FROM SANDBOX TO HEARTBEATS - Chapter 1&2

We were five when he promised to marry me in our sandbox.

I was wearing a crooked pink crown. He was missing his front tooth.

At seven, he was my protector. At ten, he was my best friend. At twelve, he left without saying goodbye - just an empty house next door and a promise broken.

Ten years later, I'm Dr. Eliana Reyes, trying to save lives in the ER. He's Captain Lucas Herrera, back in town in uniform, being wheeled in after a training accident.

He doesn't remember me. Or he pretends not to.

But I remember everything - the sandbox, the promise, and the boy who once said my name like it was his favorite word.

He was my first everything. Is he brave enough to be my last?