CHAPTER ONE

Darcy Matthews was known for being a tough party girl in the past. After a night of drinking too much Prosecco, the woman, now 26 years old and a mother, became paralyzed.

I couldn't remember the last time drinking made me feel this awful; my mouth was dry, my head was pounding, and I was positive that I'd had some stroke while sleeping. To add insult to injury, I couldn't recall how I got home. What the hell? I wasn't even home! I slowly opened my eyes to survey the damage, and to my relief, I saw that I was in my living room; I wasn't in my bed, but I was at home. I was spread down on the rug by the fire, and although the rug was comfortable, it would cause me problems with my back in the future. As I struggled to keep my eyes open, I noticed that Kerry appeared to be lifeless while she was sitting on my sofa.

My voice was so raspy that I couldn't even recognize it when I mumbled, "Kerry."

"KERRY." Oh, sh*t, maybe she's already passed away!

I didn't have the strength to get up and check, so I fell back asleep because the next time I opened my eyes, I could hear Lucas giggling. I couldn't get up and check because I lacked energy.

Since Kiran had promised to let us sleep in until at least ten in the morning, we might deduce that the time had long since passed.

I finally feel the urge to stand straight. During this process, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Oh my goodness, I'm such a wreck. I make the snap decision to make a hasty ascent to the bathroom before Lucas can see me. I'm trying to channel my inner Regan from The Exorcist, but I don't want to freak him out!

Since Kerry has relocated, I will infer that she is in good health, unless Kiran was overcome with fear and hid the body!

After I had finished using the restroom, I stripped off my smelly, sweaty clothes and hopped into the steamy shower. When the water splashed across my face, fragments of the previous evening began flooding back to me, much like a slideshow being played in front of my eyes. I should not have purchased those five bottles of Prosecco. The random guys trying to get into Lucy's trousers regret buying the shots, which is referred to as "Regret." My inappropriate behavior with the attractive doorman, which resulted in us being admitted to the VIP lounge because I didn't stop him from staring at my chest, is something I deeply regret. Then there was the kebab at the end of the night, which completely derailed my diet for the rest of the week — my biggest mistake.

Since I gave birth to Lucas two years ago, I've had a hard time losing weight. People told me I was okay and thought I was fine, but I'd never been a size 14 before, and it was beginning to affect how I felt about myself. The night before last was the first time in a very long time that I went out for a significant amount of time, and even just garnering attention from males was enough to give my ego a huge boost; I felt like the old me again.

Although Kiran was encouraging to me and never commented on how I looked, being married with a child under the age of two made it difficult to find time for romance and sexy time. We never had any energy left, and it seemed that the only goal in life was to get it through the next hour, let alone the next day. In the midst of that, life had become monotonous and predictable, and I supposed that was to be expected after starting a family.

Lucas yelled, "Mummy," as he charged straight at me at full speed. As he hopped up and down, his golden hair moved around on his head in a bouncy manner. Although I was barely holding on to life, I loved that tiny guy more than anything else, and I wouldn't alter a thing about it, even if it meant losing my primary partner in the process.

"Hello, my sweetheart," I had to coax my upbeat self out of hiding and then I embraced him tightly. I was once told that kids were made cute so that all the tough things and difficult times would melt away as you looked at them, and I see something in that; when I hugged Lucas, nothing else mattered. This is something that I find to be true.

Aside from the pounding in my head, there was something I just couldn't ignore!

When I entered the room with Lucas, Kiran and Kerry were already talking in the kitchen. She was slouching over a cup of coffee at the breakfast bar and looking just as miserable as I did.

Kiran's tone was snarky as he greeted me with, "Oh, you're awake," as I approached the coffee machine. My second favorite thing in the entire world is coffee.

I mumbled, "I guess so," as I tried to hold my pounding skull together with both hands. "I think so."

Kerry took a smell of her coffee and sprung to life. She told me, "Oh girl, we were crazy last night; it was definitely a birthday to remember." Happy birthday, a day late, she said.

"Do you feel okay? How are you even able to communicate? After consuming the amount of alcohol that she did the night before, Kerry is surprisingly alert, so she laughed at my comment, "I feel like death."

