Wendy the Manager retracted her shockingly sharp claws from my arm and begrudgingly dropped me off at Amber’s, where I crashed on the couch after explaining to Amber how Monique had been hauled off by a merciless tow truck. This morning, I didn’t have time to run home and change before heading to Eddie’s office.

“Not yet,” I say, looking at Amber. “Think you could give me a ride back to my place later?”

“Your place?” She lets out a frustrated sigh. “Daren, you can’t keep staying there.”

“I can and I will. It’s a very crucial part of the façade I need to continue pulling off in order to not be categorized as the town outcast.”

“You’re being ridiculous. No one would treat you differently if they knew.”

“Everyone would treat me differently,” I argue. Then consider. “Except you. Because you’re the best person in the world.” I smile, hoping my compliment will distract her from pursuing the topic.

She doesn’t fall for it.

“I don’t like it,” she says, her mouth in a tight line. “Why don’t you just move in with me and my roommates?”

I scoff. “And be the token male in a house filled with nonstop estrogen? I don’t think so. But thank you, anyway.”

Amber lives with three other girls in a two-room apartment across town. And while living with four women might sound ideal to some guys, I know the reality of the situation: shoes all over the place, makeup strewn about the bathroom counter, tampons everywhere… yeah. I don’t think I’m ready for any of that. But it’s nice that Amber keeps offering.

“Your call.” She shrugs. “But the offers still stands.”

I nod. “I appreciate that.”

“I’ll give you a ride after we close up tonight, as long as you don’t mind waiting.” She wipes down the counter.

“Of course not.” I grin. “I’ll help you close.”

“Deal.” She grabs a frosted glass from a freezer below the counter. “So what’s your poison tonight?”

My face falls. The last time I was drunk was a few days ago at the Fourth of July Bash out on Copper Lake. Old Man Turner had just died so I swigged my sadness away until I was inexcusably hammered. And then I scared the crap out of the only other face that ever makes me happy, Sarah “Pixie” Marshall, when my stupid ass tried to drive drunk with her as my terrified passenger.

Just thinking about the fear in Sarah’s eyes makes my stomach knot. That was a whole new low for me. Pixie was Charity’s best friend and, therefore, someone I’ve always cared a great deal for. I would never intentionally hurt Pixie. Not in a million years. God, I really need to apologize to her.

I shake my head. “I think I’ve had enough poison for a while. I’ll take a lemonade.”

“Ooh. Very badass of you.” Amber fills the frosted glass with lemonade, and scans my face. “What’s wrong?”

I run a hand through my hair. “I just need to straighten some stuff out with Sarah, that’s all.”

“Sarah ‘Pixie’ Sarah?” she asks, setting the lemonade down in front of me. I nod and her face lights up. “Aw… I miss her. How’s she doing?”

I shrug. “She’s been working at Willow Inn with me and Levi all summer.”

She arches a brow. “Have those two figured out they belong together yet?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “But God, I hope so. She deserves a win for once, you know?”

She nods silently and carefully eyes me. “I know a few people who deserve a win.”

I avoid her eyes and focus on more pertinent matters. Like eating.

“Hey so…” I swallow, hating this part of my current circumstances. “Since I’m staying here until you close anyway, I was thinking I could maybe help out in the kitchen. Again. You know, if Jake needs a hand with the dinner rush. Again.”

She frowns. “I can spot you dinner, Daren. I know you love to cook, but you don’t have to keep coming in here and doing chores to earn a meal.”

“I don’t keep coming in for that,” I say harshly, even though that’s a lie. I’ve helped Jake in the kitchen at Latecomers five times in the past week. “I’m just, you know, tight on cash right now. That’s all.”

If he had room in the payroll budget, I’m sure Jake would hire me on the spot. But Latecomers is maxed out on employees, all of whom love their jobs and probably have no intention of quitting anytime soon. So for now, Jake lets me cook alongside him every once in a while and, in return, I get a free meal.

Sympathy flashes in Amber’s eyes, but only for a split second. She knows I hate being pitied.

“Jake always welcomes an extra set of hands in the kitchen,” she says then winks. “Especially if those hands belong to an aspiring chef.”

“Right.” I smile and start to get up but her hand smacks against mine, pinning me to the bar top.

“Not so fast,” she says. “The dinner rush won’t start for another hour or so. I think you should have dinner before you head back to the kitchen. Something tells me you haven’t had much to eat today.”

I gently slide my hand out from under hers. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. You’re hungry.”

“No, I’m not.”

She flicks the bar towel at me. Hard. “Quit being so prideful and sit your ass down.” The determined look in her eyes is anything but playful.

I slowly obey and return to my barstool. She slaps a black bar napkin down in front of me, thwacking the counter so hard that the burly guy seated a few stools down looks over. Then she calmly moves the glass of lemonade on top of the napkin.

“Now,” she says pleasantly, all hardness gone from her eyes. “What can I get you for dinner, sir?”

I stare at her, biting back a smile. It never ceases to amaze me how some women can go from sharp-as-steel to sugar-sweet in the blink of an eye.

“Surprise me,” I say.

As she spins around and moves to the computer, I watch her type in an order and shake my head.

After high school, Amber started working at Latecomers to save up for college. After our parents divorced, her life didn’t fall to pieces like mine.

