Meredith and Sam

By Anita Claire

Sometimes you can't help falling in love
Meredith's mom dropped out of college when she got pregnant. There's no way Meredith will let any boy derail her dreams.

Sam is captivated by the pretty freshman with the big blue eyes. He's on a one-man mission to date her.
What happens when a shy stubborn country girl meets a warm charming city boy? Can Sam's persistence overcome Meredith's reluctance?
Of course, Meredith has her band of college friends dubbed The Princesses from their freshman year Halloween costumes. Meet the princesses in their freshman year of college and accompany them through their twenties as we follow Meredith and Sam’s story.

This is a stand-alone book, but much more fun if read along with the other Princess stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anita Claire
• Release date: Apr 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463515846

Anita Claire

Anita Claire is an author of contemporary romance novels. Her books explore women who hold non-traditional jobs and the situations they encounter. She writes about smart, hard-working women and the men they fall in love with.

Book preview

The Princess of Silicon Valley

Book 8

Meredith and Sam

By

Anita Claire

Meredith and Sam

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition

Editing by Lisa Cerasoli

Cover design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc., http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com/

Text copyright © Anita Claire 2019, All rights reserved

Other Books by Anita Claire

Books in The Reunion series – coming in 2019

Three contemporary romances stories that take place at a twenty-year high school reunion

Abby and Quinn

Kate and Noah

Harper and Liam

Books in A Silicon Valley Prince series

Three contemporary romance stories about adults in their 30’s.

The Story of Jax and Payton

The Story of Brody and Ana

The Story of Flint and Lexi

Books in The Princess of Silicon Valley series

A collection of eight, coming of age, romance stories.

Book 1 – Juliette

Book 2 – Nate

Book 3 – Hita

Book 4 – Jennifer and Rocket

Book 5 – Isabelle

Book 6 – Kelly

Book 7 – Olivia

Book 8 – Meredith and Sam

Character list

Princesses – college friends

* Juliette Cole – Snow White

*Hita Chamarthi – (pronounced Heeta) – Pocahontas

*Jennifer Takahashi – Mulan

*Isabelle Becker – Belle

*Olivia Habibi – Jasmine

*Kelly Flannigan – Merida

*Meredith Price – Cinderella

Prolog –Mom

Meredith Age 10 – 5th grade

Conner, can you get a glass down for me?

Get your own glass.

Conner, mom’s still sleeping and the glasses are too high up for me to reach.

Climb on the counter Meredith. You don’t have any problem climbing up to get cookies.

MOM, Conner’s not helping, I yell as I run up the first five steps of stairs. My parents’ bedroom is ahead of me. The door is open and I can make out mom’s form as she lies in bed. Trudging up the remaining stairs I can see her blond hair peeping out of the top of the blanket. I enter the bedroom.

MOM, I yell. Conner’s not helping, MOM.

Mom doesn’t move so I go to my room. I change from my pajamas into my school clothes and pull my quilt up in a sloppy attempt to make my bed. Back in the kitchen, my brother’s sitting at the table, eating a bowl of corn flakes. He shoots me a triumphant smile. I grab a chair and drag it past the sink, climb up and pull down a glass for milk, a bowl for cereal and find a spoon.

I knew you could do it. You’re lazy, he says.

With narrowed eyes, I shoot him my most annoyed look. I fill my bowl with cornflakes and pour milk into my glass and bowl.

I munch on my cornflakes, making an extra effort to slurp and smack my lips. Conner pretends to ignore me but I know the noise is grating on his nerves. When I finish, I place my bowl and glass in the sink. Conner’s pulled out the bread, peanut butter and jelly. The two of us make our lunches.

MOM, are you getting up, Conner yells.

I climb on the counter to pull down a bag of cookies. Since mom’s still sleeping I figure she won’t see how many cookies I choose. I stick them in the bottom of my reusable lunch bag.

Mom should be up by now, I comment.

I hope she’s not going through another one of her depressions. She spent a lot of time in bed the last time.

Conner’s four years older than me. He has a better memory of things that have happened. When I was little, I remember dad telling us to help mom out since she needed her rest.

We better wake mom before we leave.

He trudges up the stairs to our parents’ bedroom. I tug my coat off the hook and wait for Conner in the front hall.

