Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. * * * NOTE AS OF 04/2026: This is the old version of the story from 2012. It is currently being reprised, which you can also find under my profile here in wattpad as "5:48 [reprised]"

Willow Maverick has a secret. A secret that she wishes she didn’t have to keep. But he’s changed her forever, leaving her with the constant reminders of everything she’s ever done wrong. Even if she tried, no one could begin to understand what’s happened. But the new boy who sits behind her in class is too persistent to let her go down without a fight, no matter what it takes. Even if she’s permanently torn apart.

Can two wounded hearts come together to mend the pain? Bailey Keys never expected to lose her older sister, Lanie. The doctors said that she had time, that the odds were in her favor. And now she’s alone. With parents too wrapped up in their careers to notice, and friends that she unwillingly pushed away, she has no one left. That is, until her father throws a benefit concert for the Ladder 24 firemen and their families, and she meets someone with a similar wounded heart. All Evan Warren remembers are dusty grey particles and waves of oranges flying across the television screen. His last goodbye to his father was ended with a fight over not wanting to clean his bedroom and he forever regrets not ending things with a more sincere goodbye. Evan’s dad was a hero; a man who fought for the many innocent lives lost on 9-11, and he’ll always remember him as a hero. But Evan still wants his father back. Knowing that he died being a hero isn’t enough to mend Evan’s pain…until he meets a girl who might begin to understand the pain behind a broken heart.

Cody has just lost the love of his life, Peyton. He' s losing his mind without her, just like how she lost hers.

Tale as old as time. Instagram: tearainandlove Highest ranking: #1 in Short Story (July 13, 2015) Highest Rankig: #132 in Romance