Chapter 1

“Mommy,” a four-year-old whined from beside her mother, as they walked down the sidewalk of a busy street. “When we goin’ to be home?” Rush hour traffic flooded the streets, filling the air around them with the droning sound of cars.

“Soon honey, soon,” the stressed young woman responded as she shifted the grocery bags in her arms so she could pick up her daughter.

“Can we go to the park?” the child questioned when she saw the large trees growing out of the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

“Maybe tomorrow,” the young woman said. “Lulu has been at home all day. She probably misses you.” She spoke of their golden retriever, hoping to bring her daughter’s mind to another subject and a reason to stay home.

“Lulu!” the girl exclaimed excitedly, now jumping up and down. The woman let out a sigh, only another block to their small apartment.

“There it is!” the little girl cried joyfully as she yanked her small hand out of her mother’s and took off toward the busy street.

“Ella no!” the woman cried dropping the grocery bags to go after her daughter. She started after the little girl. The three-year-old was inches from the street when someone picked her up.

The woman straightened to find a tall young man holding her daughter. For a second, fear leaped up into her throat, until the man held the girl out to her. Grateful, the woman took her daughter and hugged her close. “Ella, you don’t do that okay?” she whispered softly into her daughter’s red-blond curls. “You don’t run across streets,” her tone was soft and filled with the silent fear of losing her only daughter. Slowly the woman looked up at the man who had saved her daughter. “Thank you,” she said gratitude dripping from her light brown eyes.

“It wasn’t a problem.” The man spoke with a small smile on his handsome face.

“Who are you?” Ella asked the man, from her mother’s arms, almost before he could finish his sentence. The man smiled at her kindly, revealing a row of straight, white teeth.

“I’m Seth, what’s your name?” the man said, glancing up at the woman to make sure he wasn’t crossing any invisible line.

“Ella, she’s my mommy,” Ella spoke as if she had known the man for several years. The man glanced back up at the woman and smiled. The woman returned a friendly smile.

“I’m Carrie Andrews,” the woman stuck out her hand towards him.

“Seth Hale,” he shook her hand, glancing behind Carrie to see the grocery bags on the ground. “Here, let me help you with this,” Seth moved around Carrie and quickly picked up the bags of groceries.

“I can get it you don’t need to,” Carrie protested as she watched him.

“It’s fine, I didn’t have anywhere to be,” Seth said as he stood up. She sighed before continuing down the street to the crosswalk.

“Come on then,” she watched him over her shoulder.

“Mommy, is he staying for dinner?” Ella whispered into her mom’s ear. A smile broke across Carrie’s lips as she glanced over at Seth.

“I don’t know honey,” she responded before kissing Ella’s cheek.

The three crossed the street and walked up the eroding stone steps to the door of the apartment. Carrie set Ella down beside her and pulled her keys out of her pocket before unlocking the door. Immediately, Ella shot inside and went straight to the golden retriever on the couch. She shook her head at Ella before turning to Seth. “I can take these,” she took the groceries out of his arms and just stood there for a second, a contemplative look on her face. “You wanna come in?” Carrie asked.

“Sure.” Seth followed her into the house, and scanned the pictures on the wall. Most of the pictures on the walls were of Ella and art that the four-year-old had done, but in the corner, a high school diploma was framed. An unframed picture of five girls, all dressed in forest green robes, sat beside the diploma on the wall. Carrie continued on to the small kitchen and put away the groceries. When she was done, she came back into the family room to find Seth looking at her graduation picture.

“They’re some of my old friends,” Carrie explained, when she noticed the question in his eyes. “Well, the ones that stuck around.”

“It was taken recently,” Seth noted.

“Yeah, last spring,” Carrie said as she glanced over at the golden retriever before looking back at Seth. “So, do you wanna stay for dinner?” She asked, her light brown eyes welcoming.

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Seth said courteously.

“Please?” Ella said from the couch, where she sat with Lulu. Seth glanced over at the girl before looking back at Carrie.

“Are you sure it wouldn’t be a problem?” Seth asked.

“No problem at all. Ella won’t eat much other then macaroni, anyway,” Carrie explained.

“I was the same way,” Seth said smiling a he looked back on his childhood.

“Yeah?” Carrie questioned, an amused smile on her lips.

“My mom finally just quit buying it,” Seth laughed.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Carrie joked, “Hey, you wouldn’t mind helping Ella take Lulu out would you? The guy across the street’s a creeper and I kinda need to change.”

“Sure,” Seth said, looking her over and realizing that she was wearing a waitress’s outfit.

