Robin in the Hood (Robbin' Hearts Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

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    Holy cow, was any of this for real?? I stared at my dad, who was leaning his chin on his hand like he’d already resigned himself to our fate. Before I could grill him about his peculiar familiarity with this place, Brandi sidled up to me again. I quickly held out my palm so she wouldn’t even think about giving me another hug.
    “Watch your step, honey,” Brandi smiled brightly, plopping herself down on the hood of the Miata for a lift, “and you’ll avoid all the traps. Too bad you didn’t get the one filled with coconut custard. It’s really good!”
    “All I can say is,’ I huffed, slipping behind the steering wheel of our car and feeling the jello slosh in my underwear, “our new trailer had better have a hot shower.”
     

     
    “You know, plumbing can be a little tricky at Turtle Shores,” Brandi confessed, gazing sheepishly at the dirty sink inside our broken-down trailer.
    No shit.
    Considering the fact that I was now covered in mud that had spewed from the kitchen faucet, I’d say the woman was spot on.
    I just wanted to fold into myself and cry.
    I wanted to hug Sparkle to my chest and then text half a dozen semi-friends, frenemies or not, and even log onto their idiotic Tumblr accounts—anything to forget that I’d actually planted myself in the Land of the Lost and Incredibly Sticky. It wasn’t enough that they’d already covered me in red goo, now the mud made me smell like the bottom of a swamp! What was I going to do if the plumbing didn’t work?
    “Cheer up!” Brandi smiled. “You can always clean yourself up with a few baby wipes and rat your hair, like me. A little hairspray goes a long way, honey. Did you know that I do hairdressing on the side?” Her green eyes got particularly bright. “Along with my late-night shift at the Moo & Brew Drive Thru—we specialize in banana splits and beer. I get really great tips when I wear these rhinestones.” She sashayed her hips happily. “Here, try a hush puppy.”
    She handed me a plate that had been sitting on the kitchen table and offered one to my dad on the sofa, too. “Lorraine over by the dogwood trees fried these up for lunch, with real cheese and bacon inside. She don’t leave her trailer much, on account of her eyesight, but she’s a wonder with a fryer. She does most of the cooking for us at Turtle Shores.”
    Brandi pulled out a handkerchief with the word
G
r
a
c
e
l
a
n
d
embroidered on it and dotted mud off my lips. I wondered where on earth she expected to wash it.
    “You do realize that’s how everything works here, right?” She added. “On the barter system?”
    I saw my dad nod while he relished his hush puppy. I took a small bite of one myself and was stunned by the intense rush of flavor. Cheddar cheese, bacon and onion, all rolled together in a soft pillow of corn meal with a crispy crust. It was nothing short of . . . divine.
    “See, most of us here are pretty low on cash,” Brandi said quietly, as if that glaring detail was any kind of secret. “And to be honest,” she crunched into a hush puppy and chewed, “we can’t really get into the other trailer parks. Some folks claim we’re too loco, if you know what I mean. But they’ll talk trash about anybody! So we just take care of each other: I do hair, Lorraine cooks, Granny gives the best advice in the whole county, and Bixby repairs leaky roofs and siding—when he’s not huffing paint, that is,” she sighed. “Just be careful not to light any cigarettes near his trailer, okay? Oh, and the Colonel and the TNT Twins keep guard against nosey cops and criminals, and especially the exes. Ain’t no secret ’round here that old boyfriends and girlfriends always cause the most trouble!” She chuckled a little. “Creek provides pretty much everything else you could ever need.”
    “Creek?” I asked.
    “Oh, you’ll find out soon enough,” she winked. “Chances are, he’s already done more for you than you could repay him for in a lifetime.