by Natalie Ann
Starting Over
Natalie Ann
Starting Over
Copyright 2020 Natalie Ann
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Author’s Note
Also by Natalie Ann
Where to Find Natalie Ann
Blurb
Prologue
1. Just a Touch
2. Neighborly Gesture
3. Soft and Sweet
4. World’s Biggest Sweetheart
5. Pure and Innocent
6. The Same Heat
7. Double Meaning
8. His Groove Back
9. Riding A Bike
10. Felt So Right
11. Left Behind
12. In Her Heart
13. Big Mouth
14. Insane With Need
15. Playing Games
16. Down a Path
17. Wake Up And Wonder
18. On Your Own
19. Love Finds You
20. Dying to Have
21. Believe Her
22. More Than She Could Stand
23. Let Herself Fall
Epilogue
Eternal- Prologue
Eternal- Cynical Cousin
Also by Natalie Ann
Where to Find Natalie Ann
Author’s Note
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Also by Natalie Ann
The Road Series-See where it all started!!
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason
The All Series
William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love
Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You
Landon Barber and Kristen Reid- All Of Us
The Lake Placid Series
Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance
Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance
Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance
Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance
Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance
Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance
Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance
Logan Taylor and Kennedy Miles- It’s My Chance
The Fierce Five Series
Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas
Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody
Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden
Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason
Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade
Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella
Fierce Family
Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam
Bryce Fierce and Payton Davies - Bryce
Drake Fierce and Kara Winslow – Drake
Noah Fierce and Paige Parker - Noah
Wyatt Fierce and Adriana Lopez - Wyatt
Love Collection
Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love
Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love
Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love
Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love
Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love
Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers - Autumn Love
Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan - Holiday Love
Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett - Christmas Love
Zeke Collins and Kendall Hendricks - Winter Love
Troy Walker and Meena Dawson – Chasing Love
Jace Stratton and Lauren Towne - First Love
Gabe Richards and Leah Morrison - Forever Love
Blake Wilson and Gemma Anderson – Simply Love
Brendan St. Nicholas and Holly Lane – Gifts of Love
Paradise Place
Josh Turner and Ruby Gentile – Cupid’s Quest
Harris Walker and Kaelyn Butler- Change Up
Philip Aire and Blair McKay – Starting Over
Nathan Randal and Brina Shepard – Eternal
Where to Find Natalie Ann
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Blurb
Blair McKay has always been quirky. Her grandmother has often told her to keep things to herself so others didn’t roll their eyes. Sometimes it’s hard though. Especially when she finds a guy she cares for and wants him to know everything about her.
Philip Aire is a single father trying to make it work. His sexy neighbor is a much-needed distraction and his daughter has grown attached to Blair too. He doesn’t care that most in the neighborhood roll their eyes at her profession or wacky ways and words. All he cares about is her…that is until her words and insight start to make him wonder if she is really so far out there after all.
Can his wacky neighbor heal this single father’s broken heart?
Prologue
“Blair, stay out of trouble.”
“I always do, Nana,” Blair said back as she rushed out the backdoor of her grandmother’s house to play in the garden.
It wasn’t a traditional garden. Even at five years old, Blair understood that.
No, Nana had beautiful flowers that most had never seen or heard of. She had herbs and spices that she was always mixing in foods and jars, doing things she told Blair she would learn about someday. And she had food in the garden too. Lots and lots of vegetables. Blair went running over there to check on them first.
Nana told her she could pick out the vegetables for their salad tonight. Daddy was away for the night and Blair loved spending time with her Nana. Really the only woman in her life.
As she made her way through the rows of cucumbers and peppers, tomatoes and zucchini, she heard a noise.
Moving closer, she saw a bird on the dirt, just a small blue one. A blue jay it was, Nana had told her one day. Nana was the smartest woman she knew.
“It’s okay, little birdie. Are you hungry?” she asked, assuming it was looking for worms just like Blair was looking for her dinner too.
