It Will Always Be Us (Always #2)

Chapter One

Three years ago, I lost my brother. Three years ago, my best friend moved away.

    Flash forward to today, I still miss my brother more than anything, it's been a long three years without him in our lives. My best friend who moved away has come back to me and is now my fiancé. Ooh, just even thinking about calling Jasper my fiancé makes me shiver with a thrilling boost of endorphins. So, it's been a long three years, but over the past year, my life has had its fair share of ups and downs.

    Up, Jasper came back and now we're now engaged.

    Down, I was in a car accident and lost my left leg.

    Up, my schooling for my master's degree is going so well I got a job promotion.

    Bad, this promotion requires me to relocate to Orlando, Florida.

    Another bad, I just found out today and haven't had a chance to tell my parents or Jasper. Out of all their reactions, I was most worried for my parents' reaction to it. Jasper would probably be able okay with it; he'd have no issue relocating to Orlando if need be. But my parents, well, that thought made me want to crawl into a safe and have the lock sanded down so they couldn't get to me.

    I have to tell them tonight. The company in Orlando sought me out through various tests that I've taken and have even talked to my professors. The worst, or maybe the best thing? They talked to Carly who had no issue boasting about all of my accomplishments. It was embarrassing as they'd called her and she made a point to make heavy eye contact until she hung up the phone.

    Once off, she only smirked at me. That proud mom face shining like a star in the night sky. "I told you that you were destined for big things baby!"

    My head had hit the desk. Yay job promotion, and for one of the top companies in Orlando, all before I'd officially graduated with my master's degree. I'd have to continue my classes online; it would take too much work to transfer to a different school on such short notice. All of my teachers gave the world's biggest thumbs up when I came to talk to them about possibly switching to online classes. It wasn't how they normally did things, but for me, they'd make an exception.

    Part of me wasn't sure if they were doing it for my education and the potential that this job offer had or if they were still feeling sympathy for me for being in the car accident and having a prosthetic leg. It was hard to tell these days.

    It wasn't until Jasper had driven me home from the university that he spoke up. His hand fell onto my legs, holding them steady.

    "You've been bouncing your legs like you're on a trampoline, Sades. And you keep looking out the window and sighing loudly while also making faces like you're debating with yourself. What's going on?"

    It was a now or never moment. Should I wait until we're in the apartment to tell Jasper about the promotion? Should I tell him now here in the car? Should I wait and talk to my parents first? Why did Carly have to talk me up like she did? So many questions, I couldn't think of one to focus on. They all swirled around, muddying up my brain.

    "Sades?" Jasper's voice came out slow and full of concern. "What's going on with you? Did something happen?"

    He always knew when something was up with me, like a sixth sense or some weird ass thing.

    I sighed, putting both of my hands on top of his. A ray of the sun glinted off the diamond ring on my finger, I smiled slightly at it before getting to the dark abyss of the topic at hand.

    "Carly got a call today from one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Orlando." My fingers curled around his hand, holding on tight though he showed no sign of moving them from my leg. "They want me to join them on their team as soon as possible. They've seen my test scores, they've seen my research, they read up on my academics. They want me to work for them even while working for my master's degree. They want me to move to Orlando and begin work with them."