The Rest of Me

by Ashley Munoz

Eat your heart out, skinny-jean-wearing men of America—country boys have you beat.

She wore grief like a heavy coat soaked in water. It was so similar to the tense feelings I carried around on my shoulders. I wanted to remove the burden, to take the coat off and help her breathe again.

hate isn’t a disease; it’s an addiction. Once the heart gets a dose, it will always

crave more.

“Mommy says he needs a whole lot of Jesus, but I think Jesus is getting tired of his attitude,” Henley commented while reaching for the cookies.

Humility was like a slow-moving tidal wave that snuck in and obliterated anything not tied down.

Reid would never try to replace Travis and never could, but he could be the sun that would drive the rain out of my children’s grief-stricken world.

I was falling in love with Layla Carter, and I had no idea what to do about it. She wasn’t ready for love, and I wasn’t ready to lose her.

“I’m always second choice, nothing fucking new there, but you’re my first choice—my only choice. I’m willing to wait for you, but don’t ever reject me, cry over your husband, and then ask me to fuck away your bad thoughts, because I know by tomorrow you’ll have sobered up and you’ll put it

me that I didn’t push back.”

love can heal this. It’s better than time, and it’s better than truth. It can cover ugly things and open hard ones.