The Difference Between Somebody and Someone (The Difference Trilogy Book 1)

by Aly Martinez

But maybe the only thing that had been truly fated about our relationship was the fact that I had been destined to lose her from the start.

Three hours after we left that bar, the love of my life tried to kill herself for the first time.

“Look, I can’t do this. Okay? I can’t be your accountant, I can’t have drinks or dinner with you, and…whatever the hell almost happened back there, I can’t do it, either. I’m sorry. Questionable plant spending aside, you seem great. Beautiful, smart, funny—the whole package. But this is a me thing.”

“Yeah. I know. And, well, I just…wanted you to know…it’s okay if you want to love somebody else.”

If I’d arrived at the courthouse one minute later, she wouldn’t have elbowed me in the face. If I’d gone straight home after work, she wouldn’t have seen me at McMurphy’s. If she hadn’t spilled those damn drinks, I wouldn’t have had to touch her, reminding me just how fucking incredible it felt to have a woman in my arms. All of that couldn’t have happened by pure chance alone.

In my opinion, clipped flowers are overrated. There’s nothing worse than watching something so beautiful wither into nothingness.”

This man. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Nice Ass. The Man of Mystery. He was becoming Mr. Sweep Me Off My Feet.

You didn’t travel through hell with someone for them not to become sewn into the fibers of your life.

If I had any hope of moving forward, I had to stop looking at the past. Life didn’t move in that direction.

“I’ll find you again,” I whispered. “Somehow, someway. But until then, this has to be goodbye.”

“I’m not sure not being able to fix the world for someone counts as a failure. That’s a tall order even for a man like you, Bowen.”

“It may not have turned out the way you hoped, but—in my opinion—loving someone through, despite, and after the impossible is quite literally the definition of success in a relationship.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want all the talk of accidents and the past to cloud the present.” He blew out a ragged breath. “Okay. That’s fair. But just so you know, I don’t feel the pain or the clouds of the past when we’re together. Being with you is the only time I ever feel the warmth of the sun.”

Falling asleep, sore, sated, and breathless, I felt something new in my heart. Something peaceful and complete. Bowen Michaels might have thought he’d failed at love before, but he was healing me with it now.

“There are two types of people in the world, Remi. There are a million somebodies on this planet. But there’s a huge difference between somebody and someone. From the moment we met, I knew you, my beautiful, crazy woman, were definitely someone. And if there is even a fraction of a chance that you think I’m a someone too, then yeah, it’s exactly that easy. To hell with the rest of the women in the world. I want you.”

It was all so easy and perfectly normal. That should have been my first sign that everything was about to go to hell all over again.

“If I tell you I love you now, I risk it coming off as a product of desperation. If I don’t, I’m a lying fool.”

Fate is about predestination and the development of events beyond a person’s control.”

Somebody is a person you found. Someone is a person fate picked for you.

“I wouldn’t wish that nightmare on anyone, but I absolutely believe fate was in control of that flight. At least for me. Because through a statistically impossible chain of events, it brought me here. With you.”

Sometimes the path provided isn’t a straight line but rather a journey filled with obstacles and detours.

“Look, after the plane crash, when we realized she’d lost her memory, I promised I would stay away as long as she didn’t remember. But she’s in there. She’s not the same Sally I fell in love with, but for fuck’s sake, she’s still in love with me.”

“You gonna tell me your name now?” I prompted, offering her my elbow. She slid her arm through mine. “Remi. But I kinda like it when you call me Sally.”