Printing Inc.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Alone : a love story / Michelle Parise.
Names: Parise, Michelle, 1974- author.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200178423 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200178466 | ISBN 9781459746909 (softcover) | ISBN 9781459746916 (PDF) | ISBN 9781459746923 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Parise, Michelle, 1974- | LCSH: Parise, Michelle, 1974-—Relations with men. | LCSH: Dating (Social customs) | LCSH: Man-woman relationships. | LCSH: Single mothers. | LCSH: Parenthood.
Classification: LCC HQ801 .P37 2020 | DDC 306.73092—dc23
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For my Birdie. May you always know that love was the driving force.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER THREE: RUNNING UP THAT HILL
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE SADDEST OPTIMIST
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THERE, THERE
PART ONE
Love is only real if it can rage like a bonfire and also comfort like a fireplace.
It’s both, at once, the pain and the warmth. It’s why my heart is always cranked to maximum.
CHAPTER ONE
FALLING
LOSS
So, here I am on the edge of thirty-nine. Petulant, drunk, and obsessed with a charming but frustrating man in a white shirt and perfect jeans. I’m taking my one-millionth fancy cocktail and stumbling down a hallway to go see a tarot card reader. My friends all rolled their eyes, but I like the idea of someone telling me who I am and what my path is based on randomly turned up cards. Because seriously? Fucked if I know these days.
The Man with the White Shirt is mingling so excellently and effortlessly with my friends. His smile and those dark eyes and that body in those jeans — God, it hurts to look at him too long. He’s so handsome I can hardly stand it sometimes, and whenever he’s around everything softens in me. Usually. Tonight I’m all edges. I’m being a bit rude to him even. I’ll tell you why later,
