Hey everyone.

Thank you for the response to this story already. Means a lot to me.

I had the weekend off work (I'm a carer for kids with special needs so I work every other weekend) so I managed to get the first full chapter written. I can promise you updates won't be this regular going forward though as I work 15 hour shifts haha

Hope you enjoy

Disclaimer: All characters apart from a few belong to Stephanie Meyer.

chapter 2

Today My Life Begins

A whole new world is waiting

It's mine for the taking

I know I can make it

Today my life begins

(Today My Life Begins - Bruno Mars)

Cali, come on. We really need to get going if we wanna say goodbye to everyone and make it to Medford today," I called up the stairs to my daughter.

"I'm just getting ready, I'll be down in a sec, mom," she called back from her bedroom and I rolled my eyes. We were going to see my grams and some family friends to say goodbye before embarking on a fifteen hour drive, there was no need to look nice.

I looked down at my outfit – black biker shorts and an oversized San Francisco 49ers tee that once belonged to my dad. I had no idea where my daughter got her love of fashion from, probably from her father's side.

I stood at the bottom of the stairs for another five minutes, impatiently tapping my foot. If she takes this long to get ready at the age of nine, I dreaded to think what she would be like as a teenager. Finally, she ran down the stairs wearing a pair of floral shorts and a white cami, her copper hair fallings around her small shoulders in waves.

We made a cute kid, I thought to him. I knew he couldn't hear me, obviously, but I found myself thinking things to him a lot since the birth of our daughter over nine years ago.

"What possibly took you so long? Your whole room is packed up."

Cali shrugged. "My hair didn't look right." She spoke so much older than her age sometimes, something she got from me. My grams always told me I was an 'old soul', and my daughter definitely inherited that.

"We really need to be leaving, baby," I told her, and she said goodbye to the house we had called home for the past six years before walking out and getting into my car. I followed her out, closing the door and climbing into the driver's seat.

I took one last glance at the house before pulling away, sad to leave but ready to make a fresh start.

Today my life begins.

* * CG * *

We made the short drive over to my grandma's house and Cali had her seatbelt unclipped and door open before I had barely put the car into park. Following my daughter, I stepped out of the car and into the modest two story house I had grown up in.

Born in San Francisco, I had spent the first four years of my life there until my parents died suddenly in a car crash. My grams had decided to move us to Carmel-By-The-Sea – a small beach city almost two hours south of San Francisco – after the accident, the pain of losing her only son and daughter-in-law making it too hard to stay in San Francisco.

When I walked into the house, I could hear the voice of my daughter screaming and giggling. I made my way through the small house and into the kitchen, passing glances as family pictures as I went. Walking into the kitchen, I observed my daughter sitting on the shoulders a tall, Native American man and grinned.

"Mommy, help me!"

"Mommy can't help you if she can't catch me," the man chuckled before running outside with my daughter.

I walked over to my grandmother and her best friend, Sue, who were sat on the bar stools along with Sue's kids, Leah and Seth. Wrapping my arms around my grams, I rested my head on her shoulder, the same way I had done since I was a little girl.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do up there without Jake to wear her out."

"You'll have to start working out, build up that muscle to get her on your shoulders," Seth joked and everyone laughed.

"Doubtful. I can barely pick her up anymore," I said sadly, missing the days when I could carry my daughter with ease.

"She sure is growing up fast," grams said sadly, and I knew, like me, she was remembering the first day we brought her home.

Those days were the scariest of my life. Only eighteen, barely a high school graduate, suddenly responsible for not just my own life but the life of a helpless little girl. Sure we had grams, and amazing friends who stuck by me when some people didn't, but I vowed to myself the first time they placed Cali in my arms that I would not rely too much on anyone else. I got myself into that predicament and I was responsible for making sure my little girl had a good life. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of help, especially when I went to college and was working two jobs. But I had done it, we had made it through, and now we were moving on up, literally, to Seattle.

I had been looking for a new job, one with better pay and a shorter commute. I worked at a small publishing house in Hollister, about an hour away from Carmel. Being an editor I didn't have to go into the office everyday and could work from home, but when I did the commute was a nightmare. Unfortunately there wasn't many other publishers near Carmel so I had told myself to just suck it up. Yeah, gas prices were extortionate and I was putting a lot of miles on my car but I had a good job with a decent paycheck so I was content.

