PART SIX in a series of novelettes.I hate surprises. Always have, always will. And that’s not me being stubborn; that’s just me telling it as it is. There’s nothing—I repeat nothing—good that has ever come from a surprise.Julie’s eighteenth birthday is just around the corner, and there’s nothing she’d like more than to just forget about showing up for the (not-so-surprise) “party of the century” that her uncle has been planning for weeks. So between dodging Charlie, avoiding Luke, and ignoring nearly every one of her deep-seated feelings for the men in her life, she has more on her plate than she’s ever willing to admit. But when an unexpected phone call from an old friend comes completely out of the blue, Julie can’t help but wonder if every surprise is really all that bad….

We’d all changed.Matt grew a harder exterior.I’d had chronic nightmares triggered by post-traumatic stress.Kara had distanced herself, turned a little colder.Charlie had become less protective and more accepting of what I wanted.And Luke… well, he’d become agreeable.But then there was Derek….After watching Conan’s lifeless body collapse to the floor, eighteen-year-old Julie Little only expected life to get easier. After all, what was left to fear? But her expectations for a happier and easier life crumble when she’s haunted by reoccurring nightmares of love, loss, and death. She’s slipping away, losing herself. And when she needs nothing more than a shoulder to cry on, nearly everyone around her is suddenly consumed with their own problems and fears.Only one person steps up, and he’s the only person who has what it’s going to take to save her… she just has to learn to let go and trust him… once and for all.