“I really wish they’d get their acts together or go their separate ways. It’s like watching a train wreck. Or a cow dying,” I muttered, making Gracie laugh.

“Preaching to the choir, girlfriend,” she said.

I looked over at her as she pulled onto the highway, heading toward Dulles Airport. “I hear through the grapevine that Mitch asked you to fly out. So why aren’t you coming?” I asked her and was surprised to see her tense up at the mention of Generation Rejects’ bassist.

It was common knowledge that Mitch had serious feelings for my dear, clueless friend, who I was beginning to think wasn’t as clueless as she let on. Poor Mitch. He was a good guy and it was now painfully obvious the feelings were not reciprocated.

“Yeah, I’ve got group and a meeting with my therapist that I can’t miss. I can’t really be around that scene yet anyway,” she said and I knew that while she was telling me the truth, there was more there than she was letting on.

“Okay, well you’ll be missed,” I told her and she smiled.

There was no more talk about Mitch. For the rest of the ride, Gracie and I talked about school and my plans to move to Massachusetts. And when she dropped me off at the airport, I gave her a hug and told her I’d call her once I got back to Bakersville.

“Tell Maysie I miss her. And tell the guys hello. And tell Garrett-” she cut off and looked at me as though she wasn’t sure she should continue.

“That you miss him?” I asked. Gracie flushed but nodded.

“He was a good friend to me when I needed it. Just tell him I said hi. The missing you part might be a little awkward. You know since he’s in love with my best friend,” she joked but I felt that momentary flare of guilt that always popped up when I thought about the feelings I trampled on to have the guy I wanted.

“I’ll tell him,” I insisted before heading through security.

The flight was delayed for a couple of hours due to thunderstorms in St Louis. I was going out of my skin by the time the plane boarded and we were in the air.

It had been three long months since Garrett held me. And I could barely stomach another moment without him.

Once the plane touched down and I gathered my suitcase, I practically ran to the arrivals terminal. When I saw his messy blond hair and blue eyes scanning the crowd looking for me, I thought my heart would burst out of my chest.

When he finally found me, I dropped my suitcase and took off running toward him. He met me half way and grabbed me up in his arms, holding me tight as though he would never let go again.

This was it. This was home. This was my life of purpose.

“I love you,” I said against his mouth and I felt him smile under my lips.

“I love you too,” he told me fiercely.

No matter what happened in the future, we would be okay.

No bending hearts because ours would never be broken.

And together, just like this, we were perfect.

Coming in Early 2014

The New Adult romance from A. Meredith Walters, the author of Find You in the Dark and Light in the Shadows.

A story of pain, redemption and discovering yourself at whatever the cost.

Reclaiming the Sand

“I was an ugly person. I did ugly things. I thought ugly thoughts…then my world was blown apart by the only person who could change me.”

Bully and victim.

Tormenter and tormented.

Villain and hero.

Some people are meant to be the predator while others live their lives as the prey. Ellie Mccallum was the bully. The Tormenter. The Villain. Taking what she wanted, stomping over anyone that got in her way. Feelings, futures and relationships be damned. As long as it wasn’t her feelings or future, Ellie didn’t care about the destruction she left in her wake. She didn’t know how to empathize, feeling no emotional connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.

Particularly Freaky Flynn.

Growing up, Flynn Hendrick was only known to his peers as “Freaky Flynn.” He lived a life in solitude. Completely disconnected even as he struggled to define himself as something more than that boy with Asperger’s. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.

But then Flynn and Ellie grew up.

And moved on.

Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again.

The bully and the freak are face to face once more.

When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other.

And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.

But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the farther you run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.