Three Wishes

Three Wishes Becca Baldwin Copyright Copyright © 2023 by W. Nelson This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. AISN: B0C4RNXVKF ISBN: 9798379097349 (Amazon Paperback) Cover Art by GetCovers Editing Services by W. Nelson Literary Services Formatted with Atticus No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. If you acquired this book through non-legal means, you are committing theft and are stealing this book. To stay within the law, please purchase a copy or read via Kindle Unlimited. Author’s Note: Some of the places within this story have been changed, omitted, or created for storytelling purposes. This novel may contain scenes and language that some may find sensitive or triggering. Please read with caution. Contents 1. Dee 2. Dee 3. Travis 4. Dee 5. Travis 6. Travis 7. Dee 8. Dee 9. Travis 10. Dee 11. Travis 12. Dee 13. Travis 14. Travis 15. Dee 16. Travis 17. Travis 18. Dee 19. Dee 20. Travis 21. Travis 22. Travis 23. Dee 24. Dee 25. Travis 26. Travis 27. Dee 28. Dee 29. Travis 30. Dee 31. Dee 32. Travis 33. Travis 34. Dee 35. Dee Epilogue Also By Acknowledgments About Author one DeeThis wasn’t me. I wasn’t a depressed, stay-in-bed-all-day, weeping woman. I was a fighter. I faced the toughest things head on. I didn’t hide in my room because my life had fallen apart. Yet for weeks, that’s all I’d done. I laid in bed, mostly sleeping or staring at the wall, wallowing in misery while my sister Runa and my best friend Casey did their best to take care of me since I refused to. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken a shower. I had no idea how I smelled. Or when I’d last gotten out of bed to pee. Hell, I was pretty sure my job was toast since I hadn’t bothered to call in. All I could focus on was that my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Dennis, my now-former boyfriend, blindsided me by confessing he’d fallen in love with his co-worker, Diane, and he and his boys, ones I loved like my own, were moving to Vancouver to be with her. The asshole. At first, I couldn’t believe it. I thought he was joking, but one look into those fawn-brown eyes, I knew he was serious. “How could you do this to me?” I’d cried as a sudden onslaught of tears blurred my vision. “How could you take them away from me?” I wasn’t someone who ever let others see me get emotional, but I’d had no problem doing it around Dennis. I trusted him after all, and I loved him. I thought he loved me too, but apparently, he didn’t. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Dennis had said sincerely. “It just did. And I love her, Dee. I love her more than I’ve loved anything, except my kids. I know this hurts you, and I’m sorry this happened, but I’m not sorry about her. I just regret that I had to hurt you.”“You’re sorry? You are SORRY?” I stared at him incredulously.“Yes, I’m sorry, Dee. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but—”“Fuck you, Dennis! Fuck you and fuck her! Just . . . FUCK OFF!” I shouted, cutting him off before he could utter another word. Frustrated, devastated, and beyond humiliated, I buried my face with my hands and broke down.Dennis rose from his seat without another word spoken. He kept his eyes forward, avoiding mine as he left me sitting all alone in our favorite coffee shop, The Brass Bean, sobbing uncontrollably while the people sitting around us stared, unknowing witnesses to the whole ugly scene. I felt like I’d gone insane. Well, maybe I had. And who could blame me? I’d just gotten my ass publicly dumped by the man who I thought was ‘The One’. A man who apparently was “The One” for someone else. Tears flowed harder as I tried to calm down, but I couldn’t. The tears just wouldn’t stop. One woman took pity on me when she came over and hugged me, whispering that whoever that asshole was, he didn’t deserve me. How right she was. That motherfucking asshole didn’t deserve me, but his boys did and that’s what hurt the most. Dennis had taken them away and I would never see them again. Unable to face the public any longer, I left with my tail tucked between my legs. Somehow, I managed to get myself home. I went straight upstairs and sat on the bottom of the shower and cried my eyes out. For weeks, I lived like a zombie, going through the motions, pretending everything was okay, acting like I hadn’t had my heart ripped out, but not really living. Just existing from one day to the next. I was so mad and frustrated, but I’d held it in until I found the strength to finally confess everything to my best friend. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have kept it from Casey as long as I did, but I’d been in a kind of denial. Part of me thought Dennis would wise up, realize he’d made a mistake, and that we’d all go back to being a happy family. He didn’t and I reached a point where I