What I Should've Said

by Max Monroe

To heart-shaped pink sunglasses. To the warmth of an eternal summer. To the way this book changed our lives.

Welcome to Red Bridge, it announces in big red letters. The smallest town in Vermont: Where everyone is someone and home is right here.

This isn’t exactly being welcomed with open arms, but it’s not being kicked out on the street either. Silver lining?

“Of course you don’t like cookies,” I mutter to myself. He probably doesn’t like rainbows and puppies either.

Out of nowhere, I hear the words Josie told Clay Tuesday night at the bar. “Sometimes we have to make exceptions and do things we absolutely don’t want to do because it’s for the people we love.”

No one owns me. Not Thomas. Not my mother. No one. And no one is going to tell me what to do or say or think or feel. I am my own woman, dammit, and I’m going to create my own life where I get to make all the decisions and live the way I want.

My stomach burns, and my throat feels like it’s closing in on itself. Maybe a little Norah Ellis in your lives is exactly what you need. That’s what I’m afraid of.

He walks me to the door and sees me out like none of the several life-changing things that just happened to me exist at all.

I got the job with Bennett Bishop. And I start tomorrow. Holy shit.

Who Bennett Bishop Used to Be is what the title should have said. I, for one, want to know who he is now.

Summer talks my ear off the entire way. “Norah is so cool.” “Norah is so fun.” “Norah is so pretty.” “Norah is so smart.” My daughter is in love, just as I knew she would be, and I don’t bother trying to correct her. If only I’d realized how much she wasn’t the only one in danger.

and as I look at his tall, muscular frame in the rearview, I can’t help but think… This might be the end of a long, horrible day and night, but it sure feels like the start of something else.

When it’s right, you don’t have to search. You don’t find love. Love finds you.

The truth is, Summer changed my life, and she’ll still be changing it long after the leaves fall.

My life and all its scary parts flash before me like a blinding light. And then, peace. Just like that…we’ve made it to the good part.

Little girls really do have the power to tame the baddest of men.