"It gets easier…I know it hurts now, but one day, you'll wake up, and you'll just be okay. It'll happen sooner than you think." Have you ever had something happen that changed the way you looked at everything? Like someone pulled a string and unraveled the delicate threads of the sweater that made up your reality? For me, that moment was at a party I shouldn’t have been at on the day of my grandmother’s funeral. I went home and got into a car I shouldn’t have gotten into. It was only supposed to be for the summer. One summer in Lost Hollow. Just a few weeks to clear my head. And then, I met him. And everything else fell apart, too. Someone once told me that we leave pieces of ourselves with every person we meet and in every place we go. She said it was a good thing—the best thing, even. But what happens when they’re the pieces we can’t afford to lose? How do you get them back? Content & Trigger Warnings: explicit sexual content, profanity, mentions of rape (off page, not between MCs), bullying, violence, a MMC with a dirty mouth, dubcon, drug and alcohol use/abuse, and death of a loved one.

“But in the pit of my stomach, at the core of my being, I’m still holding onto ghosts. And I fear they’ll haunt me until the end of my days.” What if one day, you woke up and realized you got everything you ever wanted…but the way you got it wasn’t something you’d wish on anyone, and none of those things were what you actually needed? I thought my small town was a cage from which I’d give anything to break free. But I didn’t realize what I was asking for. And I didn’t know that once I left, I’d never be able to go back. Is there a word that means the opposite of the stars aligning? Would it still be called fate? One person, one split-second decision, one miscalculation can alter the entire trajectory of space and time for the rest of one’s existence. Even if that person isn’t you, and those decisions aren’t your own. And I would know. That’s what happened to me. This prequel to The Pieces We Leave Behind is the story of Amelia and Ty's past. It does not end in HEA at this time (thus, Maddie and Ezra exist). I recommend reading TPWLB prior to this one, but if you want to read them in chronological order, no one can stop you. However, it is not meant to be read as a standalone. Please check trigger warnings before reading.