Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Off Balance: Nitty Gritty series, #4
    Off Balance: Nitty Gritty series, #4
    Off Balance: Nitty Gritty series, #4
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Off Balance: Nitty Gritty series, #4

    By Renee Pace

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Jennifer’s secret is big but she loves Charlie enough to know ending their teenage relationship will set him free and enable him to join the Army. When Charlie discovers the truth it’s up to him to convince Jen their young love was meant to be.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRenee Field
    Release dateFeb 19, 2014
    ISBN9780991693238
    Off Balance: Nitty Gritty series, #4
    Author

    Renee Pace

    Renee loves to write a variety of genres. She writes romance for HQN Spice Briefs, sensual paranormal romance as an Indie author and women's fiction.  Field also writes nitty gritty young adult and paranormal young adult romance novels under the pen name Renee Pace (www.reneepace.com). Renee calls Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada home and loves her view of the Atlantic Ocean. She is a member of her local Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada and Women in Film and Television - Atlantic. She juggles work, four children and is a firm believer in soul-mates and the power of the sea. Renee loves to hear from fans. She can be reached through Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ReneeFieldRomanceAuthor  Email: reneefieldauthor@gmail.com  

    Related to Off Balance

    Titles in the series (4)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    African American Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Here’s What I Don’t Say

      Jun 1, 2019

      Here’s What I Don’t Say
      13 min read

    • Article

      Hiding the TRUTH

      Jun 3, 2021

      Hiding the TRUTH
      4 min read

    • Article

      How Could You?

      Oct 6, 2022

      How Could You?
      4 min read

    • Article

      “I Escaped My Grandfather’s Sex Cult”

      Mar 16, 2022

      I was born into the Family, a religious movement founded in Huntington Beach, California, in 1968 by my grandfather David Brandt Berg, with help from his four children, including my father, Hosea. It was known as the Children of God in its early days

      8 min read

    • Article

      Not Just For CHRISTMAS

      Nov 24, 2021

      Not Just For CHRISTMAS
      9 min read

    • Article

      Bad To Worse forever 12

      Jan 25, 2024

      Bad To Worse forever 12
      7 min read

    • Article

      Speak Out

      Dec 8, 2022

      Speak Out
      5 min read

    • Article

      Grieving Shirley

      Nov 26, 2020

      Grieving Shirley
      5 min read

    • Article

      Sally Dynevor

      Jan 24, 2022

      Sally Dynevor
      5 min read

    • Article

      From The heart

      Oct 27, 2020

      Dear Sally My step daughter often feels spirits around her. The other day I was talking to her on Facetime and I thought her husband was standing behind her until she told me he was at work. She took a picture of some poles she was selling and later

      5 min read

    • Article

      Just The Way YOU ARE

      Feb 7, 2023

      Just The Way YOU ARE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Why, Dad? Why?

      Oct 2, 2022

      Why, Dad? Why?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Festival

      Sep 15, 2018

      My husband, who loved festivals, who was a great fan of festivals, wanted to get to the square in time for the first band at eleven o’clock. From bed, the dog and I watched him dress. He tried on various T-shirts, declaring some of them too tight and

      13 min read

    • Article

      Coming To Terms

      May 25, 2021

      Coming To Terms
      14 min read

    • Article

      How Embarrassing

      Dec 9, 2019

      I had my cousin’s one-year-old kid sit on my lap at a family get-together over Christmas and hadn’t noticed she’d undone the straps on my super cute tie-up dress as I was talking away. When I stood up, my dress just fell to the floor and I flashed my

      3 min read

    • Article

      Deborah Meaden

      Jul 10, 2023

      Deborah Meaden
      6 min read

    • Article

      Counselor of Chippewa Cabin

      Jun 26, 2020

      Counselor of Chippewa Cabin
      5 min read

    • Article

      Touch

      Nov 4, 2021

      Touch
      8 min read

    • Article

      Letters to Mum

      Mar 24, 2021

      Dear Mum, There are still times when I go to call you. It seems inexplicable to me that you actually died. I used to wonder how it would feel, and after 16 years, I’m still not sure. The main thing I want to tell you is that I get it now. I understan

      5 min read

    • Article

      Friend Or Foe?

      Aug 24, 2023

      Sitting on the grass beside my girlfriend Grace, I spotted a familiar face approaching from across the park. ‘Can I join you?’ Chelsea, then 17, smiled, plonking herself down. It was March 2018 and I’d been with Grace, then 16, for six months. I was

      4 min read

    • Article

      Daniel’s World

      Jun 16, 2022

      Daniel’s World
      5 min read

    • Article

      Right date, RIGHT NOW

      Feb 15, 2023

      Right date, RIGHT NOW
      6 min read

    • Article

      Trapped

      Jun 9, 2020

      Trapped
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Lady In The Tent

      Mar 23, 2021

      The Lady In The Tent
      6 min read

    • Article

      With this RING

      Jul 21, 2021

      With this RING
      6 min read

    • Article

      I Have to Tell Her

      Apr 13, 2020

      Helen had been looking forward to today for months. But now, when she saw Jenny waving to her from the other side of the road, all she felt was dread. How do you tell your best friend, on the day that you’re going to help her choose a wedding dress,

      4 min read

    • Article

      I Am the Ghost Here

      Jan 16, 2023

      I Am the Ghost Here
      12 min read

    • Article

      I Failed My Daughter

      Jul 29, 2022

      I Failed My Daughter
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Off Balance

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Off Balance - Renee Pace

      Dedication

      This young adult short story is dedicated to all the teens who have made mistakes and survived. Happy endings really only exist as fairy tales but that doesn’t mean happiness can’t be reached. Life will throw you a curve ball and I’m a firm believer dodging and running toward that ball is better than running away from the outcomes.

