The road of Haley Cavanaugh’s life has been filled with cracks, potholes and detour signs. Her mom’s cancer forced her to grow up too fast and her brother has moved across the country instead of sticking around when she needs him most. Now, her parents are forcing her to move out. They say she needs to follow through with the plans she’s set for herself, but Haley is torn between her dreams and her family’s reality. The only thing she has to look forward to is living with her best friend, Kyler.
What she doesn't need right now? Eli Park. Haley remembers him as Kyler’s boyfriend’s geeky roommate, but he’s anything but geeky now. Now, he's downright hot. And Haley cannot get him out of her head.
It would be easier if they didn’t have class together five days a week. Or have weekly study dates. And if she didn’t spend way too much time with Kyler at Eli’s house. But, the closer he gets and the harder she falls, the more Haley pulls away. Her heart is too fragile to end up broken on the side of the road. She thinks she’s got it under control until Eli brings home another girl and Haley realizes what she has to lose.
As Haley’s life is turned further upside down, will she be left to pick up the pieces of her heart alone?
I swung back and forth for a
while, letting the breeze settle my nerves. I don’t know how long I
was out there for, but eventually, I heard a car pull up. The door
shut and footsteps thumped up the stairs.
“Hello,” a masculine
voice drifted towards me.
I opened my eyes and was
greeted with crystal blue eyes, messy brown hair, a lopsided smirk
and six feet of tall, lean man.
“Er…um…hi,” I
croaked out. Okay…the man was gorgeous. Pretty sure I was blushing.
“Haley?” gorgeous
mystery man asked.
I nodded. I didn’t know
who this guy was, but he seemed to know me. And if I opened my mouth
to ask him, I’m sure I would sound like an idiot again.
He gave me that adorable
lopsided grin again. “Eli.” He pointed at himself, like I should
know who he was. Eli was leaning against the porch railing, staring
at me with amusement in his eyes. Maybe if he wasn’t so damn
attractive I could get my brain to start working again. But for now,
I could only stare.
“You don’t remember me,
do you?” he asked. “The four of us hung out together when I
roomed with Noah in the dorms.”
Holy shit. This
man in front of me couldn’t be Noah’s roommate. There was no
possible way he was the same guy. I hung out with the kid all the
time, and this guy…no, not him. Not him at all.
“You look nothing like you
did freshman year.” I blurted out. Then quickly turned red and
clamped my hand over my mouth.
Oh God, he’s going to
think you are the biggest idiot.
Eli laughed. “I was a lot
scrawnier back then. Had longer hair. Wore thick framed glasses all
the time.” His voice still sounded the same. That was something at
least. “When I moved back home to help my mom, I worked with my
uncle at his construction company. I guess that helped me gain a
little muscle.” He shrugged like he was not confident with how he
looked.
The more I stared at him,
the more he was becoming familiar. Freshman year, he was this quiet,
slightly nerdy kid. He always wore comic book t-shirts. He had spent
most of his time on his computer or playing video games with Noah.
Kyler had kept telling me that he had a crush on me, and she even
begged me to go out with him a few times, but I always came up with
reasons I couldn’t. Mostly those excuses dealt with my
crush at that time—Drew. Blah. I was so
not going to think about that douche when Eli was standing in front
of me.
I mean, I enjoyed hanging
out with him as a friend, but dating? He was definitely not what I
thought my type was. Though, what I thought my type was turned out to
be a bunch of jerks, so maybe I should have given the nice guy a
chance.
“You okay?” he asked
gently, pushing off the railing and taking a seat next to me on the
swing. “You seem lost in thought.”
I shrugged, not knowing what
to say.
“You don’t remember me,
do you?”
Born and raised in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, Caylie fell in love with reading at a young age. With her lively imagination, she created numerous stories in her head throughout her childhood and teenage years. Finally at 16 she sat down at the computer and wrote out her first full length novel. That pacified her for a time. However, the stories kept swimming through her mind. Finally in 2013 she typed out Chapter One of three different novels and sent them off to a close friend for review. At her friends advice, she started exclusively writing Choose Us.
When she isn’t slaving away at the keyboard, Caylie is an avid reader, and lover of coffee… copious amounts of coffee. She also has an unhealthy addiction to tv shows—binge watching is her favorite.
She chases her two kids around the house all day, and has a husband whom she adores.
Check out her social links for teasers from upcoming books!!
Thanks for being part of the tour, ladies!
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