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over my monthly budget.
    We don’t have the extra
money, not since I hired two employees last week, and what I had in
savings had to go to bailing my ass out of jail. Again. Plus I’d
promised Kelly that she could take dance this year, which meant
special shoes, recitals and tutus…and my head falls back.
“Fuck.”
    “ Um, Cole?”
    “ What?” I snap, then
immediately apologize, while gently slinging plates on the
counter.
    “ Is there a special trick
to getting this to work?” She presses the button that should have
made it roar to life, but nothing happens. I even check to make
sure she’s plugged it in, not because I think she’s incompetent,
but—shit—can I get a break for once?
    “ No.” I throw the couple
of dishes that aren’t broken into the sink, harder than necessary.
They crack in several places on impact. I can feel the weight of
Rae’s gaze on me. “You need to go home and—”
    “ Give me ten minutes, more
like five if I run, and I can be back here with a vacuum and
probably some paper plates,” she says in one big rush. “We’ll get
this all cleaned up before Kelly and your brother come
home.”
    Fixing my eyes on Rae, I
study her. She seems sincere, and for the most part, not afraid of
the Hulk Smash move I’d just made. Asshole
move , I silently correct myself. Carefully
making my way across the room, I find a pair of Parker’s flip-flops
and put them on.
    “ Sorry about that. I
just…lately, everything that can go wrong has.” Until you, I want
to add, but don’t. Because how insane am I for thinking this about
a girl I met only this morning at the Piggy Wiggly of all
places?
    “ No biggie.” She shrugs,
sending her tank top higher on one side and exposing the smooth
skin of her stomach. “Besides, sometimes we need to break things before things
break us.”

Chapter Five
     
     
     
     
     
    Violet
    By the time I get to my
Nana’s house, there’s a stitch in my side and I’m out of
breath.
    Gasping, I grasp the wood
frame of the back door for a moment and stare through the screen.
My grandmother’s flowered apron is around her waist and she’s
already started supper. Field peas, homemade macaroni and cheese
and chicken fried steak are on the menu. My personal trainer, Nina,
would kill me if she knew what I had been eating the past thirty
days. But I’ve just ran almost two miles in like nine minutes. That
should count for something.
    “ Landsake’s child! What
has gotten you so worked up?” Nana asks when she spots
me.
    I fight the urge to tell
her it’s a who and not a what that has me all worked up. Has me remembering that I haven’t
been touched like that in a really, really long time. “Accident at
the Morgans. Nothing serious. I need some paper plates and to
borrow your vacuum.” Opening the door, I walk into the kitchen and
begin rummaging through the pantry.
    “ You plan on hauling all
that back on foot?” I hear the wheels of the vacuum scrape the
linoleum floor as she brings it in from the closet in the
hallway.
    I pause, stack of plates in
my hand. The vacuum does weigh about a thousand pounds. And now
that I’m away from Cole, I can actually think more clearly. There’s
no need to take all this to him. He never actually said he wanted
my help. In fact all I’d done after trying to make him feel better,
was run out of there, with a promise to be right back.
    “ No,” I groan, realizing
what a fool I’d made of myself in front of Cole. Making a promise
that I didn’t keep was sure to keep him away. For good. And that’s
how I wanted it to be. I didn’t need the complication of him and
how he made me feel.
    Turning away from the
pantry, I move to the kitchen counter and place the plates on top,
then give Nana a pleading look. “Could you do it? I…uh, have a
cramp in my leg from running,” I improvise. No, not improvising.
I’m lying, once again, to cover up a secret. Though this secret
wouldn’t turn the Country Music Industry on its