Wandering Back to You

<p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>MICHELE</strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I thought first loves were supposed to fade. But after fifteen years Ethan Hill still lives in every corner of my heart.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>He left me when he left Cedar Ridge chasing smoke and fire. I built my life from the ashes the one we had dreamed of together arranging a life that looks perfect from the outside.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Now he's back. Not the boy who left but a man who looks at me like I'm still his.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>He says he's home for good. That he's here for me. But in this town every flower that blooms has stems dug deep in the past. If he thinks I'm still the girl he left behind... he's in for a surprise.</span></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>ETHAN</strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I fought wildfires across the country but nothing burns like the regret of leaving Michele. She was my roots my future my everything. But I had to leave believing I could come back when I could provide the life she deserved.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Now I'm back in Cedar Ridge where the mountain air smells like pine and wildflowers to find Michele stronger sharper and wrapped in an armor of perfection. She thinks I can't read her anymore but I know every crack in those defenses.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I didn't expect forgiveness. I'm here to earn it. We fight we burn and in the dark she takes me apart as easily as I ever undid her.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Because no flame consumes me the way Michele does and this time I'm not only here to stay. I'm here to surrender to scorch and to love her until my last dying breath.</span></p>