title: Testing Temptation
author: Novak, Maxene
description: Are we ever really free from the consequences of our pasts? This is the question that Belle, Colt, and Ruger are faced with. With the future of their relationship at stake, each of them has a part to play in resolving the histories which brought them together in the first place. Belle has started school, and is plagued with anxiety. Her obsession about returning to an environment which she hated as a child is compounded when she realizes that the instructor used to date Colt. Belle isn’t usually the jealous type, but the instructor seems to still be holding a torch for Colt, and is determined to do everything in her power to undermine Belle’s confidence in their relationship. Belle begins to obsess about her relationship with Colt, and nearly loses everything in the process. Ruger’s parents have decided to move to Florida. Once they’re gone, Ruger is left to face an uncomfortable reality: he has nothing in his life outside of his relationship with Belle and Colt. With Belle’s obsession with Colt’s past reaching a fever pitch, Ruger feels that he’s outside the relationship looking in, with nothing to hold onto. When he misinterprets a moment between Belle and Colt, something snaps inside him. He leaves a cryptic note and disappears on an impromptu road trip, hoping to find himself outside the town limits, inadvertently forcing Colt to relive the worst year of his life. When the dust settles, will the trio survive? Or is history doomed to repeat?