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CHAPTER ONE

Katy

Please don’t think I’m trashy

Please don’t judge me

I live in a trailer park, but life is so s happen unexpectedly and es, I admit

It started when Ino heat or electricity

“Hey,” I murmured as Brent strode in the door after work one day I stood at the sink, finishing up some dishes, and it was all very ho man was tired I could see it in his eyes, the faint lines of weariness bracketing his deep blue gaze, the deep breaths as his wide chest inhaled But he never failed to shoot a smile my way

“Hey there baby,” he said with a lazy grin, putting his lunchbox on the table Brent was an ironworker with the local union and had the body to prove it, all sculpted muscle, tall, thick and perfectly proportioned “How’s your day been, little girl?”

I h I tried not to show it I could literally smell him in the kitchen, the clean scent of honest sweat, all , and it made my insides tremble, my interior drip

“Not bad,” I whispered, then clearedto act norod, how could this be happening? This wasout loud, thea little, blushing in his presence

But my life has been crazy lately, so e Because, you see, I have an insane ure of speech, I mean it in the medical sense We live in a trailer park, the mobile homes so close to one another that everyone knows everyone else’s business And my mo as I can re pet rabbits in our home despite the fact that we had about one hundred and fifty square feet between the two of us, not brushing her hair so that it stuck straight up, her arish like a clown

So yeah, it was pretty obvious that I was in a shaky family situation with no supervision And after a couple years of Tina’s hysterical outbreaks, Brent finally stepped in, my savior, my safety net My , a load of para wo her off It happened so fast that I didn’t knohat to think, pure nu barefoot outside in the cold night air, wearing nothing but a thin night shirt when Brent Larson ca,

“You okay?” he asked gruffly, looking away I’d felt his gaze trail over uiltily, like he wasn’t supposed to be sizing up a teen girl

But I couldn’t absorb it at the time I was too stunned, shocked by the turn of events and completely mute On the one hand, Tina’s breakdoasn’t exactly nee’d been to this rodeo before It’s just that this time the paramedics told -term observation, so I was shocked, paralyzed, unsure of my next move God knows I could take care of s had reached titanic proportions and my mom needed serious professional help

So I said nothing, staring back at him, brown eyes wide

Brent cleared his throat again

“Listen, why don’t you co ot heat and hot water, it’s a place to crash for the night”

And after a pause, I nodded silently, trailing him with slow steps across the park to his mobile ho, my mom was behind on the bills, herwater, thank god, but the nights were bitter and I wasn’t looking forward to another sleepless one huddled under a pile of blankets, shivering so hard that oose bumps that never went away

So Brent’s offer was a godsend,else, I could at least be warm for once, sleep as well as I could before the shit really hit the fan and I had to figure so out