Healing His Heart: Second Chance Breakup Recovery

By Brooke Burton

When Sean's world is rocked by the death of his hero, he finds that returning to normal is a tall order. Fortunately, he has Andrea, his not-so-secret crush, and ride or die when times get tough. When she proposes to take him on five adventures in hopes to get him smiling once more, he's more than skeptical. But as she works her magic and Sean finally begins to feel lighter, he decides to take her on an adventure of his own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brooke Burton
• Release date: Feb 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224066889

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Healing His Heart

Brooke Burton

Copyright © 2004 Brooke Burton

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.  For information, address the publisher. 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 author and publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This book is a piece of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Chapter One

Sean

✽✽✽

High School, junior year…

Sean sat in his car, staring out the windshield at the doors to Harbor’s Head High.

He had to close his eyes to the wave of nausea that overcame him at that moment.

It hadn’t been a full two weeks since his father had passed away. To say his life had been turned upside down was a desperate understatement. It was more shaken up like one of those snow globes you find in those tourist shops downtown, what remained of his existence swirling around him, fluttering down in jagged, broken pieces.

All while the rest of the world stood sturdy. Impenetrable.

Observant.

Gripping the steering wheel in both hands felt good to him. It was like that beautiful ache he could feel from his knuckles through his arms after an exhaustive workout on the speed bag. He loved the feeling. While everyone else at the gym came to blow off steam, get rid of stress, or envision their ex on the receiving end of a particularly powerful roundhouse kick, Sean was the oddball who just liked hitting things. Nothing ever felt as good as the thrill of laying out a perfectly placed strike.

Or thirty.

He’d been training since he started high school, and his coach thought he could really go places. Boxing allowed him to think in ways that were different than at school. He was good at strategizing and learning new ways to make himself better at the sport.

And his father had been so proud of him.

Sean exhaled like the wind had been knocked out of him.

Because…well…it had.

Letting his hands drop back into his lap, he watched a group of his friends walk down the sidewalk in front of the school, chattering aimlessly and laughing as if all was right with the world. He couldn’t fault them, really.

It wasn’t their fault he’d lost his best friend.

He wished it was someone’s. He wished, with everything he had, he could put a face to death. That way, they could go toe-to-toe in the ring, and he could pummel him into a pile of blood and bones and send him back to Hell where he belonged. He knew he’d feel better after a fight.

Though he knew it wouldn’t bring his dad back.

Get it together, he growled at himself, grasping the steering wheel and gripping it once more, feeling himself soothing as the plastic creaked under his hands. Grabbing his backpack from the seat next to him, he swung open the door to his dad’s old blue Ford truck (aptly named Old Blue), hiked it over his shoulders as he shut the door, and began walking.

He felt good as he blended in with all the other kids, forming the last crowd that needed to get in before the first bell rang. He actually started to feel good—normal even. And for a moment, he thought he could actually do this.

Sean! Oh my God! Skylar Franks said as she broke into a run, throwing her arms around him the moment he stepped inside.

Hey, he said, catching her tiny body quickly so she didn’t knock him over. He gritted his teeth as more girls ran his way, each offering him a consolation hug as they stared at him like he was a big blue alien having just landed on planet Earth. It was awkward, even though he did his best not to show how out of place he now felt at their scrutiny. But it was worse when the questions came.

So, are you, like, feeling okay now?

I mean, it’s been two weeks since your dad died. Right?

"Are you going to