After You

I had the happily ever after . . . until it was gone. Three became two. And I was alone. Our time-my time-was over. Alone was the right way to be. The only way. Life was me, my son, and my memories. Until the day I met someone who turned my lonely existence upside down. This man made me smile, made me laugh, made me ache for his touch. But I couldn't. He shouldn't awaken feelings I resolved to bury with my husband. But he did. I couldn't let his presence make my heart race. I couldn't let him into our little world, where he fit so perfectly. I couldn't want Nick. But I did. I rescued people. My family relied on me to lend a hand. Everyone thought of me as the fixer, but no one had the first clue how to fix me. Until Ellie. The freckled beauty's sorrow was like a well-worn shirt-easy and familiar, difficult to part with-and she wore it comfortably. And though I was hers from the moment our eyes first met, she'd never be mine. I loved her in the here and now, but how did I compete with a ghost? How can there ever be anyone After You?