New Year, New You Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue ................................................................................1

  One........................................................................................3

  Two......................................................................................11

  Three ...................................................................................19

  Four .....................................................................................24

  Five ......................................................................................29

  Six ........................................................................................32

  Seven...................................................................................36

  Eight ....................................................................................43

  Nine .....................................................................................46

  Ten.......................................................................................52

  Eleven..................................................................................60

  Twelve .................................................................................65

  Thirteen...............................................................................71

  Fourteen..............................................................................76

  Fifteen .................................................................................82

  Sixteen.................................................................................89

  Seventeen............................................................................93

  Eighteen ............................................................................101

  Nineteen............................................................................108

  Twenty...............................................................................113

  Twenty-One.......................................................................122

  Twenty-Two.......................................................................127

  Twenty-Three ....................................................................134

  Twenty-Four ......................................................................140

  Twenty-Five.......................................................................146

  Twenty-Six.........................................................................155

  Epilogue.............................................................................162

  Prologue

  Epilogue

  New Year,

  New You

  A Novella

  Tarrah Anders

  Tarrah Anders

  S a n D i e g o , C A

  C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 1 7 b y T a r r a h A n d e r s All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below.

  Tarrah Anders

  [email protected]

  www.tarrahanders.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout ©2016 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Ordering Information:

  New Year, New You | Tarrah Anders. -- 1st Ed.

  ISBN 13 – 978-0-9981317-4-0

  Contents

  Prologue ................................................................................1

  One........................................................................................3

  Two......................................................................................11

  Three ...................................................................................19

  Four .....................................................................................24

  Five ......................................................................................29

  Six ........................................................................................32

  Seven...................................................................................36

  Eight ....................................................................................43

  Nine .....................................................................................46

  Ten.......................................................................................52

  Eleven..................................................................................60

  Twelve .................................................................................65

  Thirteen...............................................................................71

  Fourteen..............................................................................76

  Fifteen .................................................................................82

  Sixteen.................................................................................89

  Seventeen............................................................................93

  Eighteen ............................................................................101

  Nineteen............................................................................108

  Twenty...............................................................................113

  Twenty-One.......................................................................122

  Twenty-Two.......................................................................127

  Twenty-Three ....................................................................134

  Twenty-Four ......................................................................140

  Twenty-Five.......................................................................146

  Twenty-Six.........................................................................155

  Epilogue.............................................................................162

  This story is dedicated to those who have had tragedy hit their lives, to those who helped heal us

  and

  Helped glue the pieces back together.

  You are our Guardian Angels.

  XX

  Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, Persists.

  ―Eckhart Tolle

  P R O L O U G E

  Prologue

  I sit with my client as we discuss his upcoming goals

  and his soon to be new want list when it comes to his future of living in housing. My client explains his wants, and needs and we look at his file together to collectively come up with a plan. We’ve been sitting at the table in my office for over an hour, when my cell phone on my desk goes off. I excuse

  myself from my client and retrieve my phone, noticing it’s not a local phone number, I silence the ringer and then put the phone back down.
<
br />   I return back to my client and apologize for the

  interruption and we retrace our steps back a few and then

  restart. My phone vibrates on my desk a moment later and

  then stops. I get up again and pick up the phone, I look at the screen, another number that I don’t recognize and I put it back down.

  My phone vibrates several times over the next thirty minutes. While I’m finishing up with my client, my desk

  phone rings and I excuse myself quickly with an apology.

  I answer the phone and listen to the caller, my

  roommate inform me of the reasoning that my phone has

  been going off for the past several minutes. Her words

  started out sharp, but as she continued on they became

  muffled. I’m unsure if I said anything, or if it was her or I that ended the call. But as I turn to my client, with tears brimming eyes, I calmly shake his hand, tell him that we will need to continue our appointment at another time and see

  him out of the office. I open my email and send off a quick email to my boss and to the human resources department,

  gather my belongings and leave the office.

  I’m going through the motions, however I’m not

  sure how. Call it automatic, call it survival, but I’m leaving work and driving to my childhood home, where no one will

  be.

  C H A P T E R

  One

  They say that it takes a village to raise a child, well

  they weren't freaking kidding! I sat on a bench at the local park on McAllister Drive with a fierce eye on the speedy

  little five year old darting from structure to structure, hiding behind posts and jumping out at other children to scare them and disappearing within the tube slide only to make my heart beat faster. You need at least five people with you at the playground for all these blind spots!

  I'm not cut out for this! I think to myself shaking my head. Now I understand why my parents had a glass of wine

  every night.

  Thankfully, I'm only babysitting, but the thing is –

  I'm babysitting my neighbor’s daughter and my neighbor has become a close friend who I wouldn't want to let down, and especially not lose her child.

  There was a crisp chill in the air, which was normal

  for November in San Diego, and while the sun was in the

  sky, I was wishing that it was summertime again and I was wearing shorts and flip flops. The only good thing about this time of the year was the holidays and the end of the year is my most favorite. New Year’s is always a time for renewal

  and potential change.

  Finally, when it is lunch time and I gather Stella, my

  charge, the speedy five year old and we walk back home.

  She's skipping excitedly and I feel like she's dragging me. I promised her earlier a grilled cheese sandwich and now

  that’s all she can talk about. That’s another thing with kids, you tell them one thing just one time and they perseverate on that tidbit forever!

  We live in a fairly nice family neighborhood, many

  homes that all look like they belong in a 1950's TV sitcom, except the houses aren't painted a god awful color and the tones are more...muted. My home is a single story home,

  whereas my neighbor’s house is a two story home just built perfectly for entertaining. I unlock the front door and we remove our boots and jackets in the mudroom. Stella flees

  and flops down on the giant sectional couch in the living

  room with the remote.

