It had been utter and total hell each day. The pull toward her, the things I felt, the things I wanted to do, the words I wanted to say to her. It’d been hell. It’d been utter and total heaven too. Having her back. Having this bright spot in my life again. The fun she brought, the humor that was always at the ready, her smile . . . her laugh. I’d always appreciated those things about her as kids, but now, I appreciated them in a different way. The way a man might recognize something he needed to keep him alive, something he needed to get him crawling out of bed every day. That’s what I’d come to realize in three weeks. I thought I might need Bree in my life. No, I knew I needed her. I didn’t just want to get her into bed because she’d grown into the kind of woman that turned every guy’s head; I wanted more. I wanted it all. She made my life better. She made it seem worthwhile. She healed old scars and was a buffer to new ones forming. She’d always been a great part of my life, but now she’d turned into the best part of it.
