Page 6 of Space Oddities

I reach over the threshold and with one arm, I lift her off her feet and carry her down the steps, waiting for the trailer door to slam shut before setting her feet on the grass.

In bare feet, the top of her head just reaches my collar bone. I’ve never seen Trish without heels on. Her face is clean of makeup too, all her normal armor gone. Fresh-faced and ethereal, she looks so young, and as her eyes flit across the yard again, I can see for the first time, she’s not just on edge, she’s scared.

“What’s going on, Trish?” She still won’t meet my eyes. Grabbing her shoulders, I turn her until she has no choice but to either be face to face with my chest or tilt her head back to meet my eyes.

She chooses chest. “Nothing.”

“Really?” Heaven help me from stubborn women. Lately I seem surrounded by them. “So that’s why Jules insisted that I not let you be alone? Why you answered the door with a loaded gun? Or why you keep checking the area looking for something bad you seem sure will come?”

She shrugs, her small shoulders lifting the weight of my large hands.

“Fine. Don’t tell me. We’ll just see what Jackie thinks of you running out two weeks before her wedding.”

That snaps her head back. “Don’t youdaretell Jackie.” Her fingernails curl into her palms, and her whole body goes rigid. “I mean it, Ian. Not a word.”

“You serious? You think it’s better for Jackie to get ready to walk down the aisle only to be met with disappointment when her friend doesn’t show up?”

“I didn’t say I was skipping the wedding.” Her eyes fall to the side, and she bites her lip. “I just need to move the trailer. That’s all.”

I’m pretty sure she’s lying. I grew up in politics; I can spot a liar a mile away. But I also know when to press for information and when to tactfully retreat.

“I see.” I drop my hands. “And just where are you staying until then?”

“Never you mind.” She crosses her arms. Her pout could rival that of the most precocious toddler. “I’ll find a place.”

She must’ve made the decision to move in a hurry if she doesn’t have a plan in place. “You do realize, if you don’t want any of your friends to know, you can’t stay with them. They’ll want to know why you brought your trailer.”

Nostrils flaring, she bites her lip again. She’s so cute.

“I guess you could park your trailer at my place…” I taunt.

“Really?” Dropping her arms to the side, her wide brown eyes seek mine. “Could I?”

“Sure.” My mind starts whirling, weighing different scenarios, comparing the outcomes. In our group of friends, Jules has always been known to blackmail others to get her way. But what everyone has failed to realize is that I, too, possess that skill. Where I grew up, we just called it negotiation. As all good politicians do.

Trish’s hopeful eyes are nearly my undoing, but I remind myself that I’m committed to the long game. If she’s trying to pull up stakes, it’s time to play dirty.

“Of course you can park your trailer at my place.” I put on the smile usually reserved for family press functions and the rare public appearance I make on behalf of my father.

Trish blinks.

Works every time. “Ononecondition.”

Three

Low Orbit

Trish

My entire lifefits into Ian’s boat garage.

If that doesn’t put things into perspective, I don’t know what will.

I can’t believe Ian has an actual boat garage. I didn’t realize they were a thing. I’m just lucky that even though he has the space for one, there isn’t an actual boat parked in there. Hence my trailer’s new home.

Following his fancy sports car in my clunker pickup through a tall tree-lined drive with all my worldly possessions attached to the hitch in the back, I thought he was taking me to a park. Turns out it’s where he lives. Land is a prime commodity in this Houston suburb, zoned for one of the best school districts in the state. And Ian built his big, fancy house on a huge double lot smack dab in the heart of it.

“Dang it.” I pull hard at the security pin locking my trailer to the hitch on my pickup. For the past ten minutes I’ve been taking all my feelings of anger and shame out on my stuff. But even with all that fueling my muscles the dang pin doesn’t budge. “You’re saying that my payment for letting me crash in your garage is for me to accompany you to some fancy charity shindig?” I brace my feet on the garage floor and pull again. Nothing.

---