Chapter One
The year I turned eight, my dad remarried. My stepmother got pregnant, and she couldn’t stand the sight of me.
Dad pressed a plane ticket into my hand. “I just can’t afford to keep you anymore, kiddo. Your aunt’s working down in Florida. Go stay with her.”
I couldn’t even remember what my aunt looked like. All I knew was that she’d left home at eighteen, and she and my dad hadn’t spoken in years.
The whole flight, the same fear kept circling: what if she didn’t want me either?
But the moment I walked out into arrivals, a woman with big glossy waves and dark sunglasses came clicking toward me in high heels.
“So this is the girl my brother didn’t want?”
A boy about my age popped out from behind her. “Mom, she looks like such a hick.”
My aunt reached over and twisted his ear without missing a beat. “Say that one more time. If anyone picks on her at school, I’m holding you responsible.”
The Miami breeze rolled over me, warm and soft.
And somehow, I wasn’t quite so scared anymore.
……
Chapter One
Dad pressed a plane ticket into my hand, then dug a crumpled twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket.
“I just can’t afford to keep you anymore, kiddo. Your aunt’s working down in Florida. Go stay with her.”
I clutched the ticket so hard my fingernails went white.
“Dad, I can sleep on the floor. I don’t take up much room.”
He didn’t look at me. He just said, “Mm.”
I couldn’t even remember what my aunt looked like.
All I knew was that she’d left home at eighteen, and she and my dad hadn’t spoken in years.
Around my neck hung a plastic pouch holding my unaccompanied minor paperwork. The flight attendant sat me in the first row and gave me a box of crayons.
The old lady in the next seat took one look at me, broke her granola bar in half, and asked where I was headed.
I told her I was going to Miami to live with my aunt.
She sighed. “So little, and all by yourself. What are the grown-ups in your family thinking...”
I didn’t answer. I leaned against the window and watched gray Ohio slowly give way to great sweeps of green and blue below.
Only one thought kept turning over in my head: what if she didn’t want me either?
Why would someone who hadn’t talked to her own brother in years take in the kid he’d thrown away?
The flight attendant had told me that if nobody showed up for me after we landed, she’d have to call the airport police and child protective services.
I’d already braced myself to be turned away.
Worst case, I’d end up in foster care. I’d seen it on TV.
We landed at three in the afternoon.
The flight attendant held my hand as we walked off the jet bridge. Florida sunlight blazed through the huge windows, so bright I could barely keep my eyes open.
I gripped the slip of paper with my aunt’s phone number on it. My palm was slick with sweat.
That’s when I heard it: the quick click-click-click of high heels.
A woman with big glossy waves and dark sunglasses was walking toward us. She smelled amazing and was dressed like a movie star off TV.
She handed her driver’s license to the flight attendant, signed the form, then took off her sunglasses and looked me up and down.
“So this is the daughter my brother didn’t want?”
I nodded, squeezing the straps of my backpack as tight as I could.
She crouched down and studied me closely, and a frown creased her forehead.
“Look at this hair. You look like nobody’s ever taken care of you.”
That was it, then.
I lowered my head and waited for her to tell me to go back.
But before she could say anything, a boy about my age poked his head out from behind her, chewing bubble gum. He curled his lip.
“Mom, she looks like such a hick.”
My aunt reached over and grabbed his ear, twisting it a full turn.
The boy yelped.
“Say that one more time. Go on.”
“If anyone picks on her at school, I’m holding you responsible!”
The boy rubbed his ear, wincing and grimacing, but he still reached out and took my backpack.
“Okay, okay, I got it. Ow, ow, ow...”
My aunt turned back to me and brushed the messy hair off my forehead, tucking it behind my ear.
Her touch was so gentle it stopped me cold.
“Come on. Let’s go home.”
A black Cadillac SUV was waiting at the curb outside the terminal. The driver held the door open for us.
The Miami breeze rolled over me, warm and sweet with the scent of flowers.
My eyes stung, and my nose prickled.
And somehow, I wasn’t quite so scared anymore.