When my mom left for Boston, my dad was a hopeless wreck and burned through his own wealth faster than a speeding bullet in a cloud. High school ended and I had no choice but to work night and day to help pay bills. I had my job tending to Old Man Turner’s yard, and even though he grossly overpaid me for my work, it still wasn’t enough so I started working at the local cell phone store so I could make a little extra cash and keep a cheap phone bill. But with the enormous bills we had every month—the mortgage, the expensive cars, the boat—I quickly started sinking.

Amber, however, was able to set herself up with a decent job and a gaggle of roommates to make rent cheap. Now she’s moving to Phoenix in the fall to start classes at Arizona State University while I’ll probably be selling cell phones in Copper Springs forever, not to mention paying off Connor’s fifty-thousand-dollar medical bills for the rest of my life.

I drop my face back into my hands. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to pull this off. My two jobs aren’t enough to keep me afloat with all the responsibilities I have, and without a car, I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to keep my jobs—particularly the one at Willow Inn, since it’s so far away. And that’s the job that pays the most and I like the best.

I’m screwed. But that’s nothing new.

5 Kayla

My stomach grumbles. I’ve barely eaten today. And yesterday all I had was an apple and a bag of Cheetos. Dinner is a must. If I can grab a full meal tonight then maybe I won’t have to worry about breakfast or lunch tomorrow when I’m on the road.

I hate driving alone, especially at night, so I’m not heading back to Chicago until morning. Though I’m not sure what my rush is. It’s not like I have anything to return to—except for Big Joe and his demands.

I’ve had to work so many shifts these past few months just to stay ahead of my bills that all of my friendships back in Illinois have faded into acquaintanceships. So much so that I doubt anyone even knows where I am. Or that I even left Chicago.

Wow. That’s an unsettling thought.

But it’s probably for the better. If Big Joe found out that I took off, he’d probably send his goons to come drag me back to the diner. Maybe it’s best if I never return at all.

There’s nothing and no one waiting for me back in Illinois. No home. No family… My heart drops to the floor as I realize, for the first time, that I’m technically an orphan.

I’m twenty-one and I can take care of myself but there’s something very lonely about not having loved ones waiting for me anywhere in this world. In recent years, my father wasn’t much of a parent but he was still somewhere, aware that I existed. And deep down, in the back of my mind where I let hope run free, I knew that if I needed him—if I really absolutely desperately needed my daddy—he would come through for me.

I had no reason to believe such a thing, but the little girl inside me refused to think otherwise. Even when I hated him, I still hoped for him. And maybe that’s what hurt the most. More than the rejection. More than the abandonment. The deepest cut was the relentless hope I carried, and it bled endlessly. Even now, with him dead and gone, it’s still bleeding.

I swallow back the lump in my throat and change out of my outfit.

Aside from the gray dress I wore yesterday, the royal blue blouse and black pencil skirt are the only “nice” clothes I own, so I’m careful not to snag or rip anything as I take them off. I slip out of the skirt, set it on the bed, then gingerly undo the buttons of my top before sliding it off my shoulders and folding everything neatly back into my suitcase.

I notice a new tear in the seam of the suitcase and I sigh. First my family tree, then my job and home, and now my suitcase?

Is there anything in my life that isn’t falling to pieces?

I shake my head and silently scold myself for being so dramatic. I will not be a whiney baby. Sure, life has thrown a few fastball lemons at me lately, and sure, I’m broke and homeless, but I’m also an intelligent adult who can figure this out. My life. My future. My money. I will figure it out. All of it.

I swap the skirt on the bed for an old pair of jeans with holes in the knees—from years of wear and tear, not for fashion purposes—and my stomach rumbles again.

But before I figure anything out I’m going to eat so I don’t faint on the disgusting motel carpet. God, I’m hungry. All I’ve had today is the granola bar I scarfed before heading to the lawyer’s office for the will reading.

Just thinking about my father’s ridiculous will brings back all my irritation from earlier. The man doesn’t speak to me for five years and when he finally does, he wants me to go on some kind of weird letter hunt with the town’s biggest playboy? What was he thinking? Why couldn’t he have just given the letter directly to me without involving any bondage playtime with Daren Ackwood? And why on earth is Daren Ackwood a part of this equation anyway?

He was my dad’s gardener, for crying out loud. He was an egotistical rich kid who probably only kept the gardening job so he could afford to buy condoms for all his sexual conquests. And my father deemed him worthy of his will? It doesn’t make sense.

Just how chummy were Daren and my dad? Were they drinking buddies? Were they football friends? I never saw them have a conversation that lasted longer than two minutes so how close could they have possibly been?

I tug my old jeans on with a scoff.

Pretty damn close, I guess, if my dad felt comfortable leaving that stupid letter to us both. Ugh. And what could he possibly have to say to us in one silly note?

Dear Daren and Kayla. I’m holding your baseball cards hostage and screwing you over one last time, hee-hee?

The whole thing is ludicrous.

Pulling a gray T-shirt from my tattered suitcase, I yank it over my head and flip my hair from under the collar with a huff. I look in the mirror and relax a little.

The formfitting blouse and skirt served their purpose today but I’m far more comfortable in loose clothes. Or relatively loose clothes. My curves are still noticeable in this outfit but at least I don’t feel like my breasts are on display.

I grab my purse, let myself out of the motel room, and walk to the lobby—if you can even call it that. The Quickie Stop’s lobby looks less like the registration desk of a motel and more like the drive-thru at a liquor store.