Rough Edges

Mattie...

I thought I was being rescued from the life I was born into until the tall walls of suburbia became a new prison. I'm no longer the 'trailer trash' young girl I had no choice but to be or the perfect housewife I was forced to be. Now I'm finally just Mattie - but who is that?

I'm on a mission to answer that question for myself now that my wheels have stopped turning in Stone Valley. I came here in search of freedom and was blindsided by being freed in more ways than I could have imagined.

For once in my life, I feel like I belong. I feel like I am wanted - but will my past catch up to me and rip it all away?

Cooper...

Even when your world is falling apart around you, the rest of the world keeps turning. You've got to step up and keep up - and that's what I've been doing for a decade since my parents died.

I run on auto pilot keeping my their legacies alive - the family ranch and the bar uptown. My siblings are out in the world living their dreams so I'm on my own here - which is how I prefer it. You can't lose what you don't have. I'm content alone - that is until she stomped her way into my bar, my ranch, and my entire being.

After so long of living in a controlled numbness, will letting her in also let in the guilt and pain from my past? Why can't I shake the feeling that if I blink, she could vanish?