I'm feeling better now that I've had two cups of coffee, but you shouldn't walk out to the front yard just yet lest you faint and die.

I was curious about what she was talking about, so I raised both of my eyebrows. When I looked at Kiran, he had a disgusted expression on his face and shook his head.

"What did you do, Kerry?" I questioned.

Once more, Kerry let out a chuckle. Oh, you were the only one. I'm not going to put my neck on the line for this one."

I took my cup of coffee with me and went to the house's front door. We had no way of moving a sofa with two seats on it without assistance, so it couldn't have been us. I could hear Kerry giggling behind me, but a filthy old sofa sitting on my front lawn was not something I found amusing, and judging by the expression on Kiran's face, neither did he.

"What the Freaking F?" I had to stifle my vile insults to prevent them from reaching the ears of my two-year-old child.

You wanted to bring it home so you could relax, so you kept making us stop so you could rest on it, the other individual explained. The entire time Kerry was having a fantastic time, all I could think about was scabies. The itching had begun, and the sofa could not have been more depressing.

Kiran made the remark as he picked up Lucas and headed back into the house's living area. "I pray the neighbors don't think it's our old sofa," he said. We were both really angry, but he was the one who brought it into the house. I was the one who brought it home.

I brushed up against Kerry and shook my head at him. "Why would you make me act in this manner?" I inquired in a hostile manner.

When you get an idea in your head, it's not like anyone else can stop you, is it?

"I'm a fucking married mother living in a well-respected region, so why the hell do I do this shite?"

"Relax, there's no need to get worked up over this. Things went off without a hitch the night before, "The implication was made.

"Unless you want to take it home with you, all I can do is hope that Kiran will find a way to get rid of it."

She snorted and said, "Nooooo." "I have a sofa that is in excellent condition. I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking

I scratched all over and hoped my imagination was playing tricks on me. "I don't have time for scabies. We're going to Edinburgh tomorrow," the speaker said.

"Don't worry. Everything will work out, and since we're talking about Edinburgh, I should get going." I still have some things to pack."

I secured an outstanding position as a lead farm assessor in Lancashire earlier this year, and I loved it. Kerry worked alongside me as my assistant, and we had a lot of fun doing it. Kerry served as both my right hand and my assistant. We worked in the immediate area most of the time, but because the service was short-staffed in Edinburgh, we had agreed to travel there to cover for several weeks. It meant parting ways with Kiran and Lucas, but the job had to be done. Since I had never worked outside the region, opportunities to network with other people did not come up very frequently. This event was a terrific opportunity for both of us and a great learning curve for me in my new career.

Kerry started putting her things together. Okay, I should get ready for the Scottish farmers; I've only heard good things about them. Kiran didn't seem to mind when she made that remark, and I couldn't help but feel devalued by his lack of alarm at the prospect of his wife leaving him and taking a job where the majority of her coworkers are guys.

When I got back from waving Kerry off, he was in the process of getting a snack for Lucas. From the entrance to the kitchen, I kept an eye on him. I love Kiran, and he is a wonderful father to our baby, but there were many times when I questioned whether or not he was the one for me. There was never that huge spark between us, that electricity, or that passion-filled sex to the point that we couldn't wait to get into the bedroom. I frequently questioned whether or not that was a genuine phenomenon, whether or not individuals, in fact, suffered from that, or whether or not it was only an urban legend.

We had known each other via common acquaintances and had sort of fallen into one another's company; however, we were not even in a committed relationship when we discovered that we were expecting Lucas. Because of Kiran's desire to get married before the baby was born (mostly to please his parents), I was a married mother at the age of 26. I don't know if the dread of being a single mother or the hormones played a role, but I frequently wonder what made me consent to this life at that moment. I don't know if it was the fear of being a single mother or the hormones.

I wanted to be in Ibiza partying it up with DJs and dancing the night away when I was 26. The only time I imagined I would settle down as if the one true Love of my life came into my life and swept me off my feet. What I got instead was not what I had planned. I don't know, I guess I was naive, but life had other intentions for me. I'm not sure what those ideas were.