Mom, we’re leaving, Conner says as he enters her room.

Trudging up five steps I look into my parents’ bedroom. Conner’s leaning over the bed and shaking mom. He places his hand on her forehead and on her cheek. He turns, shoots me a look, his face is white and his eyes are huge. He turns back to stare at mom. I enter her room. I can see her laying there, still sleeping. Conner backs up from the bed, when he reaches me, he grabs my arm and drags me towards the kitchen.

Hey, what’s up? I question.

Still holding my arm, Conner pulls me down the stairs and fumbles for the telephone. He lets go of me as he dials 911. Fear shoots through me.

Mom, I yell as I run towards the stairway.

With the phone in one hand, Conner tackles me with his free hand. He grabs me around the waist as the 911 operator comes on. Conner’s whole body is trembling

Something’s wrong with my mom. His voice sounds funny, strained. You need to get the paramedics here now.

He gives her our address as I try to wiggle away, but his hold is tight. Still on the phone, he stares at me with these large hollow eyes.

We’re going to be late for school, I complain.

Conner shakes his head in response. His breathing becomes heavy and hard. I want to run into my parents’ bedroom and make sure mom’s okay. It feels like forever that we stand there like that.

Shouldn’t we be doing something, like CPR?

She’s cold, he whispers.

Don’t we need to get her more blankets or some tea?

Conner shakes his head.

From where we stand, I can see through the dining front window, it faces onto the street. Joe, from a few houses down is running towards us. His boots aren’t tied and his shirt and jacket aren’t buttoned or zipped. I’ve never seen him act like this before. He jogs up our walkway. Conner follows my pointing finger. While keeping a hold on me, he walks us to our front door. As he unlocks it Joe blasts inside. Conner doesn’t say anything, he points upstairs. Joe runs past us and into my parent’s room. He comes down a minute or so later with a grim look on his face.

Conner, where’s your dad? Joe asks.

He’s been working in Gary the last few months. He gets up real early. We don’t see him until dinner.

Why don’t you kids come into the kitchen.

In the distance I hear sirens. That’s strange. Someone must have been in an accident or a house is on fire. I watch as a fire truck pulls in front.

Please stay here, don’t go upstairs, Joe orders before he leaves the house and meets up with the other men on the street.

Conner, what’s Joe doing here? Why isn’t he helping mom?

Joe’s a volunteer firefighter.

I watch as Joe talks to the other men who have filed out of the fire truck. Their radio speakers squeak. They shake their heads and look at our house. Joe and another man enter the house. Conner and I have moved so we have a better view of the street. We stand paralyzed by the window.

The firefighter leaves the house and walks back to his truck. I’m still not sure why firefighters are here. A couple of neighbors have left their homes and are standing at the end of their driveway. Old Mr. Horner, from across the road is talking to the firefighters, who are still standing by their truck. A police officer gets out of his car. He speaks to one of the firefighters. They turn and look at the house. The policeman’s a stocky guy with short hair, his son Dylan, played little league with Conner. He walks up to our house, with a grim look on his face.

You’re the Price boy, Conner, right? he asks. Conner nods with a worried look in his eyes. Son, how many people live here?

Four, my dad, my mom, my sister and me.

Where’s your dad?

He’s at work.

Do you know when he left?

My dad works construction. He’s up in Gary these days. He gets up early, before we all get up.

The questions continue as my eyes wander to the stairs. I want my mom. Why are all those men in my parent’s bedroom? What’s wrong with mom? I don’t realize I’m crying until Old Mrs. Horner from across the street takes a hold of my hand and walks me to her house.

Chapter 1 –College

Meredith Age 18 - Freshman in college

After two days on the Zephyr train, a bus ride to Bart, and a train ride to Palo Alto, I catch the Marguerite, my University’s local bus. It takes me around the campus. By the time, I get dropped off by the dorms I’m exhausted. I follow the signs with the arrow that says, Freshman This Way. I struggle with my second-hand suitcase, the one that I bought at Goodwill. It was the best one I could find, even though it has a wiggly wheel. My big box, filled with everything I took off my bed, makes navigation even harder. As I turn the corner and enter the quad, the most miraculous thing happens.

