Chapter 1. Welcome Home

                                    

                                          
The doorbell ringing caused Selena to stir in her large bed slowly waking up. Her eyes opened slowly as the streams of light from the blinds shown on her face. Her gaze shifted to the alarm clock blaring the time of 9am. Who was waking her so early on a Saturday morning?
                          
Selena had specifically taken the weekend off to relax and hold a day of self-care. She's been working extremely hard at the clinic for the past couple of weeks and needed a day for a breather. Her boss offered her more days to take off, but she refused as she didn't want to be home alone for so long.
                          
The ring blares again causing her to growl before tossing the weighted blanket off of her body. Sitting up, she slipped her feet into the warm slippers next to the bed and picked up the silk robe wrapping it around her body.
                          
Whoever was disturbing her peace this early was definitely going to hear it.
                          
Running down the staircase, Selena unlocks the door revealing the face she didn't think she was going to see for a while. Tears prick at her eyes as she launched herself at her only child, Jacob.
                          
"Hi Mom, you surprised?" Jacob laughed wrapping his arms around the small woman.
                          
To say surprised would be the understatement. He had told her he wouldn't be able to come home for the winter break and now here he stood at his childhood home doorstep.
                          
Jacob is Selena's 20-year-old son and absolute light of her life. He is currently enrolled in a university on the west coast far from their home on the east. He had gotten into a great engineering and computer science program. Although Selena was beyond proud for her son, she was sad that he was so far away. Jacob had never been apart from her till college.
                          
When Selena was 14, she had gone through a dreadfully traumatic experience. Someone she had trusted her whole life; someone her family and friends had trusted sexually and physically assaulted her. The result led to this man getting sent to prison, Selena developing ptsd, and her falling pregnant.
                          
Selena was broken beyond repair; at this tender age it seemed her life, that was just starting, had gotten ripped from her. She had severe ptsd and wasn't able to live how she normally would. And when it seemed like her life was being swallowed into the with darkness and fear, a light was shown. That light was her family and Kelsey, her best friend.
                          
They had become that shoulder she needed to lean on and people she needed the most. She had begun seeing a therapist to deal with her experience and confided in her best friend and family on what she was feeling. They were supportive in any decision she would make and understanding of her feelings. They helped pull her out of the dark place and show her that her life still had purpose; they showed her there was still a light at the end of the tunnel.
                          
That light being Jacob and her career. It was the hardest yet best decision she made as a teenager. It shaped her entire life from there.
                          
"So surprised! What are you doing here?" Selena asked backing away from him.
                          
A car door slam caused Selena to jump in place at the unexpected sound. Looking over Jacobs shoulder she spied his truck door closing. A tall man with dark hair and smooth tan skin pulled luggage along the walkway making his way towards them.
                          
"Well, the internship I'm doing has an office near home so they said I can transfer over. Also, I wanted me coming to be a surprise, but I was also wondering if my friend can stay with us over the break as well."
                          
Setting the luggage down, the man stepped up next to Jacob placing his hand out to Selena. He looked a couple years older than Jacob by his built and scruffy beard that covered his chin, possibly mid 20's. He was handsome, beautiful could even describe him.