Counting Flowers

At seventeen, Natalie Hewitt has her future mapped out. Graduate top of her class, get into an Ivy League School and along the way be a top athlete, the perfect daughter, and nice to everyone. It’s not easy living up to the pressure she puts on herself. Sometimes she feels overwhelmed with anxiety. So she has her quirks, like counting the flowers on her wall, to help her focus, help her get calm.

Lately, it’s taking so much effort—and more counting—to meet those expectations. Nothing is the way it used to be. Her best friend is drifting away. Her brother is in trouble again. And her boyfriend Phillip is convinced there’s something going on between her and Owen Radlowski.

That’s so not true. Owen is just a guy she tutors. A friend. Nothing more. And yet…she can’t stop thinking about him. He gets her—even the counting—and doesn’t ask for too much from her. Still, Owen is not Philip, which makes him the wrong guy for her. He has no place in her future plans.

 As her carefully arranged life unravels, her quirks don’t work the way they should, and Natalie has to face what is real. And learn to accept it might not be what she thinks it should be.