Meredith, Meredith, Meredith.

There’s a chorus of people chanting my name. I’m shocked. I perk up as I’m surrounded by upperclassman with big friendly smiles. Never in my life have I had a greeting like this. As they grab my stuff I flash back to the conversation that brought me to this school.

I’m sitting on a bed in a dorm room on the campus of Purdue. My roommate, Bethany, is a friendly girl from an affluent suburb of Indianapolis. We’re both flute players in the Indiana state high school orchestra.

"Purdue’s my safe school, she confides. My top choices are either North Western or Washington University in St Louis. Actually, I have ten colleges on my list. What schools are you applying to?"

"My counselor says I have a good chance for a scholarship to come here. If they don’t cover room and board I’ll take classes at the local community college. If I can save up enough money, I can transfer here by my junior year."

"Are your grades good enough to get a full scholarship?"

I’m a little nervous about this conversation. Is this a topic you should talk about in public? Teachers are the only people I’ve ever spoken to who know about going to college.

"I’ve always gotten straight A’s. At my middle school if you get all A’s all three years you graduate as a valedictorian. There were three of us that earned that award. I know the other two have also maintained all A’s in high school. It should be the three of us again, when we graduate."

"What about your SAT? Did you take it in May?"

"I got 1,600."

You got a perfect score. Have your parents gone to college? I shake my head. You know if your family’s income is less than $65,000, schools like Harvard and Stanford waive tuition and fees. All the named schools are searching for smart kids from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. You should talk to your guidance counselor about it."

"My guidance counselor told me if I can make valedictorian I’ll get a scholarship to Purdue."

"A lot of guidance counselors don’t have a vision beyond Indiana. I don’t know much about the program. It’s one of those things you hear about. You know, all the good schools give kids they’re considering points. You already have so many. She starts ticking off on her fingers. working class, the first person in their family to go to college, play an instrument, and valedictorian. You don’t get any points for being a minority. Since you got a perfect score on your SAT’s, you’ll have so many points the schools will be scrambling to get you. You should go online and do some research. Why live at home and go to community college when you can go to a named school for free?"

I never dreamed of leaving Indiana. I need to find a computer and do some research. As the other kids take a break from practice, I make my way to the library and check out Stanford University. I’ve heard the name associated with sports teams. With a little bit of searching, I find Stanford. It's located in California and there is a program like the one she was talking about.

Sam Age 20 – Junior in College

One of my first college memories was getting moved in, that’s why I signed up for greeting freshman at New Student Orientation -- NSO. The students on the NSO committee come back to school a few days before the freshman arrive. It’s one big fun party. Each freshman provides a picture of themselves. We spend the three nights before they arrive playing a beer game, where we put names to faces. It gets ridiculous after a while.

On the day the freshmen are due to show up, we’re all excited. One of the guys gets some good party tunes going, while the rest of us find ourselves dancing. When a freshman enters the quad, it becomes a fun competition to identify who they are. Some kids are easier than others.

We all are amused by the freshman’s reaction. The American kids arrive with their parents. Most of the international kids arrive on their own. As we clap and sing out their name, the whole family stands in the quad surprised by our greeting. As a group, we descend on them. We grab their suitcases, bags, and boxes while one of us scrambles to get their room location and pass key. It gets crazy when a bunch of freshmen arrives at once. We have ongoing bets. Whoever accurately places a name with a face, gets first dibs on choosing who’s stuff they get to carry.

The morning is going well; we’re all in the swing of things. When I enter the quad after carrying some dude’s stuff to his room, I see this pretty blond girl enter. She’s all by herself, attempting to wheel an old suitcase with a big box perched precariously on top. She looks rather bedraggled, flustered, and scared.

Meredith Price, a guy yells out. A bunch of us pick up the rhythm, we start clapping and chanting. Meredith, Meredith, Meredith.

I don’t go back to the tables since her big blue eyes and pouty lips have caught my attention. Chanting her name while clapping my hands, I join the group to help out. As I approach her, the most amazing look washes across her face. Most kids are either embarrassed or intimidated, but she has a look of pure amazement and awe. It's as if, instead of a bunch of upperclassmen surrounding her; she’s watching fireworks or a series of shooting stars.