A Reason to Stay (Oak Hollow) by June Stevens, DJ Westerfield

A Reason To Stay
By
    DJ Westerfield Writing As
June Stevens
     
    Published by Classy Scribe Publications
    http://classyscribe.com
    A Reason to Stay
    Copyright © 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014 DJ Westerfield
    Cover Art © 20 14 DJ Westerfield
     
     
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
    This boo k has been previously published as A Reason to Stay by Delinda Jasper
     
    ***~~~***
Dedication
     
    For those who are lucky enough to have a best friend and lover rolled into one.
    And to my best friend, lover, soul mate, husband… thank you for being everything I never knew I wanted.
    ***~~~***
An Important Note from the Author
    This story is very dear to me.  It was originally published in 2005 as “A Reason to Stay” by Delinda Jasper.   At the time I used the pen name to completely separate my writing from my personal and professional life because what I wrote was considered “erotica”.  I wrote and published many short stories and novellas as Delinda Jasper, but over the years “A Reason to Stay” is the only one that I have kept continually “in print” digitally.  Over the years my life and writing style has changed.  For a very long time I stopped writing altogether and instead edited, did cover art and helped other authors self-publish their own books.  In 2011 I started writing again and wanting to break free from the “erotica” genre I created a new penname, June Stevens.  I won’t go into all of that now, there is more about the reasons behind it on my blog.  However, even with the success of my paranormal romances, A Reason to Stay has continued to be my best selling novella.  It is also close to my heart, as are the characters in it and the other stories that were set in the same town. 
    I have decided to get back to my roots of contemporary romances which are sweet and sappy, yet still sizzling hot.  I have toned down some of the more explicit language, changed the town name to Oak Hollow, and am re-releasing A Reason to Stay as a novella by June Stevens.  Along with it, I am releasing a super steamy short, Lorelei’s Dance, and then, finally, releasing the long awaited novella, Romancing Lorelei which features the main characters from Lorelei’s Dance, but also gives a glimpse into the ongoing life of Ellie and Jake from A Reason to Stay.  If this transition is as accepted by readers as I hope it will be, I will continue writing about Oak Hollow and the people that live there.
    I hope you enjoy reading this novella as much as I enjoyed writing it.
    With all of the love in my heart,
    DJ Westerfield Writing As June Stevens
    ***~~~***
     
Chapter One
     
    Neatly stacked boxes lined the walls; furniture stacked neatly together in the order it should go on the moving truck crowded the middle of the living room floor. Ellie sighed heavily as she taped up the last box of CDs and added it to the stack. She was finished. Everything she owned—her entire life, was packed up and waiting for the movers to come in the morning.
    At 29, she was a free woman now, with no ties holding her down. Her life was really changing, for the better. She had a new job at a major newspaper in Chicago, a huge step up from her position at the tiny Oak Hollow weekly. Her new apartment, though much smaller than the home she had shared with her grandmother, was in a very nice, upscale neighborhood. All of her friends were already planning their vacations for the year to come visit her, so she wouldn’t be too lonely. She should be thrilled with her life—but she wasn’t. Futilely pushing wayward chestnut curls from her face, she leaned against a stack of boxes