The Lives We Build

Dr. M. David Ruiz is set to revolutionize chemistry. As the youngest tenured professor at his university, all people see when they look at him is possibility.Everyone except his best friend and colleague Jamison. On Ruiz's 26th birthday, Jamison drags him to an off campus bar where Ruiz hears the laughter that will change his life forever.Deri Owens is an MFA graduate student living paycheck to paycheck like most teaching assistants, but no matter how busy she is, she always makes time to go to open mic night at her favorite off campus bar. There she plays her parents' favorite classic rock songs on a community guitar. And the night she meets the feared M. David Ruiz, PhD, she suspects her life might change forever. Together they learn how to navigate love, inter-departmental politics, marriage, children, and crushing professional expectations as they work not only to build a life together, but to hold on to that life no matter the cost. Because loving through chaos is always worth the effort.