Simple Beginnings Read online

  Simple Beginnings

  A novel

  Janelle Stalder

  SIMPLE BEGINNINGS

  Copyright 2015 Janelle Stalder

  Published 2015

  Amazon Edition

  Cover Design by Mae I Design and Photography

  Ebook Formatting by White Hot Formatting

  License Notes:

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please don’t participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is also available in print at most online retailers.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Other Titles

  Quote

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Epilogue

  Brush Strokes

  Next Books

  About the Author

  ALSO BY JANELLE STALDER

  EDEN SERIES

  EDEN

  (BOOK ONE)

  EDEN-WEST

  (BOOK TWO)

  EDEN-SOUTH

  (BOOK THREE)

  EDEN-EAST

  (BOOK FOUR)

  NEW WORLD SERIES

  SWITCH

  (BOOK ONE)

  MASKED

  (BOOK TWO)

  TESTED

  (BOOK THREE)

  STANDALONE

  BRUSH STROKES

  “Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.”

  Ann Landers

  One

  Ella

  Sunblock – check

  Shades – check

  Overly big and comfy towel – check

  Itsy bitsy, teenie-weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini – double check.

  Okay, it’s red, and it has stripes not polka-dots, but who really cares? I looked down at my bed and made sure everything I was going to need for a day at the lake was accounted for before stuffing it all in my extra-large beach bag. Slipping on my flip-flops, I headed downstairs where Mom was chopping up veggies for her lunch smoothie in the kitchen, letting the bag slam down on the tabletop. She jumped, her eyes wide when she looked over at me.

  “Good grief, Ella, can’t you ever do anything quietly?”

  Did I suddenly have a personality transplant? “No,” I answered. “I’m headed off to the lake with my friends. I should be home by dinner.”

  “Who’s going?”

  Ugh. Sometimes I wished my mother was more like my best friend’s mom, who was way older and way cooler – go figure. My mom was like the parental police. “Olivia,” I said in an obvious tone. Who else would I be with, if not my bestie? “Oh, and her boyfriend,” I added, since Olivia and Colt were hardly ever apart these days. Not that I minded. Colt Morgan was serious drool-worthy material. I had no issue watching him in all his half-naked glory all day. In a perfectly appreciative way, obviously. Not in an ‘I-want-him’ sort of way – because I didn’t. At. All.

  Olivia had been in love with Colt since we were ten and now that they were together I would kill anyone, including myself, who tried to break them up. They were perfect for each other.

  “I don’t know about that boy,” my mom said, going back to her chopping. I rolled my eyes, since her back was to me and she couldn’t give me crap for it. “The ladies down at the salon say he’s bad news.”

  “The ladies down at the salon also swear they saw a UFO hovering over the lake last summer,” I pointed out. “Then they insisted Ms. Parker had been abducted, when we all know she went out west to rehab. Can we not listen to everything they say please?”

  Mom chuckled under her breath. She knew I was right. Those ladies had more free time than was good for them, and the stories that came out of their mouths proved it.

  “Just be careful,” she said.

  I walked over behind her, resting my chin on her shoulder. “I always am,” I replied.

  She peeked down at me with a smile. “I know, that’s why I love you. I don’t have any grey hairs – yet.”

  I laughed, giving her cheek a quick peck. “And you never will, dearest mother, I’ll make sure of it!” I said loudly, walking back to the table and grabbing my bag. “If not I, surely the ladies at the salon will keep you blonde and beautiful for years to come!”

  I walked out, her “yeah, yeah” trailing behind me. As soon as my foot hit the front step of our porch, a rumbling engine had me looking down at the curb just in front of our house. Music blared from inside a pretty cool looking car that I knew had to be something old and expensive, but I knew absolutely zilch about cars.

  Rannon Hale sat in the front, dark shades covering his eyes that were turned in my direction. His bleached out hair, longer on the top and shaved shorter at the sides, was pushed away from his face, accentuating his amazing bone structure. I had to admit, the man was beautiful. I’d had the biggest crush on him for most of high school. But that was before.

  I didn’t know what was wrong with me, but it always happened that I’d like a boy right up until the point he started to show interest back, and then I’d instantly back away. I was beginning to think something was seriously wrong with me. I just couldn’t manage to like someone enough to want to actually be with him. Well …maybe once I had, but that was a long time ago and I didn’t like to think about him.

  Thankfully Rannon had accepted my behaviour and had just become a good friend. And now I could look at him all I wanted and not feel any pressure to flirt or act like I wanted him when really deep down I didn’t. Win for Ella.