The bird looked up at her, its eyes dark and appearing almost...in pain. Blair wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she just felt it deep inside.
“Are you hurt?” she asked, glancing closer and noticing the wing seemed to be missing some feathers...and tilted at a funny angle.
“Nana will know what to do. You stay right here.” She turned and went running back to the house. “Nana! Nana!”
“What’s wrong, Blair?” her grandmother asked her as she came rushing out the kitchen door.
“My dream,” she said. “My dream. Remember I told you this morning that a bird was lying on th
e ground and it looked funny to me.”
“Yes,” her grandmother said. “What about it?”
“It was red in my dream, but it’s blue now.”
Her grandmother looked confused. “What bird?”
“The one in my dream,” Blair said with her hands on her hips. “I mean it was red in my dream, but it’s blue in the garden.” She grabbed her grandmother’s hand. “Follow me. It’s hurt.”
She raced back to where she’d seen the bird and noticed that it’d moved and wasn’t there where she’d left it. “Blair. I’m baking. I need to get back inside.”
“There was a bird here. I know there was. It was hurt.” She was moving around, looking. “Here. It’s right here. Look at it.”
Her grandmother looked over the bush and saw the blue jay lying on the ground and moved closer to it, only to have it lift its wings and fly away. “It doesn’t look hurt to me. I bet it was just sunning itself.”
“Like getting a tan?” Blair asked.
Her grandmother laughed. “I guess you could say that. Some birds do that. But it’s fine. You saw that.”
“Why did I dream it was hurt though?”
“Do you know it was hurt in your dream?”
“No. It was just lying on the ground, but I thought birds only sat in a nest or flew.”
“Well, now you know otherwise.”
“Okay. At least I know that not all parts of my dreams always come true like I told you. Just little bits and pieces.”
Her grandmother sighed like she had in the past. Just like her father did too when she would tell him she’d have dreams and pieces would come true.
“Blair, you really shouldn’t tell too many people about these dreams. It’s okay to say it to your father and me, but I hope you don’t tell anyone else.”
“But it’s cool when they come true. Except when they are sad. Then I don’t want them to come true.”
“Do they always?” her grandmother asked. “Or just sometimes?”
“Just sometimes. But when I wake up I know if it will come true or if it was just something funny or what I watched on TV.”
Her grandmother put her hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Just keep them to your father and me or yourself, okay.”
“Why?” Blair asked.
“Because people will look at you funny. They will judge you. You don’t want that, do you?”
“You mean like they judge Daddy.”
Her grandmother’s shoulders dropped. “What do you hear about your father?”
“That he’s never been with a lady. That he likes men.”
Nana’s chest heaved in and out. “You’re too young for this conversation, but it’s one Daddy should have with you. All you need to know is everyone is different, but that doesn’t mean they love people any less.”
“Just like me being different because I see things in dreams and they sometimes come true?”
Her grandmother laughed. “Yes, Blair, just like that. Go pick out your vegetables for dinner. I’m sure this batch of cookies is more than burnt right now so I need to get some more in the oven.”
“Thanks, Nana.”
“For what?”
“For not saying I’m being silly. Daddy doesn’t say it either, but I’ve had other friends tell me that.”
“And now you know why you should sometimes keep those dreams of yours to yourself.”
1
Just a Touch
Twenty-five years later
Blair was in her backyard tending to her garden. The garden her Nana taught her to cultivate. She had everything imaginable here. Vegetables, herbs, flowers.
Things her grandmother always had and more. Times had changed. Nana had taught her everything she knew, but Blair had also gone to college and studied even more. She’d studied floriculture, she’d studied herbalism, and she’d taken business classes.
What she’d wanted more than anything was to run her grandmother’s shop on Central Avenue in Albany. The one that had been around for years. And since Blair had been the only grandchild to show interest, she’d known it would be hers.
How did she know it’d be hers? Because she’d dreamed it most of her life. She saw herself standing there and waiting on customers. The changes she wanted to make. The things she’d do to help the business thrive.
