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"I think the ca away from your school friends There have to be a couple of cool kids in town, right?"

"I don’t hang out with the cool kids," Starr told her "But I’d like to make some friends"

"Great Then look that over and tell me what you think"

Starr nodded She didn’t ask about the cost Jimmy Don’s lawyer had explained there’d been a life insurance policy on Starr’s mother, and the money from that had been put into a trust Their dad had kicked in some, as well No doubt the teen assumed her expenses would be paid froally she could take money from the trust, she didn’t want to She would cover the cost of the ca expenses They were family Sort of At the very least, they were related, and that counted

"Come on," she said as she stood "You can read about the camp while I start dinner"

They went into the kitchen Starr settled at the sredients for fried chicken As she opened the refrigerator, she saw a few unfamiliar casserole dishes

"Did you cook?" she asked

"No A couple of ladies ca thelanced at the labels One si in both the oven and the microwave The other label said it was Denise’s Many Layered Tamale Pie Destiny was pretty sure she hadn’t met anyone named Denise, but that didn’tnoteworthy brought out the casserole brigade

"We can have these for lunch," she said "If that’s okay with you"

"Sure"

She du After washing off the chicken, she patted it dry and then soaked it in butter the pieces in with the flour A couple of shakes later, the chicken was coated She set the pieces on a plate The trick to really good fried chicken was hot oil and letting the flour lanced at Starr The teen read the camp information intently

There was a stillness about her Orlife hadn’t been easy She rarely saw her father; her mother had been in and out of rehab and had eventually died of an overdose Now Starr lived at a boarding school She had no grandparents, and all her siblings were either half or step and total strangers

Destiny’s guilt returned, but this time for a different reason She needed to ether They could get to know each other

She supposed that in a lot of families, half sisters would already be friends But not in hers, and that was because her father couldn’t resist a beautiful worimly Jimmy Don loved the ladies, and they loved hi and reain Not that her mother was any different Lacey Mills was on her seventh husband Or hth It was difficult to keep track

Destiny was Jimmy Don and Lacey’s firstborn She’d been witness to the early years of their relationship She’d grown up with the screaet out of the hen teood times were always temporary She’d vowed to be different She wanted a calhs or lows for her She was looking for a ot her heart beating faster

Her deter Gilmores of the world Sure, he was a handso way about hi But she didn’t want to beg She didn’t want to yearn, lust, drea She wanted certainty A solid, dependable, comfortable kind of love

Sex was the root of all evil She’d learned that early, too She’d never let herself be swept ahich was a point of pride for her No hor about that was ever going to change

THE MAN CAVE had been an old hardware store, back in the day When Kipling had first gotten the idea of opening a bar where guys could be coht of the store for sale on Katie Lane As the seller also happened to be one of his business partners in the bar, he’d gotten a good deal on the place

Renovations had gone quickly It helped that several of his new business partners knew the local trades, and things got done Now they were only a feeeks frolanced around There was a long bar along the east wall that housed a self-serve beer fridge Tables filled the front area There were pool tables and dartboards, a poker roo a couple in the bathrooms so no one had to miss a play

The second floor overlooked theSports memorabilia covered the walls Not just the usual Sports Illustrated swimsuit covers, but actual trophies and other iteuy who had owned the building, had brought in one of his yellow jerseys from the Tour de France There were footballs and helmets donated by the former pro players at Score, a local PR firm, and dozens of trophies fro’s contribution was one of his gold medals from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics