I couldn’t escape the feelings paralyzing my brain, but I needed to make the most of the night and be present. There was no reverse in life, no way to change what happened. The only way to get any resolve was facing it and dealing with the repercussions as they came. Derek and Joss were leading the way. His hand was in the back pocket of her jeans, giving the occasional squeeze. Blake looked he wanted to be happy, but it was his sister and Derek didn’t exactly have the cleanest past. Aubrey and Jake hung back with me. Aubrey looped her arm in mine. “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but everything happens for a reason. I’m a firm believer in that. When all that stuff happened to me, I wasn’t sure any of this would ever be in the cards for me. Hell, I could barely even hug people before Jake came into my life. We don’t know why things happen and sometimes we never find out, but maybe it’s for the best that it played out the way it did.
