‘The day of the wedding, Shane is contemplating what she should do after just witnessing her father leave his wife and son behind, just like he did with her and her mother. She tries to look inside of her heart to decide whether she should leave Carmen behind or spend the rest of her with her. What will she decide? And what will life be like after she makes her decision?’

 “-Italics-” Thoughts

-Italics- Flashbacks

“-Bold-” Phone Call or Voice Message

-Bold- Text Message

Shane paces her hotel room frantically, trying to decide what to do. She just witnessed her own father walk out on another woman who was seemingly meaningless to him and she thinks, ‘What if I do the same to Carmen?’

She knows she loves Carmen without a doubt, but she worries if she goes through with the wedding tonight, would she make the same mistake as Gabe. After all, he did say that they were two of kind, her and him. She sees her entire life when she was younger, watching her mother put her in foster care.

Shane sat on the swing in the deserted playground, watching her mother intently as she took one last drag off of her hit of marijuana. It was really early in the morning, so no one would be around to notice her mother taking a hit of marijuana.  As her mother finishes with her back resting against a tree, opens her eyes and looks at her so sincerely with hints of melancholy and sadness in her brimming eyes Shane realizes that something was happening today, but she wasn’t sure what exactly. Then her mother got up brushing her pants off, then said with an outstretched hand and sad smile, “Come on Shane. There’s someplace we need to get to.”

As Shane took her mothers’ hand she asked with uncertainty, “Where are we going to, mom?”

Shane’s mother glanced down at her with sad eyes and said, “Someplace new.”

As Shane and her mother walked into downtown Austin, Texas they passed the early birds bustling around in the early hours opening stores, going for a morning jog among other things. When they stopped in front of a particular entrance, Shane read in big letters above the entrance TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES.