You Met Me There (Hearts of Maple Lake #2)

Prologue

Natalie

When I was eighteen, I didn’t realize I could want something so badly, just to change my mind in an instant. To crave something else entirely.

At eighteen, I wanted leopard-print skinny jeans. Now, I want the Marla crinkled satin pants by Akris punto.

At eighteen, I wished our little town could just get a freaking McDonald’s.

Now, I’m dining at places like Sexy Fish Miami—a top-rated restaurant in town.

And yes, that’s its actual name. The place is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

It has a magnificent floor-to-ceiling waterfall behind the bar, a pink seashell-inspired ladies’ room that looks like a mermaid threw up in it, seafood entrées you’ve never even heard of, and the best peach-and-jasmine cocktail I’ve ever tasted.

I’ve come a long way from the Golden Arches.

At eighteen, I was bored. Now I travel all over the country photographing rising social media stars and spend evenings at the country club drinking coffee, and eating triangular cucumber sandwiches with my mother-in-law.

Samantha took me under her wing when I left home, becoming a mother to me in her own way.

I, myself, have no children, much to my disappointment.

It intrigues me how we as humans are so fickle. We want, desire, and crave what we don’t have, until we finally get it. And then, suddenly, we decide there must be something else out there that could outshine it. There must be something better, mustn’t there?

If that’s so, then we’re in a hamster wheel of opportunities, chasing the next best thing on an endless cycle of chase and release, chase and release.

When will we decide we have enough?

Are we doomed to always run and run and run in an endless loop until we eventually fall off the wheel and cease living?