This post contains content notes and trigger warnings. If content notes or trigger warnings make you uncomfortable or offend you please feel free to skip it! I wouldn’t want you to unexpectedly encounter content which you’d rather avoid during your leisure time.
It isn’t possible to warn for everything, but I have tried to warn for the most common triggers. You may choose not to read this story, to skip certain chapters, or to choose to read certain chapters when you’re feeling mentally and/or emotionally prepared.
Please keep yourself safe and I apologise if I’ve missed anything that negatively affects you. I want reading my stories to be enjoyable, however I do sometimes include some serious themes along with love and kissing and stuff.
If you know that you have triggers which are uncommon or I may not have anticipated please feel free to ask me so that I can add them to the content notes or give you spoilers to let you know whether or not something does or does not happen.
Some of these notes may include spoilers.
Themes
I will include more general notes first before a chapter breakdown which may include “spoilers” for the story. Detailed notes and chapter summaries are available for Chapters five and six.
Child Abuse
Some of the adult characters in this story were abused as children. Nobody who is a child during the story is abused. When people talk about it in the story it is always as something that happened in the past.
Chapter Breakdown
- One at a time; no notes apply
- Gillian vs Michelle; no notes apply
- Michael’s Brother; consensual sex which people regret
- Reminders; references to childhood emotional abuse and threats of violence (see detailed notes)
- The Woman; past physical abuse of children (see detailed notes)
- Moved; references to childhood emotional abuse and neglect
- Private Number; no notes apply
- Trip; no notes apply
- The Leap; no notes apply
Detailed Notes for Chapter Four
In the first part of this chapter (Alan Sebastian POV) someone tells a story about something that happened to them in the past where someone destroyed an item that they loved and threatened physical violence toward them.
In the second part of this chapter (Gillian POV) someone makes references to being sexually assaulted in the past. This paragraph honestly contains more details than the chapter itself.
I don’t expect that this will be so triggering that someone would need to skip this chapter entirely but if you feel that you need to… you may like to read the following summary.
Chapter Four Summary
Alan Sebastian POV: Alan Sebastian talks about how much he misses Scott and Mani, he brings a toy to Mani and Scott is stressed over whether it’s ‘okay’ for Mani to play with it… this is because he was verbally abused as a child for playing with “girly” toys and he doesn’t want Mani to be judged in the same way. Alan Sebastian points out that Scott is the only person judging Mani. Scott and Alan Sebastian are intimate but Alan Sebastian is the one to reject Scott in order to prevent himself being rejected again.
Gillian POV: Gillian talks about Michelle’s departure and compares it again, to her own youth. She reveals that the first time she ran away was from her family and a man who sexually assaulted her. She was sheltered by Nanny Bas for a time and then ran away again. She’s still afraid somehow that ‘he’ will find her but is unable to talk about what happened.
Detailed Notes for Chapter Five
This chapter contains references to physical assault of children which occurred prior to the events of the book. There are no graphic descriptions of the violence.
There isn’t any plot in this chapter so if you’d prefer to skip it you should still be able to understand and enjoy the rest of the book. The next paragraph will summarise the chapter.
Chapter Five Summary
In this chapter it is revealed that Gillian was physically violent toward her children in the past. She feels guilt and shame and does not expect or seek forgiveness. She is unable to reconcile her past self with her present self and fears that if she did understand ‘that woman’ she may become her again.