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Back First Comes Love Save as PDF
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

Determined to erase any trace of Diego from my life, I rip the sheets off the bed and replace them with fresh ones. I drop everything in the laundry basket and take a long, hot shower, trying to scrub him off my skin. Unfortunately, as I soap up, the light catches on the tiny silver band adorning my left hand. I pull the ring off and eye the shower drain uncertainly. It’d be so easy to let it slip down the tube and make it disappear forever, but silly me, I can’t get myself to throw the band away.

What is it anyway? A present I bought myself, Diego had literally nothing to do with it. I have witnesses. There are three angry shop assistants ready to corroborate my version. And I like the ring. I slip it back on. The ring stays.

What about the Harry Potter first edition?

I’ll sell it off on eBay and make plenty of money off it. That’s what I’ll do.

I rinse the shampoo off my hair with a vengeance and step out of the shower.

Wrapped in a towel, I brace my hands on the sink and give myself a little motivational speech, reminding myself I’m a strong, independent woman. So that by the time Mom calls everyone down for lunch, I’m a logical, put-together person again.

Throughout the meal, I notice Julia seeking to catch my eye, but I stubbornly avoid her gaze. Sooner or later, we’ll have to talk. A food fight can’t be our last interaction. But it’s not a conversation I’m looking forward to having. What I said to Paul is true—one bad action doesn’t make her a bad person. But still, the thought that one of the people who should always have my back was out to get me instead is unsettling.

Oh, come on, get off your high horse, a little voice inside my head sneers. You were just as bad when you picked out a fake boyfriend specifically to make Julia jealous.

I shut my annoying conscience off and excuse myself as soon as I’m done eating. My plan is to spend the rest of today and tomorrow holed up in my room, working, until on Saturday I can finally go back to my real life and to sanity. As far away from family drama and fake-boyfriends-turned-real-runaway-boyfriends as I can.

Twenty-one

Silent Nights

I’ve barely sat down at the desk in my bedroom, ready to fire up my laptop, when a knock on my door disrupts my plan of isolating myself from the world for the foreseeable future.

“Yeah?” I call.

Julia walks in, the image of a repentant sister. “Can we talk?”

Well, we had to face off at some point. Better to just rip off the Band-Aid, I guess. I’ll still have plenty of time to be alone. The rest of my life, actually.