Of course grams knew I was not totally happy with the situation and had secretly sent my resume to multiple publishers across the state and some out of state. Imagine my surprise when I got a call from a company in Seattle saying they had seen my resume and wanted to invite me for an interview. I had told them there must have been a mistake but they were insistent. Then I informed them I lived in California and had a then eight-year-old daughter so they had agreed I could interview via video. After they offered me the job I still wasn't sure about the move, but they were extremely accommodating, offering to help with moving expenses and allowing me to wait until summer so I wasn't pulling Cali out of school before the end of the school year. I had managed to find a nice house in a decent area in the city in a good school district thanks to some money my parents had left me.

So that's how I found myself moving away from home for the first time, just me and my baby girl.

The oven timer pulled me out of my thoughts and I gave grams a squeeze before letting her go. She got up and went to take the cookies she had baked out of the oven. White chocolate and raspberry – Cali's favorite. She put them on a plate and left the rest to cool and poured out a glass of milk before walking outside to where my daughter was still playing. Leah and Seth followed her out as if they had never been fed before.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Sue asked me. I opened my mouth to say 'I'm fine' but stopped myself when Sue gave me a look.

I sighed. "Nervous. We've never lived in such a big city before. And we know no-one up there. And then there's grams." I paused. "We've never been away from her. And I don't want her to be alone."

Sue patted my hand. "She won't be alone, sweetie. She's got us. And you can't put your life on hold."

"My life hasn't been on hold," I argued weakly and Sue gave me another look.

"If you really don't wanna go, then don't. If staying here and working for that shitty little company"–my eyes widened, Sue very rarely cussed but she ignored it and continued–"would make you happy, then that's great. But don't stay just because you're nervous. This could be an amazing thing. You just have to let yourself believe it." I nodded, knowing she was right. "Plus, it's only a two hour plane ride from here to there, it's not like you're moving to the other side of the country."

"I for one can't wait," grams said walking back in the house, having obviously heard a bit of mine and Sue's conversation. "With you two gone, I won't spend so much money on food. I don't know how you're both so thin with all you guys eat. The day you both get fat I will piss my panties." Sue laughed.

"Grams!"

"Don't 'grams' me. That girl has already eaten two and a half cookies. I thought she was gonna tackle Jake when I picked up a second."

I laughed, and then remembered the long journey ahead. "Cali don't eat too many cookies," I called to the backdoor.

"I won't mama," she called back, her voice muffled from having her mouth full, no doubt.

"Now, I want you to make me a promise," grams said, her voice serious now. "This is a chance for you to start a fresh, so please find yourself a man. There must be cobwebs down there," she said, and Sue choked on a mouthful of iced tea.

"Grams!" I complained, my face burning up.

The first few years of Cali's life I was completely celibate, which is not really surprising considering I was a single mom juggling a toddler, two jobs and college. I was also a bit broken hearted, but we won't talk about that.

Once I graduated and things calmed down a bit, I dipped my toe back into the dating pool, partially because I wanted to and partially because grams and my friends told me how sad it was that he was the last guy I'd been with.

So I dated.

I learnt quickly that telling a guy I had a daughter made them run, so I tended to keep that snippet of information to myself until I knew the relationship could go somewhere, but it never did.

And it wasn't for the lack of trying in my case. I wanted to fall in love again but none of the guys I went out with ever gave me those feelings. The kinda feelings he gave me that summer. So I tended to hook up. Being a mom didn't mean I was dead, after all. I still had needs. Just because things never worked out, didn't mean I couldn't have some fun.

"It has not been that long," I told grams and Sue, my hands covering my burning face.

"I know, honey. We're just teasing," grams said, patting my hand while they both still chuckled.

Thankfully Cali ran back into the room then, terminating that conversation.

"What time do we have to leave, mom?" she asked, her hair more wild than it was when she arrived due to playing with Jake.

I glanced at the clock and sighed. "Couple minutes, baby. Why don't you start saying your goodbyes?"

She nodded and ran back outside.

Sue stood up and wrapped her arms around me.

"This is a good thing for you, sweetie. And you know where we are if you need anything."

Tears gathered in my eyes as I nodded against her shoulder before pulling away. She put her hands on either side of my face and kissed my forehead before releasing me into my grams' waiting arms.

"All joking aside, I will miss you so much, baby girl," she whispered to me, the emotion clear in her voice.

"I'll miss you too, grams."

Grams released me as the other walked back in the room. I gave Leah and Seth a hug with promises of calling them soon and telling them to come visit me whenever they wanted. Letting go of Seth, I walked into Jake's open arms.