“Thanks, Ella knows where to take her,” Carrie said as her daughter hopped off the couch and ran to get the dog leash off the wall. The golden dog ran after the little girl, her ears forward. Carrie turned back to Seth. “Seriously, you’re a life saver,” Carrie said, the teenager that she still was shining through her façade for a moment.

“It’s not a problem,” Seth said before following Ella and the dog out of the apartment. Carrie watched them go before she turned and went into her room. She came out a few minutes later in a pair of faded jeans and a black t-shirt and went straight to the kitchen. With all intention of taking a quick glance before starting the macaroni and cheese, Carrie turned toward the window. Almost mesmerized, Carrie found herself watching the cloudy eyed stranger as he helped Ella hold onto Lulu’s leash. The bright smile on Ella’s face was evident even from where Carrie stood.

After a few more seconds, Carrie turned away from the window and began to dig around in a drawer for a pan to fill with water.

“Mommy, Mommy, looky what Sethie can do!” Ella called with glee as she ran back into the house. The child ran through the rooms of the house searching for Carrie.

“I’m in the kitchen, Elle,” Carrie called, smiling, when she heard her daughter running around looking for her.

“Mommy, Mommy, look!” Ella shrieked happily, jumping up and down. Carrie turned around to find Seth following Ella into the kitchen. She glanced from Ella up to Seth. When they made eye contact, Seth crossed his eyes, pulling a funny face. Ella laughed and clapped excited.

“Very cool,” Carrie said to appease Elle, a smile on her face as she sent Seth a knowing look. After a moment she turned back to her daughter. “Now, go wash your hands, the mac’n cheese is almost done.

“Yes, Mommy,” Elle chirped before dancing out of the kitchen. Silently Carrie turned back to the stove and ripped open the cheese packet before stirring it into the noodles.

“Is there anything I could do to help?” Seth asked from where he stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen.

“Uh…” Carrie said, turning back around to face him. She had forgotten he was still there. Quickly, Carrie scanned the room. “Uh…”

“How about I save the food?” Seth said, stepping around Carrie. A confused look came across her face as she tried to understand what he was talking about. She had followed the directions on the box, what could there possibly be to save?

Slowly, she turned around, to see that Seth had moved the pan off the burner and was gingerly stirring it. After a second, the smell of burning noodles met her nose. “Oh!”

Seth looked over at her and grinned. “Don’t worry about it. It can’t be that bad.” He turned back to the pan and, using the stirring spoon, picked up a big glob of noodles. Both Carrie and Seth stared at the orange and black mess. One side of all of the cylinder shaped pieces of pasta had been burned.

“Oops,” Carrie said, still staring at the burned pasta.

“You have another box?” Seth asked, glancing over at her as he let the spoon fall back into the pan.

“Maybe.” Hopeful, Carrie turned and began to rummage through a cabinet, in search of another box of macaroni. No luck. Half the cans from the cabinet sat of the counter when she finally gave up her search. “Never mind.”

For a moment, Seth stared at the crest fallen expression on the young woman’s face before coming up with something. “Hey, how ‘bout we go out?” He suggested.

“What?” Carrie questioned, her head tilting slightly and her eyebrows lifting.

“Mommy, my hands ‘r clean!” Ella raced back into the room, her stockinged feet padding on the linoleum floor.

“Okay, let me see,” Carrie responded, kneeling down in front of her daughter.

“Lookie!” Ella encouraged, holding up her hands, fingers spread.

“Hmm,” Carrie said, spotting small doodles on the back of her daughter’s hands, reminding her so much of herself. “I guess they’ll do. What do you think?” she turned her head, glancing up at Seth, trying to keep Ella intertwined.

“Huh,” Seth knelt down beside her, examining Ella’s hands with a scrutinizing expression. “I don’t know…” He scrunched his lips up to one side in thought. “You think you can keep them clean until we get to the restaurant?” His gray eyes met Ella’s.

“McDonalds?” Instantly, Ella was intrigued, plans for play already spinning in her head.

“If that’s what you want,” Seth answered.

“Yes!” Came Ella’s quick response. “Can we Mommy?” the small girl turned to Carrie who sent a short, half-hearted glare in Seth’s direction. She hated people spending money on her and Carrie had a feeling that Seth wasn’t going to let her get anywhere near paying.

“Go find your shoes,” Carrie finally gave in, turning back to her daughter. With a whoop of excitement, Ella flew back into the family room, in search of her pink sneakers.

So this is just a story idea I came up with one day when I was bored. Let me know if you liked it. I've got a whole lot of other story ideas that I haven't started so let me know if you like this one or if I should start on one of my others. I'd really love to hear what you think.