* (05/16/2021)

Hi there, lovely readers!

What you're about to read is a story I began writing all the way back in 2012, shortly after I finished In 27 Days. Recently I've had the time to take a trip down memory lane and revisit these chapters, which has been a very fun yet equally cringe inducing experience.

That being said, some of you readers have (rightfully so) pointed out that some of Archer's behavior in this work is problematic, and yes, I agree - it is. Some of his thoughts and actions I don't agree with at all and shouldn't be brushed aside. But, as I'm sure you readers have heard before, hindsight is 20/20, and all I can say is that my writing process and everything that goes with it has improved a great deal over the years. It's inevitable that I will make mistakes and mess up. That doesn't mean I won't learn from it and strive to do better.

In the near ten years it's been since I started this wild journey with Hadley and Archer, I've come along way and grown not only as a writer, but also as a person. I went from being an introverted and socially awkward teenager in high school to a married adult who now spends most of her time with her mischievous one-year-old trying to work from home during a pandemic.

So please enjoy this work of fiction for what it is, but remember it was written from the perspective of a seventeen-year-old who'd never had a boyfriend before and didn't have the faintest idea how marriage actually works. (Seriously, I didn't meet my now-husband until I was a junior in college. Some of the things Hadley and Archer get up to is ridiculous. If my husband pulled half the crap Archer does in this story, we'd be taking a long, hard look at our marriage).

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading, and for sticking with these crazy kids after all this time. It still means the world to me and always will. I never would've made it to where I am now if it weren't for everyone here on this platform.

Happy reading, everyone!

Much love,
Ally ❤️

PS - For those who are wondering, yes, the TV series for In 27 Days is still happening! I hope to have some news to share very soon, but sadly, the pandemic has delayed the whole process A LOT. Please stay tuned for updates!

———————————————————————————

"Archer. Wake up."

I let out a groan and rolled over, shoving my head underneath my pillow. I just wanted ten more minutes of sleep. Ten more minutes. Was that too much to ask for?

"Come on, Archer! You have to get up!"

"No."

My beautiful, witty, sometimes brazen and completely annoying wife tossed herself down on the bed beside me and ripped my pillow away.

"Get up, Archer Morales."

I cracked open an eyelid and glared up at Hadley, my mouth turning down in a childish pout.

Hadley was already up and ready for the day, of course, which was downright annoying – I was so not a morning person.

Her long brown hair was in perfect waves, she was wearing one of those classy outfits her best friend Taelor had helped her pick out, and she looked as if she'd already had three cups of coffee. Then again, I really wasn't sure if she was that wired on a daily basis as it was.

Damn.

Either way, I was downright pissed I was up before my internal alarm clock woke me. I was twenty-six. I needed all the sleep I could get.

"Oh, don't give me that look, Archer," Hadley said, rolling her eyes. "It's almost ten. You and I both know you can't keep putting off that one bitchy model's portfolio anymore."

I groaned loudly and grabbed another pillow to smother myself in. "God, don't remind me."

I loved my business, AIM Photography. It was one of the few things in my life I was actually proud of. I'd literally started out from nothing, just with a college degree and a bank loan I wasn't so sure I'd be able to pay back, and now I received fat checks every now and then that had me smiling constantly.

By some sort of sheer dumb luck I'd become fairly well known recently, and now I had a few models knocking on my door, asking me to start their portfolios for their résumés.

"Come on, Archer." Hadley sighed, reaching over to ruffle my hair. "It's almost the holidays. You get to take a break soon. You'll be fine."

"God! Don't remind me!"

As much as I loved the holidays, there was always that massive rush of business that came flooding in right before Christmas, demanding this and that, and it always drove me up a wall.

It was a bittersweet relationship I had with my photography business.

Hadley let out an annoyed huff and whacked me upside the head. "Oh, be a man and just do it."

I lifted my head and scowled at her, but I was immediately filled with a sense of satisfaction seeing that her cheeks had flushed bright pink. We'd been together for ten years, and I still got the same cute reaction out of her as I did when we first met?

Yeah, I was proud of myself.

I fought back another groan and rolled out of bed before she could threaten me with more bodily harm. "Ugh. Fine. Whatever."

"That's a good boy," she teased as she stood. "Your mother would be proud."

I shot her a glare as I made my way to the bathroom. I loved her, but she knew exactly what buttons to push to get me riled up.

"Oh, honey, don't give me that look. If you get all your work finished, I promise I'll make it up to you."

I came to a screeching halt and turned on my heel to stare at her.

Hadley, as off-the-wall as she was sometimes, rarely ever made suggestive comments like that the entire time we'd been together. But when she did...let's just say it made me look forward to the end of the day.

"Promise?"

Hadley gave a beatific smile that made me regret ever getting out of the bed in the first place.

"Cross my heart, hope to die. But look," she said as she crossed the room to me, gripped the collar of my shirt with her hands. "I've got head to work. I have my first appointment of the day at eleven."

Hadley was a grief counselor hired by the state to travel to hospitals around the city every couple of months or so to speak with the patients there.

I honestly couldn't understand how she enjoyed her job, listening to people talk about everything that had gone wrong in their lives. It had to be majorly depressing, but she thrived off of helping them. It was what she was good at, what she loved, and I wasn't about to stop her.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me, nuzzling against her neck. "Okay. I'll see you later tonight, then?"

She leaned up on her tiptoes, grabbed my face in her hands, and kissed me instead of answering.

Out of the few things I loved in my life, kissing Hadley was one of them. It was sinful bliss, and one hell of a glad reminder that I'd pushed aside my insecurities and asked her to be my girlfriend back in high school.

The reward?

I got to kiss her whenever I wanted...among other things.

"Goodbye, Archer," Hadley said in a singsong voice, pulling away from me. "I'll see you tonight."

She pinched my cheek in an annoying fashion and then sashayed from the room, humming a tune under her breath.

I stood frozen to the spot, watching her go in confusion.

Since when did Hadley hum? Hadley never hummed.

That was a little odd.

Well, life was a little odd.

I dragged myself off to the bathroom, stripped off my pajamas and stepped into the shower. I was dreading the fact that I was going to have to break down sooner or later and finish the rest of the huge stack of photos that needed editing and those damn portfolios before I really regretted it.

Hadley and I lived in an apartment complex on one of the nicer sides of Manhattan – well, as nice as you could find in the city. It was small, but cozy with two bedrooms, one very nice bathroom, and kitchen appliances that were actually from this century.

Rent might have been a little too much, but somehow Hadley and I made things work.

After my shower, I'd dressed and wandered out through the tiny living room to the kitchen for breakfast and found a plate of eggs, bacon and a bagel sitting on the counter for me, along with a mug of coffee. Hadley's doing, no doubt.

I really wasn't as thoughtful and kind as she was when it came to doing nice things for each other, which was sad, considering. I made a mental note to figure out something to do for her in return and dug into my delicious breakfast spread, flipping open the paper left on the kitchen table.

The paper had nothing new to offer. Life was life in New York City and not much had changed.

I finished off my breakfast, downed the rest of my coffee, and then headed to the spare bedroom turned office before I could convince myself that grabbing a few more minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt anyone.

It was time to face another day.

And somehow, this day didn't seem all that bad.

______________________________________________________

Okay, here we go! I am SO SORRY that it's taken me so long to get Face Your Fears back up here, but here it is! Hopefully you're all still interested in this story... :)

Now that I'm on summer break, I'll be able to post much more often. I'm posting all of the chapters that got deleted, but keep an eye out for edits. :D

- Ally.