Up With the Sun

Stevie

Crash and burn.
Those are the only words to describe my life right now.
Cancer. Divorce.
There’s another two.
It’s been a long year. So I did what any mature woman would do––I ran.
I packed up my life and drove to Blue Bay, the picturesque little Maine town where no one knows my name.
I’m looking for quiet, peace, a little bit of solace. But what I find is Cash.
Actually, he finds me––naked––the very first time we meet. He sees a whole new side of me that’s wild, carefree.
But he also sees right through it to all the parts that are broken. And he wants to fix them.
I’m set on heartbreaks for this lifetime; I don’t think I can handle another.
The problem is, now that I’ve found him, I don’t think there’s any going back.

Cash

The first time I meet her, she proposes a one-night stand, no strings attached.
She’s also naked.
I’m not complaining, mind you, but I see through it––no pun intended.
She’s loud and wild and funny, but she can’t stand when it gets quiet.
She doesn’t want to talk much about why she’s in Blue Bay, or what she’s running from.
And when she tells me how she knows the woman whose cottage she’s staying in, my jaw drops.
This girl’s been through hell.
She’s been collateral damage in the events of her own life.
But the crazy part is, she’s becoming the center of mine.
I want to fix it all, show her how much her coming here has changed me.
The thing is, her demons are behind her.
But I don’t know if mine ever will be.