Stassi’s lungs ached with every bit of air she sucked in as she pushed through her sprint. The muscles in her legs burned each time her foot hit the belt of the treadmill, and she could hear its familiar hum underneath her as Britney Spears sang into her earbuds. She found it humorous that if anyone were to ever look at her gym playlist, they’d probably laugh their asses off at her teeny bopper choices. Bottom line, if one didn’t get motivated by a sexy as hell woman such as the Britney Spears singing “Work Bitch,” then they weren’t human. Plain and flipping simple.

With a quick downward glance the digital timer told her she had thirty more seconds until she could walk. Push it, push it, puuush it. She narrowed her eyes, straightened her posture, and pumped her arms and legs with everything she had left until she finished out the sprint interval. When the timer finally signaled the end of her twenty-five minute HIIT session, she turned down the speed until she could walk at a nice, brisk pace.

Sweat dripped from every surface of her body as she reached up to find the volume button on her earbuds, and then turned down the music. She grabbed her water bottle and took a nice, long drink. She hated sprints, but she liked her small waist and muscled legs, so sprints it was and sprints it would be until they stopped having the desired effect.

After a nice cool down, Stassi stopped the machine, picked up her towel and blotted her face, then flung it over her shoulder and headed toward the steam room. The gym was pretty empty, typical for weekends. Everyone else was either too hungover or too lazy to get their butts up and out of bed by seven o’clock on a Saturday morning, but not Stassi. This was her favorite time to go. She didn’t have to worry about people being on whatever machine she needed or having to rush through her workout because she had a million other things to do. No. On Saturdays she got to take her time. Dive into her workout, then relax in the steam room. Perfection.

A cloud of fog enveloped her as soon as she opened the door. She closed it behind her, then chose the far corner and sat down on the warm wood, her legs stretched out in front of her. She inhaled deeply as she lay back, her head resting on the step behind her. This…this was why she loved Saturdays. No crowd of people plastered into the tiny room, sweating it out like pigs while doing their best not to touch each other. Nope. Not today. Calm. Silence. Perfec—

The sound of her phone vibrating against the wood broke through her moment of Zen. “Crap on a cracker,” Stassi mumbled as she reached for the phone and rejected the call. She didn’t even bother to look to see who it was. At this hour it was one of two people, her mother or a bill collector, and she didn’t want to talk to either one of them.

Her phone began to vibrate. Again. And she, once again, rejected the call. Let it go. It’s fine. Out with the bad, in with the good. Out with the bad, in with the—

“Mother fucker!” She grabbed the buzzing phone, saw the unknown number, and turned the damn thing off. Another thing her father had done was open credit cards in her name as a kid and ruined her scores. Now she had the pleasure of getting calls from collections on a regular basis. She’d begun work on fixing them over the past few years, but it was a slow process, and he’d really done a number on her. Father of the year, indeed. Now, where was she? Oh, yes. She took another breath, doing her best to find her chi or whatever the hell it was called, but it didn’t work. Not one little flipping bit. The moment was gone. Ruined. Fan-freaking-tastic.

She allowed her aching muscles a few more minutes of relaxation, then with a heavy sigh made her way toward her locker.

She grabbed her bathroom bag and walked toward the showers. Another thing she liked about the gym on the weekends, the showers were empty. No having to get in her car all stinky and sweaty.

She discarded her clothes and let the cool water run down her body. As she began to shampoo her hair, her mind wandered to Alec and the night before. Alec. She’d been shocked when he’d told her who he was. Although he’d looked slightly familiar, she hadn’t recognized him from Cameron’s garage. The information was surprising to say the least. At first, she’d decided to let it roll off her shoulders, but on the way home she’d gotten royally pissed. Who the hell did he think he was that he could pretend he didn’t know her? Even though he’d denied it, it felt like a trick. She’d gone to bed with every intention of texting him the next morning to let him know there would be no more meetings between them. It had been a one night thing and she hoped he’d enjoyed it, because it wouldn’t be happening again. Of course, once she’d woken up from dreams of his mouth between her thighs, she promptly changed her mind.

She rinsed the suds out of her hair, then proceeded to comb the conditioner through her long locks. The fact of the matter was they’d had a good time together. A damn good one. And she believed him when he said he’d assumed she’d tell him her name, he’d tell her his, and the connection would have been made. Most women probably would, anonymous party or not, jump at the chance to answer any and all questions for a fox like Alec.

She put her head under the stream and made sure all the conditioner was out. After applying a generous amount of soap to her body, she rinsed, turned off the water, and patted herself dry.

She quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a light sweater, then worked her still damp hair into a French braid. She needed to head to the store to grab some essentials for her mother.

Thoughts of her mother brought on a constant headache. Karen had, unbelievably, taken to frequently checking in on her father. So now Stassi found her mother’s grocery list containing new items that she could only assume were favorites of his. Jackass.

Stassi shook her head and threw on her sunglasses as she gave a polite “goodbye” to the woman perched at the front desk.

She wanted to visit the new farmers’ market that had recently opened up on the outside of town, but with fitting a trip to her mother’s house in as well as a birthday dinner for Lacey that evening, she really didn’t have time to doddle. She lifted her hand to block the sun as she made her way through the parking lot. Karen. She wasn’t looking forward to the visit with her mother any more than one looked forward to a trip to the gynecologist, but at least those were only once a year. Her mom, on the other hand, had turned into a weekly appointment.

Stassi got into her car as the familiar pangs of nervousness crept from her stomach up to her chest. It’s going to be okay. If she starts to talk about him, leave. Stassi rolled her eyes as she turned on the radio, the band’s vocals almost loud enough to drown out the voices in her head. “Yes. Just leave. Because it’s always that easy.”

