Revive Me, Part One: The Act (New Haven, #2)

by J.L. Seegars

She doesn’t let the ghosts of her past creep into her present and wipe away all the progress she’s made. She doesn’t give her power to anyone.

“I think desires can be born out of any circumstance, good, bad, or ugly, and still be valid representations of the things we want for ourselves. The source of the desire doesn’t matter so much as what we do with the dream it sparks in us.”

Somehow, some way I’ll have to get used to the surge of intense gratitude that seizes me every time this man steps up to the plate for me. Solving problems I can’t wrap my head around. Formulating responses when I can’t speak. Defending me without having a full understanding of why I needed it. After years of hiding my hurt and inadvertently robbing myself of the chance to get this kind of vehement protection, it feels good to watch

she had a love of learning, of taking in new information and mastering it, making it a part of the impressive store of facts and figures she keeps locked inside her brain.

it’s evident to me that my gratitude isn’t just about him getting my coffee order right.

It’s also about him caring about whether or not I had a nightmare and getting out of bed early just to do something nice for me.

Impressed with the way she seemed to shed all of her stress and worry the moment she was presented with a problem to solve.

all of that is there inside of her, makes her ability to shift and compartmentalize that much more impressive.

dimples are showing, little potholes in her face that I want to kiss because I know that they only come out when she’s happiest.

she looks like joy personified. The physical embodiment of radiant delight,

He’ll happily….” “Exploit your distraction and use it for his advantage,”

“Next time let your actions match your knowledge.”

acquiescence,

My heart aches for that young girl who didn’t know any better, who couldn’t be bothered to consider what she was missing because she was in love.

Never wait for someone to open the floor up to you, son. If you have something to say, storm onto the stage and take the mic. Demand your right to speak your truth.” “Speaking my truth only matters if my audience is open to hearing it.”

“Why do you want to take me to Disney?”

“I’ve heard it’s the happiest place on Earth, and I thought you could use a little happy right now.”

Before this moment, I never knew what it felt like to have someone do something just to see me smile.

“Your life is yours,

You’ve already proven you can make it whatever you want it to be. No one could have come out of what you went through completely unscathed, but you picked up the pieces and built something beautiful out of the destruction.”

In fact, I welcome any act that involves his hands on my body, but the imploring look in his eye, the genuine desire to do this simple, caring task for me, makes me even more eager to say yes.

Purpose that makes me think the only thing I was ever meant to do was sit on the throne that is his lap. His princess. His queen. Impaled on a scepter, stripped bare by the sheer power of his sword, ruling from the most primal, most possessive part of me.

And he’s left me to pick up the pieces, to scoop the roses off the stage and snuff out the hope stored in their velvet petals with the heavy pages of the book that contains the story of us. A tragedy. Masquerading as a romance.