the sound of bluebirds

＂Where are we going to find our joy today, Baby Blue J?＂

＂With the flowers and the birds!＂

My mother’s voice often wakes me from my sleep. A voice I hadn’t heard in over twenty years still makes my heart ache. But I have no time to reminisce, and I definitely don’t care about flowers or birds.

I am Joshua Hayles, and I have no space for joy.

I have lived under my father’s rule my entire life. I have become everything I was supposed to be-a successful attorney, a wealthy man, and, above all, pridefully strong. There is nothing I can’t handle; even as I stood as a groomsman at my ex-girlfriend’s wedding to my brother, I was unmoved.

Courtney Mason’s arrival in my life was unexpected. She was not a part of my plan, nor was I a part of hers. It was something I should have ignored but couldn’t. Her smile quickened my heartbeat; her free spirit made me long for something more, and her scars made me tender-everything about her made me.....feel.

I’m Joshua Hayles, and I’m too tough for this.