Then, when I was finally starting to pick up the pieces of my life, and get it back into somewhat of a working order, Mia was the one suddenly falling apart. Gone was the mousy girl who followed all of the rules, and always made me look like the problem child. She had been replaced by someone even worse than me, if that was possible.
My relationship with my mom had been somewhat repaired, as I continued to change, and my mom now saw me as the golden child. So, she felt that I could be the one to get the old Mia back, since I had made such a drastic change in my own life, which is how Mia ended up living with me and my two best friends. Go figure that one out.
“Hey, I have to get going.” Nash tucked his phone into the pocket of his shorts, and bent down, flicking a lone sock into my face.
“Ugh.” I hurled it back at him, which he easily dodged. “Mariah need something?” I tried to say it without any sarcasm in my voice what-so-ever, but it was pretty freaking hard. Mariah brought out the worst in me. I had a feeling she had trapped Nash on purpose, but for now, I was keeping my mouth shut. I didn’t want to lose Nash’s friendship by pissing him off. So, lips zipped.
“Yeah,” he smirked as he pulled out his keys, and twirled them on one finger, “never thought I’d see the day, but she’s craving a burger. That girl hates anything greasy, but little junior is pretty demanding.”
I rolled my eyes at the name Nash had donned his unborn baby with, even though I could totally picture a mini-Nash, and he would be the cutest thing ever. “Well, make sure to tell Mariah I said hi.” I gave him the sweetest smile I could muster this early in the morning, and collapsed back onto the throw pillow that I had fallen asleep on last night. I heard him snort loudly before opening and closing the front door.
Nash knew Mariah and I weren’t exactly besties, even though he wanted us to get along. I think he had glazed over any type of relationship that we had ended up having, which was fine with me. I knew he wasn’t ashamed of me or anything, it just made his life easier. Especially since Mariah knew he stayed over here occasionally. I told him to just to lie about where he stayed, but Nash being the guy that he is, didn’t want to. Things had been a little tense between the two of them, but eventually, Mariah had gotten over it…at least that’s what Nash said. He ended up dragging me to lunch with her one day, and she had been surprisingly friendly. Maybe pregnancy was a good thing for Mariah.
I heard the front door open up minutes later, and I popped my eyes open, expecting it to be Nash. Callie and Zoey had taken a road trip to Ohio for the weekend, and of course had invited me along, but I had just started back up at Shorty’s a little over a month ago. Brian was a pretty easy going boss, but I really didn’t want to take advantage of him.
I groaned when Mia skipped in, slamming the door hard enough behind herself, that it made the picture frames that lined the top of the entertainment stand rattle. “Oops.” Mia giggled, placing a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. Late night with Nash again?” Her brows pushed into her forehead as she gave me a pointed look.
Mia didn’t get that Nash and I were just friends. I had explained to her over and over again, that yes, girls really could be just friends with guys, but clearly, she wasn’t convinced. I guess I didn’t help my own case much since Nash and I had gone from being friends, to being a couple for an insanely short amount of time, back to being just friends again.
Whatever.
I shrugged one shoulder, sitting up to tuck my legs underneath me. “And where were you all night?” I asked, twirling a piece of my hair between my fingers. I needed to try to concentrate on that, so I didn’t go into full on bitch-mode with Mia.
“Oh you know.” She grinned slyly as she kicked off the stripper shoes she seemed to wear everywhere, and collapsed onto the other end of the couch. Luckily, she had enough common sense to pull down the hooker dress she was wearing, so I didn’t have the courtesy of seeing her hoo-ha. I’m sure it had been on full display enough recently anyway.
Ugh, quit being a hypocrite, Della. I had done my share of whoring around after the whole mess that had went down after the abortion. I still hated even thinking about that word, much less saying it, but everyday seemed to heal me just a little bit more. It wasn’t something that would just go away after time, it would be with me for the rest of my life.
Sex had seemed like something to fill the void, in whatever messed up way that sounded, until—well, I guess it all started when my mom had decided to ship me off to North Carolina. She couldn’t handle me any longer, which now that I think about it, I can see why. I could barely handle myself. In all reality, sending me away to be with my grandparents, and a fresh new start, was the best thing for me. Meeting new friends, my roommates, Zoey, and Callie, and even Justin, had all changed me for the better.
Acknowledgements
First of all, I want to thank the readers. Whether you’re a new reader, or have read all of my books, you are the most important part of this whole thing, and you’ll never truly understand how much you mean to us Indie writers.
When I first started writing over a year ago, I had no clue what I was doing. An editor? A formatter? A book cover designer? These were all foreign to me when it came to self-publishing. So, I’d like to think that my books have gotten better, while I’ve grown as an author, and found all of these wonderful resources along the way.
I want to thank my husband, who was the first person to encourage me, and didn’t tell me I was crazy when I decided that I wanted to start writing books. In each of my books, there’s always something in the male character that resembles my husband. Most of the time it’s his cocky attitude that I say gets on my nerves, but is really one of the things that I love most about him.
Then there’s my three little munchkins; Cole, Easton, and Bailey. I don’t know if I should really be thanking them since they tend to make working a little bit harder, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bailey, my youngest, was actually a bit of a writer’s block for me while I was working on One Simple Step. The story was there, but I just could not get the motivation until about a week after she was born, and finally, the words started flowing out.
And the rest of my family and friends. They have all been so supportive of this process, when, really, I was so nervous to tell them about it in the first place. What if my books were horrible? What if no one liked them? After a while, I realized that it didn’t matter, as long as I had my family behind me, then I would be just fine.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who’s helped me on this particular book. Katie Mac put together a wonderful crew, and without them, I probably wouldn’t even be finished! This is the first time I’ve used an actual beta group during the whole writing process, and those ladies helped me tremendously. I couldn’t wait to hear their response back to what I was working on, and their comments were overwhelming. So, a big thanks goes out to Julie Deaton, Tina Bell, Danielle Plane, and Stacia Newbill.
Also, a big thanks goes out to my editor, Lea Burn. I’m most definitely going to have a bumper sticker made just for you, WWLD. It’s like we were meant to work together. I’m really amazed at how a few words added here, and a few switched around there, make everything sound so much better. She is probably one of the most detail oriented people I have ever worked with and that is one of the most important type of people to have in this business. She is also probably editing the acknowledgments right at this very moment. Sorry, I didn’t want you have to edit this, too!
And of course I can’t forget Stephanie over at Steph’s Cover Design. I used her services for this book, and also for Twisted Bliss, and I have loved the results. The image that she used for this cover from MH Photography was simply stunning, and the cover model, Rainey Wilson was a perfect fit for the role of Ally.
Again, thanks for reading, and don’t forget to leave a review. Reviews help out authors tremendously, and spreading the word is really what helps us out.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Epilogue
Other Books
Sneak Peek
Acknowledgements
One Simple Step (Journey Series) Page 23
