There are going to be challenges I can't even imagine yet—medical complications, cravings, the everyday struggle of staying clean in a world that's constantly trying to drag me back down.
But for the first time in a long time, I feel like I might actually make it.
Not because I'm strong.
Not because I've got everything figured out.
But because I have something to fight for now.
Something bigger than myself.
I lie back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and let myself imagine a future.
Not the future I've been afraid of—the one where I relapse and lose everything—but a different future.
A better one.
A future where I'm holding a healthy baby in my arms.
Where Garrett is beside me, smiling, finally at peace.
Where the scars of my addiction are still there, but they're scars, not open wounds.
Where I've become the woman he always believed I could be.
It's just a fantasy. I know that.
The reality is going to be messy and hard and full of setbacks.
But for the first time, the fantasy feels possible.
And that's enough to get me through the next three days.
One hour at a time.
One day at a time.
That's how you build a future.
CHAPTER SIX
Bloodhound
Mount Olive Correctional Complex rises out of the West Virginia hills like a concrete tombstone.
I've driven past it a hundred times on runs, never giving it more than a passing glance.
Just another building.
Just another place that has nothing to do with me.
Until now.
I park the truck in the visitor lot and sit there for a minute, gripping the steering wheel, trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing here.
Vanna's pregnant.
I found out two days ago, and I still can't wrap my head around it.