  “Let’s move it, Page!” he yelled out the window.

  I winced, realizing I’d been standing there like an idiot for a ridiculous amount of time. My eyes flew over my shoulder to see if my mom was going to come out to investigate, but thankfully the front door stayed shut. Moving quickly, I practically ran across the la
wn and jumped in the front of the car like we were robbing a bank.

  “Drive!” I urged when he just sat there staring at me over the top of his sunglasses as though I was nuts.

  His eyes looked over my shoulder at my house, before looking back at me with an odd expression. “Does mommy not like boys picking up her sweet, innocent Ella?” he teased.

  I rolled my eyes, leaning forward to turn down the obscenely loud and obnoxious music. “Not all boys,” I said, “just boys with bleached out hair, tattoos, and piercings,” I added with a smirk.

  He chuckled. “Then your mom needs to spend some quality time with me,” he said, putting the car into first gear. “I’d change her mind real quick.”

  I snorted. “Doubtful.”

  We drove in silence toward Colt’s and Olivia’s street where they lived next door to each other. Rannon was one of the few people in my life I felt comfortable just being around, not having to fill every second with endless chatter. I couldn’t help but notice, however, that he was in a particularly good mood, practically bouncing out of his seat as he sang along to the song on the radio, his fingers drumming – off beat in my opinion – on the steering wheel.

  “What’s up with you?” I finally asked as he rounded the corner onto the other two’s street.

  “What do you mean?” he said with a smile.

  “You’re …happy.”

  He laughed. “I’m always happy,” he said.

  “Maybe, but you seem even happier than usual.” I sat up straighter. “Are you drunk?!”

  His face turned serious as he gave me an incredulous look. “Ella Page,” he said, in the exact same tone my mother used to scold me. “Do you honestly think I would get behind the wheel with you in the car if I was inebriated?”

  “First of all, no one says inebriated.”

  “My granddad does.”

  “Old people don’t count.”

  “That’s prejudice against old people.”

  “Secondly, how should I know if you would or wouldn’t? Boys always do stupid things.”

  He shook his head. “Ye of such little faith. Of course I haven’t been drinking,” he said, still shaking his head. “I’m not stupid.”

  I opened my mouth.

  “Shut it,” he said instantly, his finger in my face. “I’m not stupid. Especially not when it comes to my life, your life, or the life of my brother’s car. Which, if I crashed and happened to survive, I would be dead anyway once he got his hands on me.”

  “Ah ha,” I said as he pulled up at the curb in front of Colt’s house. “I knew it had nothing to do with me. You’re just concerned about the car.”

  His sunglasses slid lower on his nose as he looked at me over the tops again. “Sweet Ella, I would never do anything to hurt that fine little body of yours, trust me,” he said with a wink. I rolled my eyes at him just as my phone started to ring from somewhere in my purse.

  I heard Olivia and Colt approach the car and moved my seat forward so they could climb into the back as I peered at the name on my caller-ID. I switched the music off, ignoring Rannon’s protests, as I swiped the screen to answer.

  “Hey, Nan,” I said. No one ignored a call from my grandma. She was a notorious serial caller until you finally picked up, so it was better just to answer right away. I’d made that mistake before and had to hear a forty-five minute lecture from her about not fooling around with boys before I was married, despite my insistence that I had just been in the movie theater, and not making “whoopee”, as she liked to call it, like she assumed. She still to this day didn’t believe me.

  “Hi, Peach,” she greeted, her smooth voice like a calming balm washing over me. I loved my Nan more than anyone on this earth. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m just headed over to the lake with some friends,” I told her.

  “Are there boys there?”

  As though God were laughing cruelly down at me right then, both boys in the car broke out into a loud bout of laughter making it impossible for me to lie. Unless I just had really manly sounding girlfriends …Nah, she wouldn’t buy that.

  “Yes, Nan. Olivia’s boyfriend, Colt. Remember I told you about him? And one of his friends.”

  I could hear her cluck her tongue over the line. “You be careful now,” she warned. “You know how boys are.”

  “Uh huh,” I answered dryly. “So what’s up?”

  She sighed loudly, telling me whatever the reason she called, I wasn’t going to like it. She was silent a moment before saying, “I need a favour.”

  The gravel of the long driveway crunched under the tires as I drove up, the trees on either side canopying overhead. The redbrick farm house sat at the end, the large wraparound porch decorated with tons of flowers just like it always was during the summer. The farm never changed, it was one of the reasons I loved coming here so much.

