For Emery

<p><em style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Emery</em></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>I've loved Jordan Grady since I was eight.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Since he became my protector.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Since he became my safe haven each night.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>But I was younger.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Off limits...</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Until high school when he finally kissed me.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>And for a few fleeting moments everything was right in the world.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Then I was forced to do the hardest thing I've ever had to do...</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Disappear from his life without a trace.</span></p><p><br></p><p><em style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Grady</em></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>I'm Alabama's star right tackle-and a real prick.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>I live my life by a few solid truths.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Life isn't fair.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Don't let anyone get too close.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>And those who claim to care about you can up and leave.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>But you know what they say about things that disappear...</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Unfortunately Emery Pruitt had never been mine.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Even if she had returned after four years.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Older.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>Confident.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>And more beautiful than the night she vanished.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>But it didn't erase the fact that she'd left me.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(24 24 24 1)>So why find me now? </span></p>