A Reason to Breathe Read online

  A Reason to Breathe COPYRIGHT © Lorhainne Ekelund, 2019, All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  A Reason to Breathe

  The Friessens

  Lorhainne Eckhart

  Contents

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  The Friessen Family Series Reading order:

  A Reason to Breathe

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  A Reason to Be Together

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

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  What’s coming next in The Friessens

  Other works available

  About the Author

  Links to Lorhainne Eckhart’s Booklist

  When you sign up for my newsletter you will receive a FREE ebook, news on all giveaways, special promotions, my Monday Blog where I talk about just about everything and FREE eBooks, novellas and short stories as I introduce you to all the books in my series. If at anytime you wish to unsubscribe, you can click the unsubscribe button. I regularly write FREE exclusive content for my newsletter subscribers only. Click here to sign up for my newsletter and receive the first of many exclusive FREE reads.

  The Friessen Family Series Reading order:

  Click here to download the complete Friessen Legacy Series checklist and series reading order

  * * *

  The Outsider Series

  The Forgotten Child (Brad and Emily)

  A Baby And A Wedding

  Fallen Hero (Andy, Jed, and Diana)

  The Search

  The Awakening (Andy and Laura)

  Secrets (Jed and Diana)

  Runaway (Andy and Laura)

  Overdue

  The Unexpected Storm (Neil and Candy)

  The Wedding (Neil and Candy)

  The Friessens: A New Beginning

  The Deadline (Andy and Laura)

  The Price to Love (Neil and Candy)

  A Different Kind of Love (Brad and Emily)

  A Vow of Love, A Friessen Family Christmas

  The Friessens

  The Reunion

  The Bloodline (Andy & Laura)

  The Promise (Diana & Jed)

  The Business Plan (Neil & Candy)

  The Decision (Brad & Emily)

  First Love (Katy)

  Family First

  Leave the Light On

  In the Moment

  In the Family: A Friessen Family Christmas

  In the Silence

  In the Stars

  In the Charm

  Unexpected Consequences

  It Was Always You

  The First Time I Saw You

  Welcome to My Arms

  Welcome to Boston

  I’ll Always Love You

  Ground Rules

  A Reason to Breathe

  You Are My Everything

  Want to know how all the series are linked? Stop by my blog for all the details: http://www.lorhainneeckhart.com/what-is-the-reading-order-of-your-books/

  A Reason to Breathe

  Everyone knows the first time you meet that special someone: Your eyes connect from across the room, and you smile and work up the courage to say hello. It’s a simple feat for most people, but not for Trevor Friessen, who struggles to fit into this world and thinks he always will—that is, until he meets a girl who is as different from him as she is the same.

  * * *

  “Our families and everyone around us, what they don’t understand is that we too feel love.”

  1

  His sister Katy wore an odd expression, sitting at the kitchen table alone, staring at seven papers. She’d ripped the staple out of them, and it now lay on the table beside an almost empty bowl with a spoon sticking out. There was milk spilled beside it. How could she not see that? It was so close to her arm that if she moved, it would be in the milk, and that wouldn’t be good because then she’d have to change her shirt, which was already wrinkled.

  “Why are you standing behind me, Trevor?” She didn’t look up right away, but he watched as she put down the papers, scattering them on the table in a mess instead of straightening them in a pile. He could see the milk still there. She was about to put her arm in it as she rested it on the table and turned to face him.

  “Aren’t you going to clean that up?” he said. He had on his favorite jeans, black ones, and his favorite black superhero shirt, Captain America. Katy was wearing a faded orange shirt with lines and squiggles. He didn’t like the lines and squiggles, and the color orange was annoying. It was the one shirt he wished she’d put in the garbage. Maybe he’d do it for her.

  “Trevor, seriously, dude, you need to get a life. Aren’t you supposed to be out helping Dad today with the cows or something?”

  Katy pushed the papers aside and scraped back her chair, then picked up her bowl and put it in the dishwasher. She left the spilled milk and the papers, and he cleared his throat before he felt her hand on his shoulder. He had to force himself to look her way, knowing she’d stay there until he did. His mom and dad, Katy, Steven, and his sister Becky always said over and over for him to look at them, and it was frankly annoying. Right now there was a thread hanging off her shirt sleeve that she also needed to take care of.

  “Trevor, you didn’t answer me, and you’re doing that throat-clearing thing again that’s really annoying. Did you eat breakfast yet? What are you doing today?”

  Her shirt collar was folded correctly on one side but sticking up on the other. He reached over and grabbed the edge of her collar and unfolded it so it sat perfectly just like the other side. “I’m working today,” he said.