  Nan’s home was only a couple hours away from Bloomfield, but I swore it often felt like a whole world away. Before we’d moved to our current house when I was in grade four, we had lived here with Nan, so the farm had always felt like home to me. Dad had been in between job after job after job, and Nan had been nice enough to let us live with her, so long as we helped out. I’d grown up working on this farm, so spending my summer here shouldn’t have been such a big deal.

  Except …it sort of was. This was my last summer before college, and I had been all set to spend it doing leisurely things with my friends. None of my plans had included working my butt off helping Nan out up here. Unfortunately she’d twisted her ankle chasing after a loose chicken, and was having a hard time keeping up with everything. Stupid chicken.

  It wasn’t like I could say no either. I mean, it’s my Nan. Who can say no to Nan? It was physically impossible. So here I was, driving up to her house, prepared to spend the rest of my free time before school started shovelling out the barn, and tending to the crops she had growing out in the field.

  Suddenly Uptown Funk filled the car as my new ringtone sounded out. I took a second to appreciate the tune before answering. “Hey, Ollie,” I greeted.

  “Have you arrived alive?” Olivia asked instantly.

  “Yes, mom,” I said dryly. “Despite the general consensus over there, I can drive you know.”

  “Debatable,” she murmured. “How was the drive?”

  “Fine,” I lied. It was boring as heck. Someone with as much energy as me didn’t do well in a car alone for two hours, but I’d managed not to go completely insane so I figured that was a success.

  “Colt and I were thinking of coming up in a couple of weekends to visit so you’re not too bored,” she said.

  “And that, my Olive bear, is why I love you so much. I’m going to need the break.”

  She laughed. “I knew you would. Everyone loves Nan, but even you’re going to need to get away from her for a night.”

  “Just make sure you don’t bring Rannon,” I said quickly.

  “Why not?”

  “Well, for one I don’t need my Nan getting on my case about boys and premarital sex again for like – the rest of eternity. And for another, I need a general break from him and all his flirting. I think I need a guy break in general.”

  “You’re always on a guy break,” she pointed out.

  “That’s not true,” I argued. “I’m the boy expert, remember? I’m all about them boys.”

  “Uh huh. You know, for some expert, you tend to stay away from them an awful lot.”

  “Yeah well, maybe I’m just waiting for the perfect one to come along.”

  She laughed. “Good luck with that.”

  “You managed,” I pointed out.

  “That’s true,” she agreed. I could hear the loved-up grin on her face. I really wanted to begrudge her for it, but I was happy she was happy so I couldn’t muster it up.

  The weather vane at the top of the barn turned slowly in the afternoon breeze as I turned at the end of the drive to park in my usual spot. I slammed on my breaks just in time.

&n
bsp; “What the f –” I pushed the hairs that had fallen forward off my face to stare at the monstrosity before me.

  “What’s the matter?” Olivia said, her voice concerned. “Ella? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I assured her. “I’m fine. I’ll give you a shout later, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure. Tell Nan I say hi.”

  “Will do.” I hung up, no longer paying attention to my phone as I threw it down on the passenger seat, my eyes never leaving the vehicle parked in my spot. I looked around to see if someone was about, but everything looked empty. I looked back through the front of the windshield.

  A large pick-up truck sat in my spot. Not the fancy kind either that I was used to seeing in the parking lot at school. No, this was the kind where you knew the person who drove it actually needed a truck for work, not just for show. This thing was big and mean looking, and from all the rust on it, I’d guess it wasn’t brand new. It was the type of truck that looked like whoever drove it was a man’s man. Who did Nan know that drove a truck like this?

  Grumbling, I cranked my wheel and maneuvered my small Yaris beside it, feeling completely dwarfed by the hulking metal beast. My eyes looked up through the window, catching on something that hung off the rear-view mirror. Shit.

  Shit, shit, shitty shit. Heart stopping, breath locking in my throat, I stared at the colourful woven friendship bracelet hanging there like it was my own worst nightmare come to life – because it was. There was no doubt in my mind the mechanical beast belonged to none other than the boy who used to be my best friend in the entire world, Gage Hunter – used to be, being the operative words.

  I couldn’t help but think back to the last time I’d seen him. It had been four years ago when we’d been in ninth grade. I’d come to Nan’s for the weekend and had gone with an old girlfriend, Jaiden, to a party at the Wenton’s house, a family that lived not far from Nan.