      This book is a work of fiction. All mistakes are my own.

      Off Balance

      By Renee Pace

      978-0-9916932-3-8

      ––––––––

      Jennifer’s secret is big but she loves Charlie enough to know ending their teenage relationship will set him free and enable him to join the Army. When Charlie discovers the truth it’s up to him to convince Jen their young love was meant to be.

      Chapter One

      ––––––––

      What the hell? Is that Jen pushing a stroller? Shit, after all the frigging time I spent writing her those stupid letters, after she dropped me like a used cigarette, I can’t believe she’s the first person I see on my leave. That’s the type of karma I’m having these days. First I find out that Eje’s going to be late returning to Halifax and now this. I glance around and wonder for a second if I can walk past her like she doesn’t exist. That’s probably what she’ll do. I never thought of her as being that cold, but not once did she respond to my letters. All I wanted to know was why? Why was it over? I get that a long distance relationship is hard but it’s not like I was going to be away for freaking forever. Maybe she’s seeing someone else. Christ, the thought of that makes me want to puke up the donair I wolfed down faster than a souped-up car. 

      With my palms sweaty I feel more nervous walking toward her than my first day at boot camp, which sucked. For once the movies got something right. Boot camp is downright ugly. It was all running, learning how to function on little sleep, and forcing yourself to eat crappy sludge military food. That was the first week. Then it became more running, which alternated between pushing your sorry legs through large mother-fucking knee-deep water the Sergeant called puddles—I swear to god if he said that one more time I was going to drown him in one of those so-called puddles­—and lots of time spent cleaning weapons. After fourteen weeks of the same routine with the only deviation being getting woken up earlier and earlier and learning to heave your tired beyond-achy body past the breaking point it was hit the books study time.

      Wow, guess who I get the pleasure of running into. I hate when I look at Jen, my heart drops to my feet. She’s changed but the same. She’s skinner than I remember and there’s a wary deer-in-the-headlights look in her eyes that makes me want to check over my shoulder. I resist that urge and hope to god I’m not drooling. Her chestnut colored hair is pulled back in a ponytail, but wisps of it frame her pixie-like face. Her cheeks look flushed and she smells like fresh clean air.

      Nice to see you Charlie.

      Nice to freaking see me. It’s on the tip of my tongue to shout at her, but one thing the military ingrained in me was it’s always best to keep my big mouth shut. The few times I did speak up, I paid for it with sweat and there’s nothing fun about working out when everyone else has gone to barracks.

      Yeah, great to see you too, Jen. I’m so lame. Small talk was never my strong suit. I find myself shuffling my feet and I don’t want to keep walking. What I want more than anything is to sweep Jen into my arms and kiss her like I fantasized about night after night.

      So how is the military? she asks, making sure to keep the stroller moving. She must have taken a nanny job. Funny, I never thought of her as suited to clean poopy diapers and all. I’m glad the kid’s asleep and oblivious to us.

      Great. The kid, a baby I realize, starts to squirm around in the stroller. I attempt to peek in but Jen moves the stroller forward so I can’t see the baby. Fine. Whatever. With expertise Jen pops the soother back in the baby’s mouth and then turns to face me.

      So you really like the Army? she asks, again.

      I nod. It’s hard though. Lots of physical work and the school stuff is a lot harder than the stuff taught in high school, but yeah, guess I really do like it. I know now I’m rambling but hell she was the one who asked. So what have you been up to? 

      For a weird second her eyes dart back to the stroller and then she looks up at me. Not much. Stuff, she says, which is so unlike Jen I think I must be making her uncomfortable.

      Well, I was supposed to meet Eje tonight but since he’s not in town yet are you interested in getting together...you know like old times. I’d really like to see the gang. Sweet Jesus I must be nuts. Why not put a bullet through my heart while I stand. I honestly can’t believe I blurted all that out.

      Jen looks down at her sneakers and for a second I let myself hope.

      I can’t tonight. Sorry, Charlie.

      Oh, okay, that’s fine. Listen I’ve got to go but it was really great seeing you again, Jen.

      She nods but doesn’t say anything. I force myself to walk away from her and feel more than ever I should run back and kidnap her. What we had felt special. Where did I go wrong? What did I do to make her hate me so much?

      Oh my god I think I’m going to be sick. Of all the people to run into, Charlie. God he looked so good he made me want to cry. Instead I acted like a fool and said nothing. I can’t help glance over my shoulder to see if he’s still there but he’s gone. Out of my life for good and he doesn’t know. Maybe I should have told him. Would it have made a difference? Who knows.

      Danny starts to cry and for once I like the distraction. I turn the corner, put the stroller in park and pick him up, holding him tight. At six months now he’s looking more and more like his father. The man I let walk out of my life for good. I cuddle Danny close, amazed at how bright his wonderful big brown eyes are. He’s got light cinnamon colored skin, thick dark curly hair and eyes so alert and intelligent he makes my heart soar.

      You my little man must be getting hungry. I watch his mouth suckle hard on his soother. It will take me three more blocks until I get to my sister’s place. Tucking him back into his stroller, I make sure the baby blankets keep the chilly September day from his body.

      Shame you didn’t do one of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1