Bruises

(TH#3)“'If you can look me in the eye and tell me anybody has ever held you like this, kissed you like this, loved you like this, then I will let you go. I will leave and I will never come back.'
And as much as I wanted to say that, yes, someone else had, I would be lying. Because nobody, not one person, had ever cherished me like he did."

A father convicted of a murder, and Elsie was there to witness the entire thing. It should have left her scarred and afraid, but because of the help from Sam, a mysterious and kind stranger, she powered through it. He was her best friend, always there when she needed him most . . . Until he left her. Nearly eight years later and as Elsie finds herself stuck in a troubling situation under less-than-optimal circumstances, he suddenly comes out of nowhere again. But something has changed, with both of them. The secrets are heavier, the pain is greater . . . and what was once a friendship has turned into the roots for something more. Something that frightens both tortured souls equally. It's big enough, strong enough, to hold through, if they just acknowledge how much they need it to. Everybody has bruises . . . Some just take longer to heal than others.