Collins lives in a very upscale part of West Hollywood.  I’ve never been up here before, but I’ve never had a reason to be.  My mom barely made enough money to get us by when I was young, and none of my friends were rich, either.  I guess...I have mixed feelings about seeing it all for the first time.  I keep thinking about what it must be like to live like this, not to have to worry about money or where your next meal is coming from, always having the reassurance that your kids are home, where they belong, safe because they’re with you and being well taken care of.  It makes me wish, so hard, that I could have done something different with my life.

Then my mind drifts to Collins’ boyfriend and the type of person he is.  Honestly, I’d rather be broke forever than turn into somebody like him.  I don’t get her relationship with him.  I mean, I understand he probably swept her off her feet, but she doesn’t seem like the type of person who would want to be a rich snob.  She’s content being middle class...helping people like me, and once she marries that guy, I seriously doubt he’s going to want her to have anything to do with DCF.  He’ll take her away from all this, where she’ll be surrounded by a bunch of people just like him, and forget about the simple person she used to be.

The more time I spend with her, the more a little voice inside is pushing me, telling me that I should try and talk her out of this relationship.  That I owe her the favor because she’s helping me out.

But why?

It’s not like I’m attracted to her.  That would be fuckin’ crazy.  No, she’s just a friend.  I think I can say that safely now, since she’s letting me stay with her instead of casting me off to some other town.  Although, I’m still pissed she let her boss snatch my daughter up for the weekend, instead of allowing me to spend it with her in Disneyland.  She just...let her go spend it with some strange family I’ve never met before.  The more I dwell on that though, the more I realize that it’s not Collins fault at all.  It was my decisions that made this happen.  If I hadn’t turned to drugs, I would be in that hotel right now with Ava, enjoying our time together.  

The pressure is starting to build.  I don’t have much time and I know I’m going to have to work extremely hard to get through this GED course so I can look for work.  It seems so impossible at this point, but I know it’s early.  Collins will still have to work during the week while I’m laid up at her place, so that will give me time to read and get through some of the workbook on my own.  I guess I should consider it a blessing.  I’ll have a peaceful place to recover from my injuries and prepare myself for the real world again, instead of being stuck in some shelter, full of germs and disease.

Collins pulls her car off the main drag, which was full of enormous houses tucked away behind large black gates and stone walls.  She was rambling off facts about the area to me like I was some kind of tourist.  I could tell how nervous she was having me in the car with her, though, just by the way she would stutter from time to time, so I decided to keep my mouth shut and let her ramble on.  Now she’s silent, and I know that means we’re getting closer to her place.  The neighborhood we venture into is slightly different.  There are no huge mansions here, just an immaculate, contemporary looking penthouse complex tucked into the hillside.  I’m sure Preston only has them living here because they aren’t married yet.  By next year, they’ll be tucked away behind large irons gates and stone walls too.

“It’s two floors, but most of the living areas are downstairs, so you should be okay,” Collins says as she presses a button near her rearview mirror.  Immediately, a wooden wall I didn’t realize was a garage door begins to rise up from the ground in front of us, and Collins nonchalantly pulls the car forward and closes us inside.  “I set up a guest room on the ground floor that has a connecting bathroom for you.  I’m pretty sure your wheelchair can fit inside, or you can use the crutches if it’s easier.  The door isn’t far from the bed.”

I only half hear her, because I’m too busy gawking at the electric blue Porsche parked beside us.  I recognize it from that night I was fired from the restaurant.  “Is that your weekend toy?”

She turns off the engine and glances at the car.  “It’s Preston’s.”

“So how come you don’t take it for a spin?”

She gives me a tight smile as she removes her seat belt.  “I like my Honda fine.”

“Maybe you just can’t handle a car like that.”

She says nothing, just scowls.

I laugh a little as she gets out of the car and yanks my wheelchair out of the trunk.  A moment later she’s opening my door for me, and it takes several minutes for her to help me out of the car and into the chair.  Honestly, I’m sick of this.  The doctor says I’ll be able to put a walking cast on my leg in about three weeks, but until then I have to stay off of it.  That means I’ll be laid up in bed with nothing but a television and a GED workbook to keep me company.

I’d go crazy, if it wasn’t for the reassurance that I’ll still get to see Ava on Saturdays.  Collins told me the visits won’t change, that they can’t because she’s bound by the law to make them happen, so I guess that’s one thing I have going for me.  Although, I still haven’t figured out how she’s going to explain my broken leg to her boss at the center when she brings me there.  

Something tells me that Collins already has a plan in place.

She always does.  I can’t get my mind around it, why she’s always able to be prepared and have a plan in place.  I mean, the girl puts this stuff together like her life depends on it.  I can see that look on her face sometimes, one that is full of determination and endurance.  I think she might be the strongest person I’ve ever met.

I wonder where she gets it from, but I’m not at the point where I’d be comfortable asking, because she’d expect me to start opening up to her in return.  I’m not about that, at all.  I’m pretty private, and my past is more than embarrassing, so the less she knows the better.  While I don’t think she would ever do it, I know she still has the power to jot things down in my case file if she feels the need, and I’m not stupid enough to forget all the things Trace warned me about when it comes to DCF.

“Here we go.”

 After several minutes of huffing and puffing, she’s able to hoist my chair over the couple of steps that lead up to her door and quickly pushes me through the doorway.  I grip the bars on the wheels so I can slow myself to a stop, and I start to look around what is now going to be my home for the next few weeks.

