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The Last Dance – Aimee Brown
About the book
Can you truly forgive and forget?
Ambri and Henry have been best friends forever. They've been through the highs and lows of life with each other by their sides. The worst? When Henry's wife, and Ambri's sister, died. Together, they can face it all. Until one night destroys everything.
Two years after he stepped out of it Henry walks back into Ambri's life and she's more than a little shocked. But as old friends fall into even older habits they need to decide whether they can forget the past and embrace their future.
Perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult and Anna Bell.
Extract
Looking back on it, I can’t believe he even spoke to me, a bitchy, cursing, PMSing fourteen-year-old girl, already tired of most of humanity at such a young age. But somehow, that was that. We were friends from that moment on.
‘I wish I had a friend that would go out of his way to find metickets to a sold-out show,’ Jenna says as she hands a woman her coffee.
‘He didn’t go out of his way.’ I shake my head, writing the name of the customer in front of me, Violet, on an empty cup and handing it to Jenna. ‘They fell into his lap.’
‘Right, fell into his lap.’ She laughs, the whir of the espresso machine finally overpowering her words.
I admit that I might have mentioned to Henry that I wanted to go to the Infusion show a time or ten. I have every time they’ve played in Portland for the last decade. I also knew good and well that the tickets were sold out. I honestly didn’t think he would even attempt to find tickets. They’re a great band – my favorite, actually – but, according to Henry, they aren’t exactly twelve times live great. I’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.
Secretly, I was hoping he would pull through somehow. When he called me last night to tell me he just happened to have a client with tickets they could no longer use, I tried my best not to squeal into the phone. I didn’t succeed but I think we both knew it could have been worse.
‘Since you don’t want him, can I have him?’ Jenna asks when the espresso machine quiets again.
‘No…’ I answer with a roll of my eyes. ‘Trust me, for the thousandth time when I say that Henry is a broken man. He’s got demons he can’t always silence.’
That’s not even a lie. He’s not dark and demented or anything. Quite the opposite really. The last couple years though, they’ve changed him in a way I didn’t even realize was possible. He’s still the same Henry I’ve been friends with for years, most of the time. But other times, he’s depressed, reallydepressed, which isn’t something I’ve ever witnessed in him before now.
Unfortunately, I get where he’s coming from. I’ve struggled with everything too. For me the hardest part was watching her go. Herbeing my sister, Rory. She died last year, almost a year ago exactly, on my birthday. Yeah, my birthday hasn’t been the same since. She was the perfect older sister even though we were complete opposites in everything from personality to looks. She was three years older than me and only twenty-seven when she took her last breath.
Henry and I had been friends for years before they started dating five years ago. Including the year she was sick, they dated for four years. This month she’s been gone a year. One of the longest years of my life. She was exactly his type: blonde, successful, social, and sweet. She was a year older than him, but you’d never have known it. Henry’s always been one of those old souls. As if he’s lived life before and was good at it even then.
He and I are so close that he actually asked my permission before even asking her out. Had I known what her passing would do to him, I’d have said no that day. And yes, I know that’s selfish and there is absolutely nothing wrong with Henry as he is right now but I sometimes miss my best friend from before.
He’s always been the strongest and bravest person I know and was even while she spent months in the hospital. If she was in the room, he was everyone’s rock. Including my own. After she died his ability to deal with everything as he had been was gone. Like a light switch flipped off and he was done. Neither of us were ready for her to go and it’s really left us both stumbling through life trying to find a new normal.
Every day when I meet up with him for coffee before we go to work, I hope and pray that I’m not walking in to meet the Henry that I can’t seem to console. The one who can’t seem to see past what he’s lost. Not because I don’t still adore him when he’s like that, but it hurts so much to see him that way. Those days are getting fewer and farther between as time goes by, but they’re not completely gone. I’m starting to wonder if they ever will be.
Through it all, we’ve become even closer than we were before. He’s there any time I need him and vice versa. Whether it be the middle of the night or the middle of the day. Anytime one of use needs something, without fail we go to one another.
As destructive as it is, death seems to bond people in a way nothing else can. He’s become so much more than my best friend over the last year. As Meredith said to Cristina in Grey’s Anatomy, he’s my person. He’s just not my romanticperson.
About the author
Aimee Brown is a writer of romantic comedies set in Portland, Oregon, and an avid reader. She spends much of her time writing, raising three teenagers, binge-watching shows on Netflix and obsessively cleaning and redecorating her house. She’s fluent in sarcasm and has been known to utter profanities like she’s competing for a medal. Aimee grew up in Oregon, but is now a transplant living in cold Montana with her husband of twenty years, three teenage children, and far too many pets. She is a lot older than she looks and yes, that is a tattoo across her chest. (In the Portlandia spirit, yes, I lived many years in PDX and I do indeed have a bird tattooed on me (2!)) Aimee is very active on social media. You can find her at any of the networks below. Stop by and say hello!
Follow Aimee:
Facebook: @authoraimeebrown
Twitter: @AimeeBWrites
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