title: Notes to Self
author:  Avery Sawyer 
description: Under the pen name Avery Sawyer, Laura Schaefer is the author of Notes to Self, a young adult novel about a teen with a traumatic brain injury. Schaefer is also the author of The Teashop Girls (Simon &amp; Schuster 2009), The Secret Ingredient (Simon &amp; Schuster 2011), and Planet Explorers Travel Guides for Kids. Learn more about her by visiting http://www.teashopgirls.com and http://www.planet-explorers.net. Laura is also on Twitter: @teashopgirl
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  ## DEDICATION
  
  
  This book is dedicated to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For without His
  grace I would have no purpose. My King and Strong Tower, I have loved nothing
  more than I have loved You. It’s because of Your cross that I know what love
  really looks like.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Chapter One
  
  Avery Sanders vowed to never love a man like him.
  
  
  He wore tan and brown fatigues with an embroidered patch that read Callahan. A
  hometown hero, he earned her deepest respect. But she couldn’t see past a man
  whose life was no longer than the barrel of his gun. Pity the young woman
  sitting across the table from him and the babe she cradled in her arms.
  
  
  “Avery?” Carol Ellert, Avery’s younger sister, stood on the other side of the
  pastry counter.
  
  
  Avery slipped back into work mode and grabbed a porcelain cup half-filled with
  espresso. “What?”
  
  
  “Are you listening to me?”
  
  
  “Sure.” She tucked a strand of dark-brown hair behind her ear and poured foam
  