For everyone who needs a safe place to run away to.
I got you.
Chapter 1
Sofia
My car is having the meltdown that I am holding in, though tears prickle my eyes, and my throat feels like I’m never going to swallow again. Thick plumes of whitish smoke cascade out of the bonnet, making the rust and canary yellow paint job look worse than it is. I take a stressed walk, seven feet away from the sign with the smiling sun and seven feet towards it. The grass has grown as tall as my thighs. There’s a fence made out of three strands of rusted wire stretched between wooden poles that lean precariously every which way but vertical. I swear, this looks exactly the same as it did four years ago when I hightailed it out of here.
The sunshine is brighter, the earthy smells are clean, the grass is turning yellow, and the sounds of the ocean call me. It looks exactly like home.
“I have no choice,” I mutter to the sign.
Home is the kind of place an omega can go to reset herself. Well, that’s what they tell you on the brochure. Most omegas, anyway. For me, Sunshine Cove was an over-sized jumper. It felt good, but it never fit right.
Straight in front of me is the source of my stress; a massive sign with a sun that has rays of three different shades of yellow over a beach and the words “Welcome to Sunshine Cove” emblazoned in white and cerulean blue. If I step over this line, I will be home.
It’s terrifying.
All my failures will be realised, and the last four years of my life will be a waste. And what have I brought with me? A car that is mere months from the driver’s seat rusting out of it, a bag of clothes, and Danger.
Birds scream, and, to be honest, I consider joining them. I pace a few more lengths of my car before turning back to the sign.
“You’ll be cool, yeah? Like, no one will give me trouble or ask probing questions into my life?” I ask the sun, waiting for an answer that comes with a crushing dose of reality. “Yes, of course, you’ll ask questions, but can we stick to how have you been?”
The sun smiles at me, so smug and knowing.
“No?” I whimper. “You’ll ask about everything, won’t you? Which will quickly uncover all my secret failures faster than Sherlock Holmes can, and then,” I gasp, my words trailing off, my coaxing smile slipping off my lips. “Drat! Of course, they’re going to know. The real question will be who finds out first.”
I wave at the sign as if I can make it go away.
It doesn’t answer me. Or do as I mentally command.
“Look, I’m only home until I can figure things out. Remember who I am. Find myself. Figure out what I want to do with my life. The therapist on the social media reels said that coming home would help.”
I jab a finger at the sign.
“Are you judging me?”
I narrow my eyes and turn away, rubbing my temple. I’m talking to the sign because I’m buying seconds, procrastinating, and trying to save face. Even if for a moment more.
I sound like I’m insane.
“Danger Dachsie, are you done? You need to be done because Mummy is losing it and talking to the Welcome to Sunshine sign. It’s bad enough with the rest of my life, but crazy is a step too far.”
My adorable, miniature dachshund puppy, Danger, pokes his head up from the ditch and lets out a bark. Honestly, he’s the only good thing that’s happened in four years. At eight months old, he’s almost full size but still retains his puppy brain. Danger was a courting gift from the pack who claimed I was perfect for them, right up until I found them with the other her.
I pick up the pup, snuggling him, trying to push away the burning memory of that humiliating rejection.
Danger’s brown merle coat reminded me of a certain someone’s eyes, a person I knew a long time ago in a world where I wasn’t this jaded creature I have become. But I don’t think about him anymore. He’s in the past.
Danger Dachsie has deep velvet eyes that looked up at me and saw the heart and soul of me. I’ve never felt the way I felt when I took him into my arms. It was instant love, and unlike a certain pack who claimed to love me, Danger’s adoration has never wavered. He’s loyal and a prince among Dachshunds.
“Come on, Danger, I need you to shine up those adorable poopy paws and get ready to do some serious attention diversion. You are my only line of defence. I need you; you cannotlet me down.”
He barks and jumps in the open door of my almost dead little matchbox car that I bought with the last of my savings. Thankfully, Heather has stopped smoking.
I start the engine and then have to start it twice more before it stays on.