Just like it was now.
The Healing Touch sold everything from essential oils and herbs, to health supplements and handmade candles and lotions. Plants and diffusers, energy stones and more. It was a gift shop that was both whimsical and fun to be in each day.
But it was more too. It was her life…almost her child in a way.
And though her grandmother put the shop in Blair’s name, she still asked Nana’s opinion. And one of those opinions was whether she should spend more time at home working on product than waiting on people. With the store in her hands, she literally wanted the products to be mostly her creations.
Since the business was much more successful than it was when Nana had it, Blair knew she was doing something right.
She lived in the town of Colonie in a development called Paradise Place in Upstate New York where her creations came to life. She was lucky to have enough money from her mother’s life insurance to purchase this house outright a few years ago. It was in the older part of the development where the prices weren’t as high, but still pretty steep, especially this house because it had some more land that allowed her to put up a small greenhouse for herbs to grow year round.
The bonus was a huge garage in the back that she used as her shop for candles and lotions, pottery and plants. The majority of what she sold at The Healing Touch came right from her own backyard.
Today she was in her fenced-in yard that butted up against the neighbor’s yard. The neighbor’s house that had been empty for four months.
She’d always gotten along with them—she’d gotten along with everyone—but they relocated out of the area and hadn’t sold their house before they left.
When she saw the sold sign a month ago, she’d been waiting to see who her new neighbors would be, and by the sounds of it, they were moving in.
“Livi,” she heard. A nice strong male voice that made the hair lift on her arms like a caress. Interesting. “Stay out of trouble while I move these boxes in.”
“Can I play in the yard, please? They left a swing set.”
“That’s fine. But don’t wander.”
Blair smiled to herself thinking she remembered those days. Days when she was told to stay out of trouble but wanted to explore.
With her head down, she went about clipping some sage and rosemary to put into her lotions. She also carried a line of “potions” in the shop. Novelty items that people had asked for. Over the years many thought it’d be neat. It was a commercial item she had to talk her grandmother into doing, but they’d been a big hit. Why not make money if she could?
But the truth was, there was a meaning behind everything she did. And though it was a novelty item, she valued and appreciated folk culture. That many believed in it. That’s what her shop was, healing properties and whimsical items.
That is what she was. Or who she was. Her dreams that she had, many didn’t believe in her or what she’d said but that didn’t stop her from having them or sharing from time to time either.
“Hi,” she heard and looked up to see a little angel with long blonde hair in two pigtails staring at her as she tried to look over the fence. “I’m Livi.”
“I’m Blair,” she said, moving forward and offering the little girl her hand. “It looks like you are my new neighbor.”
Fascinating to her that she’d dreamed of a little girl with pigtails last night but had brushed it off as she’d seen someone in the shop this afternoon with them. Still to this day, it amazed her that parts of her dreams ended up a reality.
“Daddy and I are moving in now and I’m going to start school in a few months too. I’m going to be in the second grade. Do you have any children that I c
an play with?”
What a sweetie. Livi would have no idea how that question caused a little pang in her heart. “No, it’s just me.”
“It’s just me and Daddy in the house. Mommy is in heaven.”
Oh dear. “I’m so sorry to hear that. My Mommy is there too.”
“It’s okay because I know she is watching over me every day like Daddy says.” Livi picked up a little necklace she had on. It looked to be a silver locket on a leather string. Probably something sturdy for the active child. “Mommy’s picture is in here on one side and I’m on the other so she can watch me.”
“And I’m sure she is. I often feel my mother watches over me too.”
Not that she remembered her mother much since she’d died when Blair was only one. That was when she moved in with Tyler McKay, the man who would adopt her and become her father. The man who had been her mother’s best friend in college, but nothing more.
Nope, Tyler McKay was married to Jake Roberts-McKay now. So she really had two dads and had for most of her life. Though they hadn’t made it official until a few years after the same sex marriage law had been passed in New York. She never asked why they waited and figured it was none of her business.