh and probably some of it uncalled for even if it was true, but that didn't retted the way she did it, but the results were a relief He was out of her life for good
After a year of boredom and illness thanks to a patient she’d transported that year she was ready to start dating again Thanks to the illness she caught because a nurse failed to inform Dana and her partner of the day of the patient's health precautions, she’d walked into a patient’s rooht a lovely airborne virus
It was only after a doctor ca his hands frantically in the air for her to leave the room had she realized the mistake The nurse was suspended with pay, not much of a punishment if they asked her, and Dana was left with a painful illness that required ” year as she liked to refer to it just to heal She e thanks to the illness as well as lost fifty pounds