Bryce

Bryce

She's the one who got away. Never for one moment did I think Amelia would wind up with someone else. When she took for the Big City after ditching her job at the diner here, I was in shock.

I knew she'd be back. But days turned into weeks turned into months. My family here tried so hard not to mention she was gone that it was painfully obvious. I get it, she left because she didn't want to go down the same path as her mother-who worked at the diner until her health failed.

Things would have been different for us though, I thought. Guess that Amelia didn't agree.

When I heard she was carrying some other guy's baby. That was the gut punch. Up until that point I thought she'd come back. But no one would let her go now. She was lost to me forever.

To get my family and friends off my back, I went on a few dates but my heart wasn't in it. Eventually everyone just let me be. The only solace I found was working at my repair shop restoring old cars. I fix newer ones too because it helps pay the bills. But my heart and soul goes into bringing those beauties back to life.

That was until the day I happened by a smoking car at the side of the road. I got the shock of my life when Amelia and her little boy were inside. Now that they're back I'll do anything I can to make her say. Except telling her I still love her. She must know that is still true after all this time. There's never been anyone but her.

Amelia

I thought I knew everything life had to teach me growing up in a small town. There was cruelty but also kindness, liars but also lovers. I moved to the Big City because I wanted more than knowing everyone I passed on the street.

Initially I loved the anonymity of the city, it was freeing to run out of a coffee and not need to explain yourself to a friend of your great aunt who scolded you "for paying for someone else to make coffee when you can make it at home for yourself for a fraction of the price."

Bryce never understood it was that kind of stuff that drove me away. It had nothing to do with him. And I wanted more than anything for him to join me. So I waited and waited. Then I got tired of waiting and ventured out into the wider world.

What I found was the greatest joy and pain, I think I'll ever know. The joy was the eventual birth of my son, Ben. But beyond that I became an expert on pain. The father of my son left town before Ben's birth, never to be heard from again. I'd become a nurse by then so my time was spent caring for those in the more difficult parts of their lives. Misery was all around me. The things I valued about the city before Ben's birth just made it a lonely and friendless place now.

I packed up Ben and a few belongings in my crap car. And we headed home. I knew returning to my small town that I'd run into Bryce.

I just wasn't expecting him to be the first person I saw. Thanks to my car breaking down outside town, his tow truck was the first one to arrive. He looked good like he always did. A little less lean but more muscled like he worked out. He still didn't talk much.

Now Bryce's got my car in his shop and Ben begs to visit him every day. He loves all the wheels and gadgets. Bryce is so good with him too. Showing him how things work while he's safety tucked in his arms.

I want to believe in a happy ending but life is hard. Who's to say I deserve to have more than a healthy child? Maybe wanting to love Bryce is asking to tempt fate. All I know is he's the only man for me.