  He realized Katy was frowning now. Why? Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. At least she wasn’t sad anymore.

  “Did you seriously just fix my collar?” she said. She didn’t say thank you. She really should say thank you.

  “You look better now, but I don’t like your shirt. You should change. It’s ugly.”

  She just shook her head. “Seriously, Trevor. Tell me how you really feel.”

  Well, he didn’t like it. He’d just told her that. Maybe she hadn’t heard him. Then she reached over and rustled his dark hair, which was short and neatly combed.

  “Hey,” he said, and all she did was laugh as if it was funny before she walked around him and picked up the papers in one hand so they were crumpled, not even taking the time to tidy them up so they were neat and together. He reached up and tidied his hair, but he was going to have to go back upstairs to fix it properly.

  “Where are you working?” Katy said. “Is this the job Mom and Dad were talking about?” She wasn’t looking at him anymore but at those papers again. He wished she’d straighten them instead of holding them in the mess they were in. “Trevor, I aske
d you a question.”

  About what again?

  “Huh?” he said, smoothing his hand over his hair.

  She tapped her fingers on the counter. “The job, Trevor. Tell me where you’re working today and what you’re doing.”

  “The grocery store. I’m working in the bakery department. I get to package cookies, make boxes…” And the broken ones he got to put aside and eat later, but he wasn’t going to share that part. That was enough sharing—especially since she was ignoring the mess on the table. He walked to the sink, picked up the sponge, and strode to the table to wipe the spot of milk, and then there were the crumbs.

  “Mister OCD,” she said. “Seriously, Trevor?”

  He took in his sister and his mom, who appeared distracted as she walked into the kitchen, poured a coffee, and looked from him to Katy.

  “What’s going on?” Emily asked. She was looking at Katy, so maybe he could leave now and fix his hair and then read the new Adventures of Tintin book he’d picked up at the library yesterday.

  “Just Trevor being Trevor, the neat freak,” Katy said.

  “No, I’m not,” he said. He couldn’t figure out why she was smiling and what the exchange was between her and their mom.

  “Don’t worry about it, Trevor. I’m just teasing you. What time do you have to leave for work?” Katy folded the papers, and his eyes went right there, seeing how uneven they were.

  He glanced to the clock on the stove, seeing it was eight thirty-three.

  “You start at nine, Trevor,” his mom said. “Are you ready to go? I’ll drive you to work, and don’t forget Uncle Neil is picking you up today. You and him are going to…”

  He knew his mom was still talking, but he didn’t hear her as he took in the coffee she’d poured and the fridge she’d opened to pull out leftover ribs. Ah…that was what he should’ve packed. Ribs would be a great lunch instead of the tuna salad he’d made.

  He heard the back door slap closed and saw his dad, who went right to his mom and leaned down and kissed her. She smiled and was happy. His dad always made her happy. He turned away, seeing that Katy was watching him again, and it made him twitchy when she looked at him that way. She was doing that a lot as of late. He took a step to the side, then turned and started walking to the stairs to fix his hair, read, and then…

  “Trevor, answer me. Did you not hear me?” Emily said.

  He took in his mom and dad watching him, and Katy too, who was giving him that annoyed big sister look she often did. He hadn’t heard a word they’d said.

  “Good, I’m good,” he said, knowing it was likely they’d asked him how he was. If not, their faces would give him a clue in about a minute, and he’d use his other answer, which was “Time to go.”

  “You were off in your head, so try again,” Emily said. “What are you supposed to be doing at work today? Are you allowed to be slow and take your time?”

  His dad was giving him that hard gaze, but at least his dad didn’t talk as much as his mom and sister did, and then there was Becky. Jack was even better, as he said even less, just things like “Move over, my turn with the remote.” Yeah, Jack was better than all of them. He and his brother could share space, enjoy a game, and…

  “Nope, I’ll be fast,” he said. “Okay, time to go. Bye, Dad. Bye, Katy. Come on, Mom.” He started walking out of the kitchen, seeing his backpack at the front door, where he’d already packed his lunch, and he stopped at the mirror to see that his hair was still a ruffled mess. He used his fingers to tidy it to the side again.

  “Change of plans, Trevor.” Katy walked up beside him and slapped his shoulder. Her shirt was hanging over her jeans in a messy look. She never tucked it in. She was carrying her baggy purse, the one with fringes on the side that were too long and needed to be cut back. “I’m driving you.”

