Page 54 of Far from Destined

There weretimes in my life where I wondered how I’d ended up in that particular place. Those moments tended to flash through my memory whenever I stood at another crossroads, trying to discover answers to all my many questions.

Like when I ended up pregnant, far too young, and tried to find my way.

When I held Joshua for the first time and wondered how I would do it on my own, yet knew I would fight to the death to ensure that he always knew he was loved.

When my parents left me alone when I was fifteen and walked away because they were tired of being parents and hadn’t wanted to deal with a so-called wayward teen.

The time that I’d had my first drink at sixteen.

And the time I smoked my first bowl with Adam—my first and my last. I hadn’t liked the loss of control, but I had been seventeen and thought that’s what my boyfriend wanted.

I hadn’t realized that by giving up my control, I had given up a part of myself until it was nearly too late.

I remembered the time that I had decided to do something for myself and had earned my associate’s degree, right after I got my GED.

And the time I took the job as a barista in the place that was now the Boulder Bean when the former owners had been so sweet to me and had been nearly like grandparents to Joshua. They had been better than my parents ever were or tried to be. I could remember them vividly, holding my hand when Joshua got his first cold, or making sure I had adequate daycare. They always put his care above all else.

And then there was the time they had left me alone, retiring when Mr. Barker had his heart attack, and we’d nearly lost him.

They moved to Florida to be near their kids and their real grandkids, and I had lost a part of myself when they went. But they had allowed me to start the Boulder Bean.

And that was another moment flashing in my mind.

I had been saving for it, putting away my nickels and dimes, but because of the goodness of their hearts, their business savvy, the loan I had qualified for, and hard work, now this place was mine.

And I was smart with it. Most businesses around here didn’t last two years, and we were going on three. We might’ve had an established base, but in this iteration, we were on three years.

All while Joshua had grown, I had grown, and I had found some of my favorite people in the world.

I had met the girls because of my shop. Had formed a pact to begin my future.

I had met the Bradys.

Everything came together, coalescing into vividly splashed memories across my mind as I worked on cleaning up for the evening.

All of those moments in time were fragments of who I was. When I stood back and wondered how on earth any of it had happened. How could I be here when it felt like fate had been pushing me in another direction, yet somehow, a choice or a mistake or a decision had brought me here.

And now…this was another moment.

Where my past mistakes were coming back to haunt me.

Adam had given me my most precious gift, and yet he was threatening to take it away.

To take Joshua.

To take me?

Maybe to take my business.

I didn’t know.

He wanted to take something. Needed to let me know that he thought he still owned me. I didn’t know what the answer was. What would be the safest recourse? For now, I had to learn to lean on my friends. And I wasn’t doing a very good job of that.

“Hey, there. I need to head home soon,” Pop said. “Jason headed out already. Got himself a date with Sam.”

I grinned. “Sam is adorable. And I’m so glad that they got up the nerve to ask Jason out.”

“It took a lot of time, but I think if they have enough courage to handle the world as it is, they can probably handle Jason.”