Chapter one

Budgewoi. What a cute little town, nice and quiet and perfect for a woman trying to raise her children by herself. Welcome to my life. I'm 27 years old, a divorced mum of six-year-old twins, a son Max and a daughter Lilly. My fairytale high school romance didn't work out for me just like 83 % of cases according to statistics. I should have listened to the odds!

We have just moved to this quiet central New South Wales suburb to escape my past. I've left my family behind in Queensland to avoid my stalker ex-husband. The hardest part was not being able to tell my parents where I am. We still talk but only on the mobile phone so that they can't trace the phone number. It's not their fault and they understand why it has to be like this. But the less people who know where we live, the better. Right now, that's a whole four people; my kids and I, and the real estate agent that I leased our home from.

The kids have been going to the local primary school for the past couple of days and today is their first trip there by bus. My son Max assures me that he is old enough to look after Lilly and himself and insisted on being treated like a "big-boy" and be allowed to catch the bus. Max took on the role of my protector when we moved and he tends to take it very seriously. I really don't want to disappoint him but I don't want him to grow up before his time. So I agreed to a trial run of a week to see if they like it or not. Today, Wednesday, is their first trial day.

We rush through breakfast and packing school bags, getting dressed and brushing teeth. The bus will pull up at the corner about 500 meters down the road at precisely 8.16am. Over the sound of the television I can hear cars going up and down the street already. I glance to the clock and see that it's just after 8 already. Must be the neighbours heading to work. I hear a car pull up next door and the music is so loud that I can hear it over the blaring television. Must have teenagers next door, I decide.

8.06am and I have the kids out the front door and hurriedly walking to the corner as fast as we can manage it. Thankfully we arrive with 2 minutes to spare before the bus arrives. After meeting the bus driver and saying goodbye, I turn and head for home. This time though, I take the time to look at my surroundings. There are some beautiful houses in the street and for the most part, it's very quiet too.

As I near my new home, I see a man standing out the front of the neighbour's house. He smiles at me as I walk up the sidewalk towards him. As I approach he holds out his hand and says, "Hi there, you must be our new neighbour. I'm Tom." As I shake his hand I say, "hi, I'm Elle, it's nice to meet you.

"I hope my son and his mates didn't wake you this morning with their loud music. I try to make sure they keep the noise down but they just don't seem to hear me when I say that."

Shaking my head I say, "no they didn't wake me. I have two young children so I was up anyhow, probably before them actually."

Laughing Tom tells me about his sons. "Bradie is the one who was making all the noise this morning with his mates. Andy is probably still in bed. I usually don't see him until lunch time". As he is speaking, a lady holding a small child and a young guy wander over towards us.

Tom turns his head and smiles. "Speak of the devil," he says. "Bradie, Sarah, this is our new neighbour Elle". They both smile at me and Bradie holds out his hand for me to shake. Now I have to say, at this point I was holding back my inner fan girl for all I was worth. "Holy shit, this is Bradie Webb!" I was thinking to myself.

I look down at his hand and politely take it and smile at him. "Pleased to meet you both" I say, hoping my voice and hand aren't both shaking. Sarah smiles at me and says "and this little guy is Chris". The little boy shyly hides his face in his mum's shoulder.

"Hello Chris" I say to the little cherub. He looks at me with one eye and gives a little grin before hiding his face once more. "Oh he is so cute. I remember when my two were that little" I say to Sarah.

"So you have children then Elle?"

"Oh yeah, I have twins who are six years old. I was lucky that I had a boy and a girl. They get along with each other really well and rarely fight."

Bradie gave a smirk and said, "Wish I could say the same".

"Come on guys, lets leave Elle to get settled in" said Tom as he grabbed Sarah and headed to their house.

I smiled and said "bye guys, nice to have met you all".

I turned and headed into the house to start my unpacking, but not before having a silent fan girl squeal! I was living next to Bradie and Andy from Short Stack!