Page 1 of Now or Never

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Exactly one month after moving into the enormous manor she’d inherited in the quiet town of Mapleton, Chelsea Davenport had an epiphany; she was just like the old man from the movieUp.

It wasn’t easy to accept at first, but the more she thought about it, the more obvious it became. The only difference between the two of them was that instead of refusing to leave a house behind, she was refusing to let go of her childhood dream, even though it was doing nothing but dragging her down.

That dream? Writing and directing her own feature film with her best friend, Jae.

A dream she’d worked toward her whole life.

A dream that wouldnevercome to fruition.

She had been indulging in that fantasy all the way up until her first tax bill arrived on the twelve-bedroom, sprawling, broken-down Monroe Manor, and she realized she could no longer afford to make ends meet, let alone take on the risk of making a movie.

Still, she believed it was worth the extra expense to live there instead of the crappy apartment she’d had for the last few years. Her number one priority was giving her son, Ben, a stable home and a nice school in a safe community, but she couldn’t have it all. Something had to give. And that something was her fledgling career as an indie filmmaker.

It was time to call it quits and move on before the whole thing started dragging them down.

She glanced in the rear-view mirror at Ben and smiled before turning her old car down the gravel driveway of her new home. It was totally worth giving up her dream for Ben. She needed safety, stability, and most of all, a decent and steady paycheque. It was a small price to pay to keep him safe. If she had to, she’d give up everything for Ben, and she’d do it with a smile on her face.

She braked to a crunching stop, then killed the engine. Ben didn’t waste a second after the car stopped before bounding out of the back passenger door, and Chelsea was once again incredibly thankful they were now living on a huge piece of private property where she didn’t have to worry about her little guy running into traffic or bumping into a drug dealer.

She stepped out of the car and made her way to the trunk where Ben stood bouncing on his toes.

“Mama, open it up!”

“Okay, okay,” she said before sliding her key into the rusted keyhole of her twenty-year-old car. She wiggled it just so until the trunk popped open, then grabbed the new-to-Ben two-wheel bicycle they’d picked up at a garage sale that morning. It was dark blue, nearly as rusty as her car, and the plastic seat was ripped, but it was the best she could do, considering they’d gone back-to-school shopping earlier that day and her bank account was bleeding.

Badly.

Ben didn’t seem to mind that his bike was ancient, though. As soon as she set the bike on the driveway, he grabbed the handles, pushing the bike side to side and making whooshing noises as if flying down the side of a mountain.

“I’m gonna go so fast!”

Chelsea put on a smile, but inwardly she cringed. He was a sweet, smart boy. But also incredibly clumsy. When he wasn’t tripping over his own feet and walking into table legs, he was falling down stairs. Most of the time, he’d just shake it off. But whenever he really hurt himself, his soft, round face would scrunch up in pain, and giant drops of tears would tumble down his chubby little cheeks.

It was the worst.

“Promise you won’t bike without your helmet?”

Ben jerked his head up and down. “Promise.”

“Good, your helmet is upstairs in your room. You’ll have to stop biking when Aunt Jae gets here so we can help her unpack.”

Ben tilted his head up, eyes focusing on a fluffy white cloud in the distant blue sky. “Are Aunt Jae and Aunt Natalie sisters?”

Chelsea smiled at his furrowed brow and tousled his hair. Ever since Aunt Natalie had come on the scene, Ben had had a lot more questions about familial relations. Unfortunately, some of those questions led to further questions that she’d rather not have to answer.

“No, you just call her Aunt Jae because she’s our best friend.”

Ben’s eyes brightened. “I want to see her now.”

“Me, too, buddy,” she said. “Let’s grab our stuff and get your helmet.”

She took a deep breath and blew it out through her teeth as she grabbed the shopping bags from the car and walked up the stairs into the house with Ben. She’d been thrilled when Jae suggested moving in to the manor. They’d had a blast living together in film school, and Chelsea could certainly use the help to pay the bills.Plus, Jae had very little family, and she loved Ben as if he were her own son.

And the love was certainly mutual.

But there were things that had changed, and Chelsea was putting off talking to Jae about them for as long as possible.

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