Jacob was my first friend when grams and I moved to Carmel. Grams had taken me to the park and while I was playing I fell over and scraped my knee. I was crying and remember grams running over to me but before she got to me a two year old Jake waddled over, put his hand to his mouth and then placed his hand on my knee. Despite him being two years younger than me, we were inseparable from then.

I wrapped my arms around a now twenty-six year old Jacob's neck. He had certainly grown from the little boy who had stopped me crying all those years ago. He had been with me through everything; he was the second person I told about being pregnant, he called me after every OB appointment to make sure the baby was okay, he was in the waiting room the day I gave birth. I'll never forget the sight of a then sixteen-year-old Jake holding my baby girl, tears in his eyes when I asked him to be her godfather.

Many people thought Jake and I would end up together, but he was like my little brother, although he acted like he was older sometimes.

"I'm gonna miss you so much, Bells," he told me, and the tears I had managed to keep at bay fell down my cheeks.

"I'm gonna miss you, too."

"Call me whenever you need to. Even if its three in the morning and you just wanna talk about nothing." I nodded into his neck and he gave me one last squeeze before letting me go.

When we had said all of our goodbyes, Cali and I made our way out of the house and back into my car. As I started the car, I saw Jake wrap his large arm around my crying grams and took a deep breath.

And with one last wave, we were off.

Today my life begins.

* * CG * *

Travelling with a nine year old was not easy, let me tell ya.

After leaving grams' house we drove for seven hours, stopping every now and then for toilet breaks and for me to stretch my legs. We stayed the night at a motel in Medford, Oregon and, after eating a quick dinner and showering, I passed out on the tiny motel bed, exhausted from driving and knowing I had another long haul the next day.

We woke up early and had breakfast before taking off again. It was another almost seven hour drive before we finally arrived at our new house. I had never been happier than when I pulled into the driveway of our house, thanking God that I didn't have to hear Cali said "are we there yet" again.

I'm gonna need a large glass of wine when she's in bed, I thought to myself as we hopped out of the car.

I looked up at the house I'd picked out for us – a modest two-story grey house with a small porch, greenery growing either side of the white steps leading up to the front door.

Finding this house was what really convinced me of the move to Seattle. The house me and Cali had in Carmel was decent and close to grams' house, so I didn't want to find us just any old house when we moved. I didn't have a lot of money but I managed to sell my house in Carmel for a decent price and had money from the sale of my parents house in San Francisco so I found us this house in a good neighborhood near a good school for Cali. Plus, my commute to work was less than twenty-minutes.

Cali followed me up the steps to the house, her beautiful brown eyes – the same shade as mine, and my dad's, and my grandma's – taking everything in. I had flown up the Seattle a few times, first to find the house, and then with Jake and Seth to decorate, but Cali had only seen pictures so I was excited to show her our new home.

I unlocked the front door and moved aside, letting her step into the entryway.

I had not wanted the house to be empty when we moved. I knew there were some things we would have to move last minute, but most of our furniture had arrived before us so I could make it a home before we moved, and I had flown up the week before to get the house ready.

"It looks amazing, mommy," Cali told me, taking in the grey walls and dark hardwood floors. I didn't have a huge knack for interior design, but I knew how to make a house a home, thanks to grams.

I took Cali on a tour of the house, leaving her bedroom until last.

When she opened her bedroom door, her mouth dropped and her eyes went wild as she stepped onto the soft cream carpet.

The walls were white, although one wall was covered with a white and pink wallpaper. Two built-in cases stood either side of her window, which had a pink built in bench for her to sit when she was reading. Against the papered wall was a plush bedframe in a soft pink shade and I watched her eyes take in the small double bed. She had been asking me for a double bed since Christmas and I decided now was the right time, a reward for her being so supportive of me making us move away from the only life she had known. Hanging from the ceiling above her bed was a pink and gold light shade and on the wall opposite her bed stood a large white chest of drawers and her toy box, both currently empty as our clothes and her toys were some of the few things we had not shipped up early.

"What do you think?" I asked her from where I stood in the doorframe.

She turned around and wrapped her small arms around my waist. "I love it. Thank you, mommy!"

My arms wrapped around her small body, a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. "You're welcome, baby girl."

As nervous as I was about this move, standing in our new home, my whole world in my arms, I felt ready to take on anything life had to throw at me.

Today my life begins.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Next up, we meet some familiar faces (to us, not to Bella)

Reviews are extremely welcome.

Thank you for reading.