* * *

Stassi pulled into her mother’s driveway and put her vehicle in park. Her sneakers crunched on the rocks and dirt as she grabbed the grocery bags from the front seat and started toward the trailer.

She concentrated on her slow, deep breaths as her heart quickened. Lord knew she hated this place. She brushed a few stray hairs behind her ear as she looked at the bottom step that led up to the front door, or rather, the spot where the bottom step used to be. Apparently something had happened since her last visit, because it was now gone, and in its place were a few scattered bricks. Classy as ever.

Stassi shook her head and bit the side of her tongue as she made her way up the remaining steps, the light taste of copper suddenly in her mouth. “Shit.” She released her tongue and soothed the spot with her finger. Her body had a negative reaction to merely standing on the porch, much less going inside. And yet, here she was, pulling open the little screen door and knocking.

A noise from the side yard where she’d gotten in her first fistfight caught her attention, and she smiled as three squirrels ran around and on top of each other. Hmm. I guess they didn’t get the memo that this area is a shithole. Lucky bastards. She would never be so fortunate as to forget that little nugget. No. Not even if she tried.

She’d never forget Courtney Beals taunting her. Laughing as she told the group of neighborhood kids that Stassi’s daddy had left her mommy and her because they were so ugly, he’d been tired of looking at them. Stassi had balled up her little fists and swung at Courtney as hard as she could, but Courtney had been ten, and Stassi only seven. She could still feel the embarrassment and shame as she ran to her home, panting as she tried to wipe her bloody nose, bottom lip jutted out as tears ran down her dirt streaked cheeks. Yeah. This was the home of her childhood, and she despised it with every fiber of her being.

She heard the click of the lock and the door creaked open.

“Hi, baby. Come on in.” Karen moved to the side and offered her a smile.

“You look nice. That dress is new.”

It wasn’t a question, but Karen answered anyway. “Yes, it is. I thought it’d be a nice change. Makes me feel pretty.”

“You look great. Very pretty.” Stassi gave her best smile, then entered the trailer and paused. “It smells…nice in here. What is that?”

“A new candle I got. Coconut Cotton. It’s very clean and crisp, don’t you think?”

“Yes. Very fresh.” Stassi nodded as she leaned in and kissed her mother on the cheek, then made her way into the kitchen and placed the bags on the counter. “I brought you some more of those yogurts you like.”

Karen came in and helped her unload the groceries, putting them in their appropriate spots. “Thank you, sweetie. I appreciate you picking up a few things for me. My car is almost fixed. I swear.”

Stassi grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and shuffled it back and forth in her hands as she leaned against the counter. “I told you to let me take it to my friend. Cameron does this kind of stuff for a living. I know he’d help us out.”

Karen shook her head and began to slice one of the red apples Stassi had brought. “I don’t need anyone’s charity, Stassi Sanderson.”

“It wouldn’t be like that, Mom. He’s just someone I know I can trust—”

“Judy’s boy is looking at it for me. I have it under control.”

Stassi decided to squash the topic, for now, as she took a drink of her water and glanced around the trailer. Things were, surprisingly, tidy. Her mother wasn’t a hoarder, but even she described her home as organized chaos. The usual boxes of old clothes or knickknacks weren’t anywhere to be seen. A blanket was folded neatly over the light blue couch she’d had for as long as Stassi could remember. There were flowers on the table and even the blinds were open, allowing soft rays of light to brighten up the living room. The house almost looked…warm. Like a real home. “Did you have someone clean in here? It looks great.”

Karen shook her head and placed the sliced apple on a plate, then grabbed a block of cheese from the fridge and began to cut it into cubes. “Nope. I just wanted it to be nice and tidy for when your father got here.”

Stassi narrowed her eyes in confusion. “When he got here? I thought you were going over there to check on him?”

“Stassi you know he needs to rest. He’s been through a big ordeal. Once your ticker starts messing up…” Karen trailed off and popped a cube of cheese into her mouth.

I look so much like her. Stassi and Karen both had the All American Girl look. Long, blonde hair, blue eyes, and her mother had fantastic skin. Hardly a wrinkle on it. Stassi hoped she’d be as lucky. But when it came to their personalities, what they would and would not put up with from people, they were polar opposites. “Okay. It’s your choice. I just don’t want him taking advantage of you.”

Karen shot her an annoyed look, then shooed her out of the kitchen. “I’m an adult, and your mother, by the way. But thank you for caring.”

Stassi rolled her eyes and decided it was time to make her exit. Her duty was done for the week. “Okay, well it was good seeing you. I’m going to head out before he gets here—” She heard one of the bedroom doors open, and suddenly there were footsteps down the hall. No. No, no, no. “Mom, is Dad…is he here right now?”

“Hey, there. How you been, girl?”

Stassi’s stomach fell. Her throat closed up. She felt like someone had hit her over the head with a sledgehammer. Her feet were heavy, like they were glued to the ground. Her limbs weighed down like bags of wet sand. She hadn’t seen her dad in she couldn’t remember how long. She hadn’t even gone into his room when they were at the hospital. Just sat with her mother, and then after his surgery was complete and he’d been given a great chance of coming out of it all, she’d left. And now here he was right in front of her. Son of a bitch.

He’d gained considerable weight; the red shirt he wore didn’t quite hide his round belly. His head was bald, and he wore a pair of small reading glasses.

Stassi said nothing. She simply looked back and forth between her mother and father. Then snatched her keys from the counter and marched out the door.