Five Hundred Miles From Friona (eBook)

Kellye Hefner (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
376 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-7089-0 (ISBN)

Infos

A young couple's first love gets tested through time.

Always creative, Kellye pursued an art major in college with aspirations of becoming an art teacher, firmly believing that artists don't need to know algebra to excel in teaching. However, life took an unexpected turn, leading her to a rewarding career as an escrow officer in the real estate industry. She humorously notes that years of dealing with people and their money have provided enough crazy stories to fill volumes. Despite this, her true passion, as a hopeless romantic, lies in crafting compelling love stories. This passion blossomed with the completion of her first two romance novels, though they are yet to be published. Her greatest joy comes from her husband, Mike, whom she met during their senior year of high school, and their family. Since their first road trip together as teenagers, Kellye and Mike have set a goal to visit all 430 national parks. They combine her love for writing with their shared enthusiasm for travel and photography, documented in their blog, One for the Money Two for the Road (oneforthemoneytwofortheroad.com). When she's not writing, Kellye enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and planning the next national park road trip.

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High school seniors Brandon and Leanne both receive scholarships to the same university. A romantic spark in middle school, now rekindles in their senior year. Brandon aims to become a veterinarian. While, equally brilliant, Leanne plans a career in accounting. As they settle into college life, their relationship deepens emotionally and physically, leading to discussions of future marriage and children. However, a devastating accident during a weekend trip threatens to shatter their dreams. With the help of an unexpected angel, they find a glimmer of hope, but the lingering effects of the accident force them to make life-altering decisions that will change their lives forever. A stand-alone novel, "e;Five Hundred Miles from Friona"e; is the first book in Kellye Hefner's "e;Friona Series."e;

Textauszug

Chapter One

Leanne

Thursdays aren’t really my favorite. My boyfriend, Brandon, is the student body president; he has a student council meeting every Thursday morning. Not that I have anything against the student council, I just don’t like having to wait until after first period to talk to him. I know he’ll be leaning against my locker before second period, dressed in his Thursday Wranglers, starched shirt, and boots. Most days he wears shorts and polo shirts, but for some reason he dresses nicer when he’s ruling the school. As I head toward my English class, I decide that maybe Thursdays aren’t so bad after all. I really like it when he’s dressed nicely and has that “I’m in charge” thing going on.

I know boys aren’t pretty, but Brandon Kirk, he’s, well, pretty gorgeous. There’s no other way to describe him. He’s thirteen inches taller than I am and outweighs me by about ninety pounds. His curly, dark hair skims his collar and is always kind of messy, but I like to tangle my fingers into those soft curls when we kiss. No, wait. I love to weave my fingers through his hair and stare into his crystal blue eyes when we kiss. I think he likes it too. He has to bend down to kiss me so it’s easy for me to reach his hair. He’s all hard muscles and manly and perfect. Brandon’s the only boy I’ve ever loved.

The first time I noticed him was when he pushed me down on the playground in third grade. Back then, he was just another icky nine-year-old boy with a terminal case of cooties. When I got up and dusted off my jeans (and my pride), I punched him in the stomach. My teacher sent me to time-out, but I think Brandon got the message. He never pushed me down again. Okay, so he never talked to me again either, at least not until junior high.

The first time I fell in love with him was in seventh grade when he asked if he could sit next to me in the cafeteria at lunch. He called me after school that day and asked if I would “go out” with him. We went out for about nine days before I wrote him a note to say I was breaking up with him. I really did like him: I only broke up with him because I saw him talking to Melissa Donaldson, and I didn’t want him to break up with me first. Somehow we stayed friends. It’s kind of hard not to when you’re from a small town. Here in Friona, Texas, you do your best to get along because everybody knows everybody and all their business.

Last October, a bunch of us were at the Dairy Queen after a football game, and I heard someone congratulate Brandon on his full-ride scholarship to Texas A&M. Brooke Landry, who is on the cheerleading squad with me, yelled across the restaurant, “Hey, Brandon, Leanne got a scholarship to A&M too.” Brandon walked over to me with a panty-melting smile, and we congratulated each other. After that, we started hanging out all the time. Then, when our best friends started dating each other a week later, Brandon and I followed their lead. Now I’m madly in love and can’t imagine going to college without him.

“Leelee!” That would be my best friend, Rachel, who’s hollering my name from somewhere behind me. She and my parents are the only ones in the world who are allowed to call me by my nickname. Even Brandon knows better than to call me Leelee. I plan to double-major in accounting and business in college and I want the business world to know me as Leanne Young. Make that Ms. Leanne Young. Or better yet, just Ms. Young. Some people might say that I’m a bit ambitious, which is a complete understatement. I’m very ambitious, not to mention bossy. I may be five foot one and weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet in a pair of jeans, but I’m going to make my mark.