  “What? No,” he said, seeing that his mom and dad weren’t there anymore, but Katy was. The smile on her face as she stood right in front of him had him wanting to take a step back, because she was worse than his mom—nagging, talking to him, and making him talk about the sequence of his day as if he didn’t know what he was doing. He couldn’t just do what he wanted to do.

  “Mom…!” he called out.

  “Go with Katy,” Emily replied from the kitchen. She didn’t appear in the doorway, so that was that.

  “Fine,” he said, and he pushed open the door and walked over to her Jeep before climbing into the passenger side, closing the door, and fastening his seatbelt. He settled his backpack in the back seat as he waited for his sister.

  2

  There had been something different about Trevor as of late, or maybe longer, considering she’d basically fucked off into her own misery for the past few years and had lost sight of everyone. At least Katy had her family back, even though they were all living at her parents’ ranch, since Steven was still in a fight with his ex-fiancée over the townhome he’d bought, which she still lived in. Luckily, he was still married to Katy.

  The fight had been a source of contention lately even though she reminded herself that their son, Fletcher, saw the ranch as his home. He loved spending time with her dad and Jack because it was all he’d ever known. Then there was her brother Trevor—actually her step-brother, considering Brad wasn’t her real father, though he was her father in every sense of the word.

  She glanced to the side, seeing how Trevor stared straight ahead as she drove into town to the store where he worked. He never looked her way and would never say more than two words. He was happy to just sit there and say nothing and be driven wherever he needed to go. Of course, Katy wondered what was going through his head.

  “Earth to Trevor. What are you thinking over there, bud?”

  “Oh, nothing.” He jabbed his finger toward the window. “You should keep driving.”

  She had to fight the urge to laugh. Oh, so he didn’t want to talk. He never wanted to talk.

  “I am driving, but I can do more than one thing. It’s called having a conversation. You’re just sitting there, not saying a word. I mean, how do you like your job at the store?”

  “The bakery,” he corrected. This time he glanced her way.

  “Sorry, got it wrong. I mean the bakery, of course. So do you like your boss, the work you do there? Come on, give me something.”

  He was still staring straight ahead and then out the window. “I like my job. That’s enough talking. Keep driving.”

  “You’re trying to blow me off again. Come on, tell me what you do at the bakery. I want details.”

  He actually sighed. “I package cookies.” That was it. That was all he said.

  “You know I’m not Mom. You know how giving her one step and nothing else is enough, especially when she’s busy and distracted? Well, guess what. I’ve got all the time in the world, considering I’m not working today.” Or the day before, she thought. She had just two days a week nursing at the hospital, because there was nothing available in terms of full-time work. Yeah, she really had way too much free time.

  “You should get another job,” Trevor said.

  She could feel her fingers curling around the wheel. “There’s only one hospital here, Trevor. I can’t get another job because I live here with Fletcher and Steven and you and Mom and Dad, in our old ranch house that we’re all squeezing into, in each other’s way.”

  “Then go home and make dessert.”

  “I’m not going to cook,” she said. “Mom’s the cook, the baker, not me—and you’re changing the subject again. I know you’re doing it because you don’t want to answer me.”

  “I’m done talking. You should take me to work.”

  “And you should tell me about work,” she said. “You can’t tell me you spend the whole day packaging cookies and nothing else. I mean, tell me about who you work with and everything you do.” She glanced his way and took in his frown. “Come on, Trevor. Friends? You do work with others, right?”

  “Yup.” He pointed through the window again.


  “You have a friend there?”

  “Oh, yeah, I have lots of friends.”

  She laughed. “Name one.”

  “Ah, there is Stan.” He held up his finger.

  “Stan is your boss, isn’t he?”

  “Oh, yeah, he’s my boss.”

  “Hate to tell you this, dude, but your boss isn’t your friend, and you still didn’t tell me anyone else. How about girls? Any pretty girls you work with?”

  She watched his face turn red and could see how uncomfortable he was. Yup, bingo. There was a girl.

  “Nope.” He sighed again. “Just drive, Katy. I don’t want to talk.”

  “You never want to talk. Hey, how about I come in and meet your boss, your coworkers, and ask them what you do? And see who this pretty girl is?”

  “No!”

  Boy, she had his full attention now. The way he looked at her, she could see his horror at the mention of her talking to his coworkers. Maybe they were letting him sit back and do nothing. That seemed to be the norm instead of making him work, holding him accountable—and who was this girl?

  “Yeah, I think I should. Since you don’t want to tell me what you do at the bakery all day, it sounds like you’re not doing much at all.”

  “I sort the flour and bowls and grate the lemons. I fold the boxes…” He was thinking, and she could see she’d hit the spot he didn’t want anyone focusing on.