Alexander Jacobs knew his life would be different from now on. Nothing could prepare him for the changes coming. Had he known, he would have done something differently, prepared somehow. He would have tried to make his father proud of him, and he would have loved his mother more. He hung his head in his hands. There was nothing he could do now. His life was changed, and all he had left to focus on was tomorrow. His life was quiet now, too quiet. His parents were both gone. They were killed by a drunk driver, he had no siblings, and only a few friends he could count on one hand, friends he could trust that is. He sat back in the high-backed chair and took a deep breath. Even the friends he did have were busy with their own lives. He was 23, still too young to know what he was doing most of the time, and now he was going to have to run a billionaire-dollar business that he hadn't much thought about before. He enjoyed the rewards of the family business. He always had everything he needed or wanted. He was spoiled and selfish. He shook his head. Now he had to grow up. Alex glanced up at the clock on the mantle. The meeting started at 2 PM. That gave him ten minutes to get his head together. He started rifling through the ledger on his desk, trying to prepare for the day ahead. His parents had been gone almost a week. The funeral was yesterday. They deserved more...deserved better. He would do his best to make them proud. He knew he would have to because there was no one else who could. The only bright spot in his life yesterday at the funeral was Brienne. Brienne Warhol had been there. He remembered the day he first saw her in the 4th grade. She was all elbows and freckles with her long red hair in braids.

She was beautiful. They grew up on the same street, or close to it. She was always a gangly tomboy, playing in the dirt and riding bikes with the boys while all the other girls were happy playing inside with Barbie dolls and practicing with makeup and nail polish. He smiled, thinking about the 6th-grade dance. He prepared to ask Brienne for weeks, but she never seemed to notice he was there. She was always busy with everything else. Most of the boys thought of her as one of them, but not Alex. He was very much aware of the fact that Brienne was a girl. He had it all planned out and walked up to her at lunchtime. She was sitting at a table with some of their friends all arm wrestling each other. He took a deep breath and simply said: "Brienne, will you go to the dance with me?" He said it casually despite his racing heart and had taken his usual seat across from her while waiting on a response. "Sure." She said it so quickly he had to look at her to catch her eye and make sure she was actually responding to him. She gave him a slight smile and set out to arm wrestle, and beat, Bobby Anderson on the next match. His dad sent him in the company car to pick her up the night of the dance and he was terrified. She came down the stairs in a green dress and her hair all brushed out. It looked just like fluffy orange cotton. She looked stunning to him. He opened the door for her, and once they were inside the car, she started chattering away about school and how these girl shoes were so dumb. He just let her talk. He liked the way she went on and on. He was always the quiet one and she didn't know how to be. It may have been because she had no mother, and her dad was doing the best he could with her. Whatever the reason, she always had a lot to say. They pulled into the school parking lot and immediately their group of friends gathered around. It was just like any other school day. At some point, she had braided her hair so it would stop "flying all over the place" as she put it. The rest of the night was spent with a group of friends. No dancing, and certainly not what he planned.