Evidently Rachel requires my immediate attention, so my daydreams get put on hold. I turn around to see her running down the hall toward me; as she runs, her mane of shiny, jet-black hair is in full swing behind her. I can’t help but shake my head as I watch her try to stuff papers into her notebook without dropping the other books she’s carrying. Rachel McKee has to be the most disorganized person in West Texas, but that’s just one of the many reasons I love her so much. She loves me too; I’m the sister she never had and she’s the sibling I never had.

A few feet away, Mrs. Ballenger, the sophomore English teacher, snaps her fingers and tells Rachel to stop running in the hall. Rachel scowls and slows down to a fast trot. As she approaches me, her scowl turns into a smile. “Leelee, guess what?” she says, slightly out of breath.

“What?”

“Jake told me that he wants to have a serious talk about our future.”

“That’s awesome, Rach.” I figured that was coming. Jake Wolcott is Rachel’s boyfriend as well as Brandon’s lifelong best friend. Brandon told me a few days ago that Jake was worried about having to be apart from Rachel during college. “Hey, I was gonna ask you, do you want to go to Amarillo on Saturday to shop for something to wear to the graduation party?”

“Hells yeah; girls gone wild road trip!” She fist-pumps the air. As soon as her arm goes up, her books go flying. Papers scatter around the hall and it instantly looks like a tornado ripped through the school, backed out, then came roaring back in.

I squat down to help her pick up the mess. “An hour’s drive isn’t exactly a road trip, but I’ll take that as a yes. And we’re not going wild.” I hand her a stack of notebook paper along with her U.S. Government book.

She thanks me with a grateful smile. “I’m getting something really hot to wear. I want Jake to like what he sees.”

“He already likes what he sees, Rach.” As we start to make our way to our first period classes, I playfully bump into her side. “You’re the prettiest girl in the school,” I say. It’s the truth too.

She bumps me back and juggles her books again but luckily doesn’t drop them. “No, Leelee, you’re the prettiest and the smartest and the coolest. Girl, you’re the shit.”

That was an honest to God Rachel Ann McKee compliment of the highest order, but I have to laugh at her choice of words. Rachel’s tendency to cuss a lot isn’t anything we hold against her. She’s heard everyone around her use that kind of language her entire life; she has three older brothers and is always around the cowboys who work on her family’s ranch, the Rocking M Key. Rachel could hold her own in a cussing contest against a shipload of sailors on any given day.

Her mama’s the same way. Angela is the boss-lady of her domain. She tells those men, horses, cows and everyone else what to do and damned if they don’t do what she says. Angela McKee is my idol. I’ve always admired her self-confidence and her ability to take charge. I want to be just like her.

“Well, thanks,” I tell her. We’re in front of my English class now, and I wave to Rachel as she continues down the hall. “See you at lunch,” I call after her, and with that I walk into my classroom, hoping the next hour goes by fast.

•••

Rounding the corner after first period, I see him. Brandon is leaning against my locker, and as soon as he sees me, his smile brightens my entire day, month, century. His free arm is around my shoulders the second I get close enough, tucking me up next to him, and he plants a kiss on the top of my head. “Hey, little girl.”

Oh, he smells as good as he looks. It’s partly his cologne: a combination of leather and woodsy scents with a big dose of Brandon Kirk mixed in. He doesn’t wear too much, but it’s enough that I want to bury my nose in his shirt and breathe him in. I don’t though; he’d think I’d lost my mind.

“Hey,” I reply, smiling up at him. “How’s your morning?”

“It’s good. That was my last student council meeting. I turned everything over to Andrea since she’ll be president next year. She ran the meeting today.” His eyes shift downward as he scuffs the toe of his boot against the linoleum floor. “Have you been thinking about the party?”

Ten of us are planning an all-night graduation party in Amarillo. It’s only seventy miles away, but to us it’s a big deal to get out of our little town, out from under the watchful eyes of our parents, to have some fun. My parents know about the party, but I haven’t told them that we’re planning to stay out all night. My dad will probably have a nuclear meltdown when he finds out, and that is exactly why I haven’t told them yet. I’ll get my mom to break the news to him as soon as I scrape together enough nerve to tell her.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it a lot, but I don’t know if my parents will let me stay out all night.”

“It’s a graduation party, Leanne.”

“It’s still, like, ten days away. I’ll talk to them, but I have to go; the bell’s about to ring.”

Brandon gives me a little side hug before we head off to our classes. I linger in the hall to watch him go in the opposite direction, and my stomach does this weird scrunchy thing like a double back hand-spring. All of a sudden, I’m chilled and hot at the same time. Dang, his butt looks good in those Wrangler’s. This is still new for me, but I wouldn’t trade these feelings for any amount of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.10.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-7089-0 / 9798350970890