Worth the Wait

By Rowena Candlish

Curvy IT specialist Lena wants to lose weight in order to attend her ex-boyfriend's wedding and perhaps make him regret dumping her for her younger sister.
Cute fitness-freak Caleb loves spending time with Lena and helping her achieve her goal, but has never overcome his inner geekiness in order to ask her on a date.
Agreeing to accompany Lena to the wedding means he’ll finally get his date with her. But is Lena losing the weight to feel good about herself, or is it because she’s planning to win back her ex-boyfriend?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rowena Candlish
• Release date: Oct 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370910656

Rowena Candlish

Rowena Candlish is an Australian writer.

Book preview

Worth the Wait

Copyright 2016 Rowena Candlish

Smashwords Edition

Cover Art by Book Cover by Design

Edited by Annie Seaton

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favourite authorised retailer. Thank you for your support.

ISBN: 9781370910656

Short Stories by Rowena Candlish

Minnie’s Year of Living

How You Love Me

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

About the author

Chapter 1

Lena Hamilton didn’t want to die like this.

Not with her lungs gasping for oxygen and her calf muscles screaming in agony. Not with her belly bouncing up and down with each step like it was competing at its own Olympics. And she especially didn’t want to die surrounded by slender, graceful fitness-freaks who glided past her like mist.

The echo of her footsteps pounding against the track sounded like a mantra in her head. Lose weight, lose weight, lose weight. The nasal, high-pitched voice sounded an awful lot like her mother. Lena pushed it away, sucked in a deep breath, and kept going.

Sweat poured down her face and into her eyes, blurring the figure running ahead. Why had she decided she needed to lose weight in the middle of a humid Queensland summer? Oh that’s right, because her ex, Devon, was getting married in April.

The late afternoon sun shone down like a spotlight on a stage and Lena hated being its star. Born the not-so-perfect daughter to perfect parents, it was a battle she’d fought and lost all her life. Wheezing for air, she glanced around. Surely there was a fence she could crawl behind until she’d caught her breath and stopped sweating like a pig.

Come on, Lenny. A deep voice broke through the roar of blood in her ears. Nearly there. You’re doing great.

Caleb Marlowe stood in front of her, his brown eyes peering at her with concern. Probably because he’d be the one who’d have to carry her exhausted body home if she dropped dead right here. Lena brushed the sweat from her brow. Correction, he wasn’t standing in front of her. The bastard was jogging backwards keeping an even distance between them. His T-shirt was wrinkle free, like he’d just slipped into it and hadn’t been exercising with her for the last forty-five minutes.

At least he’d taken pity on her and agreed to switch their exercise sessions to the afternoons after work. Mornings and Lena were like oil and water.

Got plans for the weekend?

When he’d first offered to be her running partner, Lena’s stomach had shot to her knees in terror. The thought of anyone seeing her crazy, corkscrew hair limp with sweat, her face as purple as a beetroot, and her stomach and hips jiggling like a bobble-head toy made her want to crawl under her bed and hide.

Caleb had the kind of athletic grace that Lena envied. He was tall and lean with muscles that looked naturally developed through exercise and hard work. His dark brown hair had a slight wave to it, making it appear shaggy. Behind his black-framed glasses, his brown eyes were clear. He was kind of cute, in that computer-nerd boy-next-door way but Lena averted her gaze. She wasn’t in the market for another broken heart.

Plans? No. Lena puffed with the ferocity of a steam train. She’d only known Caleb for a month and it still surprised her how well they got along. Usually, she had to work hard at reigning in her personality in order to make friends. Things like toning down her laugh—from natural and busty to demure and feminine—and remembering to use her ‘inside’ voice. She hadn’t done those things with Caleb and, to her surprise; he was one of the few people who’d stuck. But then, Lena felt more comfortable talking to computers than she did to people.

Her plans for the weekend weren’t exciting, as he had probably guessed. Tonight she was going to soak in a tub of warm, soapy water until her muscles forgave her for putting them through this torture. Then she would tuck herself into bed with a good book and a glass of wine—without counting the calories. As for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend—well, if she was still alive—she’d think of something.

Caleb’s smooth voice drowned out the sound of her thumping heart. There’s a new flea market opening tomorrow in the Valley. I thought I’d check it out. Wanna come with me?

Sure. Despite exercising with Lena three times a week for the last three weeks, Caleb still hadn’t worked out that she could only answer in single syllables, and barely that. He wasn’t even out of breath whereas she couldn’t suck enough air into her lungs for her brain to begin to form sentences. Gasping for air, she slowed to a walk and then stopped.

She gripped her hips and bent over to try and release the pressure in her diaphragm. The tight constriction felt as though she’d swallowed a hippopotamus and the only way she could dislodge it was to hack up a lung.

Instead, she gasped for air the way a crackhead snorted a line of cocaine and tried to ignore the moisture dripping off her face onto the track. She’d never felt so unattractive. Her mother would be horrified that she was out in public wearing exercise clothes, no less. And not the trendy kind, either. She was too big for those.

As she