  "I'll just be a bit, lunch soon, okay kiddo?" I ask ruffling her hair as I pass.

  "Yessum." Stella says changing the channels and

  getting comfortable.

  I've been spending a lot more time over here since I

  moved back to San Diego, not wanting to be by myself and

  finding the comfort of others rather than being by myself and droning on how I'm all alone. One would say that I'm

  avoiding my feelings and what happened, but I would

  consider it as making due with what was handed to me. I'm a

  twenty-five year old, single adult female... hear me roar! Or something along those lines.

  "Nessa! Can I has soup with the sandwich, like you

  said it goes wif?" Stella shouts from the other room.

  "You got it Bean!" I say back to her having adopted the family nickname that her parents tend to call her.

  I busy myself at the stove while keeping an ear out

  for anything harmful happening in the next room. I plate our sandwiches and soup and bring them out to the dining table.

  This will be a teaching moment, Stella's never had the

  pleasure of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, so

  I'm hoping that she will love it as much as I do, so we can bond over this moment and perhaps make this our thing,

  especially if I continue watching her until I get myself fully settled.

  Like I had hoped, Stella loved the meal. And like I

  had hoped, she says that it is what she wants whenever I

  babysit her.

  Score one for Vanessa!

  Later that day, Stella and I are snuggled together on

  the couch as Mindy, her mother, my neighbor and currently

  only friend comes home. Mindy is an interior designer, and her husband Dave is a pediatrician.

  Mindy is gorgeous with medium golden brown hair,

  that is just too dark to be blonde. She has bright green eyes and freckles dotting her cheeks and nose. She looks like the girl next door, which is funny because to me she is.

  However, there is something wild about her.

  Mindy sits beside Stella as she recaps our day together, Mindy's smile shows that she's pleased that we're getting along as she loving looks at her daughter.

  "It's almost dinnertime, would you like to stay?"

  Mindy asks me.

  "Oh no, I've got laundry to do next door and I really should go through things and maybe unpack." I say thinking to how I’m getting tired of going to my suitcase for the past several weeks. I just can’t bring myself to unpack my

  belongings, even though I have no intention of going

  anywhere.

  "So then, you'll be staying?"

  "Yeah, I'm thinking so. I mean, it's not every day

  where you don't have to pay for the astronomical rents that they charge everywhere for a house. I got lucky there." I say, trying to be as uplifting as one possibly can in my situation, adding a forced smile for effect.

  "I get so worried about you being in that big house

  all by yourself." She shakes her head. Mindy is only three years older than me, but she's wise beyond her years.

  "I may rent out some rooms down the road, but for

  now, I'm good. I have you guys right next door."

  "Any luck finding a job?"

  "I interviewed downtown at one of the homeless

  providers the other day, I'm just waiting to hear back."

  "My fingers are crossed, toes and eyes too! But if

  you need the money, we can totally pay you for watching

  Stella." She offers.

  “That’s not necessary, it’s like hanging out most of

  the time. That kid is cake. She probably babysits me more

  than I babysit her.” I joke as I head out the door.

  We part for the night and soon I'm alone in my

  home. I go from room to room and turn on all the lights to make it feel, not so quiet and lonely. All that usually does though, is remind me that I am alone and that this hasn't been my home since I moved away for college. I never thought

  that I would come back to live in this house and I certainly never thought that I would be living it in alone so soon.

  I shake my head to dislodge the sad thoughts and

  gather my laundry bin and take it to the garage. I roam

  through the
house and finally settle in the living room

  flipping through channels. I got through another day, I can do this.

  I was woken by my cell phone screeching from the

  other room. It sounded like a dying animal, which would

  indicate that the call was from my friend Sydney. I rolled out of bed and grabbed my phone from the kitchen counter.

  "Why on earth are you calling me at...seven in the

  morning on Saturday? You're usually too hungover to

  remember anything."

  "I haven't gone to sleep yet. I realize that I hadn't talked to you in a few weeks, so I wanted to do a quick shout out as I was thinking about you." She slurs.

  "Thanks Syd. What's new?" I ask sitting down on the kitchen stool knowing she rather do the talking than

  listening.

  We were roommates in college and at one point were as close as to people could be. Hell, we shared a tiny dorm, then an apartment that didn't seem much bigger with a previous fling of mine. Having all this space now, seemed

  like such a waste when I was so used to living on top of

  another person.

  "Oh you know, the same old. Jane and Max are

  broken up again, Charlie is still thinking that he's the hottest piece of ass on the planet, and I may or may not have made out with him last night." She quickly says the final part.

  "Oh Syd. Why don't you just fess up that you like

  him?"

  "Because he's a hooker who isn't the settling down

  type."

  "Neither are you!"

  "Good point. Besides, he's got a bunch of groupies

  who trail him everywhere, I don’t need to be added to that."

  "You know you would be his number one groupie

  though, he's always had a soft spot for you."

  "There's no soft spot on his body." She giggles.

  "Gross. Gross. Gross. I do not need to hear that.

  Just.. Gross!" I laugh.

  "I aim to please." I can tell she is smiling proudly.

  "Not this early in the morning. What else is new?"

  "Nothing. I miss you. But-." Yawn. "I'm sleepy now.

  I miss you Ness."

  "I miss you too Syd. Get some sleep, sober up."

  "Night."

  "Morning."

  I guess I can start my day now, thanks to the early