“Wh-what are you do-doing here?” Hazel asked, her voice shaky.
“What am I doing here?” I shone my phone light in her direction. “No. What in the goddamn hell are you doing in here?”
She got to her feet and blinked her eyes a few times. I hadn’t a clue what she’d been up to, but her hair was dripping wet, as if she’d just taken a shower. A few of her clothing pieces hung on the shelves, including her cotton panties, which had unicorns printed on them. She hurried over and snatched the panties from the shelf and shoved them behind her back.
“You’re living in here?”
“No!” she quickly replied.
I cocked a brow. “You’re living in here,” I repeated, this time as a statement.
She sighed. “Only temporarily.”
“You can’t live in this shed.”
“Why not?” she asked. “It’s not like anyone was using it.”
I groaned. “That’s not the point. The point is you can’t live in a damn shed like an animal. Half the roof is missing, Hazel!”
“I like to look at the stars.”
“It’s drafty at night.”
“I like the breeze.”
“Are you always this stubborn?”
“Are you always this bossy?” she countered, and holy shit, I couldn’t imagine living with someone as annoying as that girl right there.
“I’m only bossy to people who act like children.”
“I’m not acting like a child. I’m acting like a person who needed a place to stay for a little while.”
“Yeah, well, you can’t live here,” I said matter-of-factly. “This isn’t a home. It’s a broken-down shed. On private property, may I remind you. You can’t be a squatter here.”
For a split second, the hard exterior of Hazel cracked, and I saw a flash of worry race through her. The hard shell that she wore on the daily was to protect her from getting hurt, and in that split second, I saw her truths slip out through her eyes.
Shit. Maybe we had more in common than I thought.
My hard shell was made of the same material.
“You’ll stay at my house,” I said with a stern voice. I crossed my arms and nodded once. “You can take the spare room.”
“There’s no way I’m living with you!” she gasped, surprised that I was even offering her a way out of the shed.
“Hell yeah, there is. You can’t fucking stay here, Hazel. It’s stupid and not safe. I have a free room. Take it.”
“I don’t need your handout.”
“Says the girl literally living in a shed.”
“I hate when people say the word literally. It’s a stupid word that people use when they can’t come up with a better phrase.”
“Literally, literally, literally,” I blurted out. I gestured toward her garbage bags of things. “Grab your unicorn undies, and let’s go.”
“I know you’re probably used to women dropping everything to give in to your demands, but I’m not one of those girls. I said no, and I meant no. I am not going to take a handout from you. I don’t want or need your help.”
What in the goddamn hell was the matter with this girl? She was being offered a place to stay for free and turning it down because of her goddamn pride? How was I supposed to do what Big Paw wanted if she wasn’t willing to budge an inch? I’d never met such a stubborn woman in my life.
“You know what? Screw it. Fine. Stay out here with your creepy-crawlies and rodents. I’m not going to waste my time on someone who is choosing to suffer. Have at it.”
5
HAZEL
Ian left in a huff, cursing under his breath as he slammed the shed door shut. The whole space shook, and I swallowed down the knot that formed in my throat.
Jeez. That man sure knew how to make me feel uneasy. I was so confused by the whole interaction between us. It was as if he was still his rude, grumpy self but also . . . nice? Offering someone a place to stay seemed nice, but I couldn’t help but think that it came with strings attached. I’d vowed to never take something from a man. That way he’d never be able to hold it over my head. For years I’d watched Charlie throw in our faces the fact that Mama and I lived in his house. Ate his food. Slept in his beds. Nothing we had was our own, and I hated how he used that against us, making it seem like we were worthless without him.
From here on out, whatever I had, I’d get on my own.
Well, except for the shed I was squatting in. I’d have to pay Big Paw back somehow for the time I was spending in Betsy.
Yup. That was right. I’d named the shed Betsy. And boy, oh boy, if those walls could talk, I bet they’d have a lot of stories to tell.
Christ. I was getting so lonely that not only was I making friends with horses, I was making friends with objects.
I needed to stop being a loner as soon as possible.
I hadn’t always been this way—lonely. When I was younger, I’d had a best friend named Riley—not a horse or a shed. An actual living, breathing person. Riley was the daughter of one of Charlie’s clients. Sometimes they’d come over to the house for business, and the adults would kick us girls out into the backyard to get us out of their hair. Some days during those times, Riley and I would pretend we were witches and created magical potions to take us to magical worlds. Other times, we’d pretend we were an all-girls band, and we’d make up our own lyrics and sing to the squirrels.
Riley was so good for me. She was my best friend and the first person to make me feel as if I belonged in Eres. When her father finally got clean and moved away, Riley wrote me for a bit of time, but the letters began getting shorter and shorter until they completely stopped. I supposed she’d found a world outside of Eres, and I couldn’t fault her for it. Once I got away, I wasn’t planning on ever looking back either.
One in a million.
That was what Riley’s friendship was to me. I’d never made that connection with anyone else, and it broke my heart to think that a friendship like hers was a one-in-a-million type of situation.
I was certain I’d never find that level of connection with another again—besides Garrett. But to be honest, what Garrett and I had wasn’t a friendship. Sure, we’d dated for a while, but we didn’t talk about things. We’d mostly just make out, and I’d watch him get high and play video games for hours. Nothing to write a love story about.
So that left me with talking to walls and hoping that the wood was thick enough to hold all my secrets.
When I woke the next morning, I walked out of the shed and found a basket filled with a few goodies. Bottles of water, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a box of cold cereal, and a small jug of milk with a spoon and a bowl. Beside that was a twin-size air mattress with a set of sheets and a comforter.
There was also a note that read:
If you want to be stubborn, then be stubborn.
But don’t sleep on that damn floor without a bed.
—Ian
PS: Stop being a fool and take the fucking spare bedroom.
Never in a million years had I thought it would be Ian Parker who saved me during some of the hardest days of my life.
I had a bit of free time before I had to head into the stables that morning. I sat cross-legged on the inflatable bed eating a bowl of cold cereal while I wrote in my journal. I’d been writing every day of my life since I was eight years old. I used to write spells and other stupid kid stuff in the books with Riley, but over time it had just become a collection of things on my mind. Poetry and prose. My hopes, wishes, and dreams were all in one place.