It’s like I’ve hit the fucking jackpot or something.  I blink a few times, expecting to wake up in the hospital bed again, but nothing happens.  This is for real.  I feel myself smile.  “Shit,” I laugh, softly.  

“Hm?” She walks ahead of me and puts her purse down on the granite topped breakfast bar on the outside of the kitchen.  

“This is some place.”

She rolls her eyes.  “It’s not a big deal, Justin.  I want you to feel welcome here, you know?  Just pretend you’ve been here all along, and it won’t be as awkward.”

“You make it so easy, Collins.  I almost feel like I haven’t been living in squaller for all these years.” I laugh and roll forward into the large living room, taking in the expensive contemporary decor, as well as what seems to be a genuine Wurlitzer jukebox tucked into the corner.  “Is it real?”

“What?”

“The jukebox.”r32;
“Oh...” She walks in front of me and smiles.  “Yeah.  Preston bought it a couple of months after we moved in here.  He knew I loved them so...he did some research and decided to get it for me as a housewarming gift.  Do you like records?”

I shrug slightly, the faded memories popping back into my brain as I continue to stare at the thing all lit up.  “When I was a kid...my mom used to bring me to this little diner by our house.  You know...the kind where everybody knows you by name?  They had one just like that, and the lady that rang the register would always slip me a couple of quarters so I could play songs.  Crazy...I didn’t think they existed anymore.”

She squints at me a little, seems to be thinking hard about something.  “Was it called Wilsons?”

“The diner?”
r32;She nods.

I give her an odd look.  “Yeah.  How...how did you know that?”

“My brother worked there when we were kids.  They closed just last year,” she tells me sadly as she walks up to the machine.  “When they were ready to gut the interior, Preston asked them if he could buy the juke.”

“Well,” I scoff.  “Small fuckin’ world I guess.”

“Yeah.”

I shake my head a little bit, almost in disgust.

“What’s the problem?”

“Preston doesn’t deserve it.”

“It’s not really his.  I mean...he bought it, but it really means a lot to me, more than he can understand.”  She stops talking and pulls some change out of her pocket, dropping a few coins into the machine.  Soon, the familiar cords of Runaround Sue begins to ring through the giant penthouse, and I’m taken back to being a little kid sitting at the counter at Wilson’s with an ice cream soda.  My mom would be wiping my mouth with her napkin because I’d have foam all over my face, but still, I’d smile and tell her I loved her.  That we would always be together because we were a team.

Then the song switches off, and my memory does too.

I can’t think about her.  Not now.

“There’s a little cup of quarters on top of the TV, if you ever feel like playing it,” she tells me as she walks back to me.  “Feel free.”

“Thanks.”

She pushes me out of the living room and down a long hallway, pointing out the linen closet and a couple of other rooms along the way.  When we reach a room at the end of the hall, we stop, and she pushes open the door.

“This is the biggest bedroom, next to the master, but that’s upstairs,” she tells me as she pushes me inside.  The bathroom is right through that door,” she points out. “And that other door is a closet.  I’ll get some of your things in there later on, and I guess you could use some extra clothes too.  We can go tomorrow and get a few things.  You can just pay me back when you finally land that full time job.”

I watch as she goes to the bed and begins to fix it for me, most likely so I can lay down in a little while.  “So, what happens when your boyfriend figures out that I’m staying here?”

“Fiance, and he won’t.”  She fluffs one of the pillows roughly before planting it back on the bed again.  “Don’t worry about him.”

“You’re pretty confident.”

She shrugs.  “Preston isn’t worried about what I’m doing.  When he tells me that he’s on his way home, that’s when I’ll panic.  Nobody is going to find out about you staying here, trust me.  I don’t get that many visitors, and the people that would come here, I can easily divert someplace else.”

I laugh skeptically.  “Yeah but what if...”r32;
“Would you stop worrying about it please!  You’re giving me a damn migraine, Justin.”

“Fine, geez.”  I hold up a hand in a surrender motion.  “You’re the boss.”

“Glad you realize that now,” she smirks.  “You ready to lay down?”

“Depends.  What are you going to do?”

“I have a stack of paperwork waiting for me in my office.”

“But it’s the weekend.”

“DCF doesn’t rest,” she laughs.  “Sometimes the weekend is the only time I can sit and take care of my paperwork.  So...if you don’t mind...”

“Sure,” I nod.  “I can watch TV or something.”
r32;“In bed?”

“I guess so.”

She helps me out of my chair and when I finally sink back against the pillows, I feel a strange sense of calmness rush over me.  It’s like...I don’t have to worry about anything, not as long as she’s here.  Something inside is telling me that she’ll take care of me, take care of everything, and all I have to do is focus on getting better.  I can’t take this favor for granted.  I need her to know that I’m worth the risk, that in the end...I’ll be the person she wants me to be, and Ava will have her father back.

“You good?” She smiles down at me once I’m settled in the bed with the remote control.  “There’s a walkie talkie on the nightstand if you need me.”

“You thought of everything,” I laugh, eyeing the device on the nightstand.

“Just about.”

The doorbell rings.

I feel my eyes go wide as Collins face turns pale.

“Except that,” I whisper.

“Fuck...”

The doorbell rings again.

“Just...be quiet.  I’ll take care of it.”

She whips out of the room and closes the door behind her before I can say anything else.  For about ten minutes, I lay completely still in the bed, paralyzed with the fear that somebody is going to walk in here, discover me, and throw me out on my ass.  
 
“Why are you acting so weird, Betsy?”

It’s a mans voice, but he doesn’t sound angry, just amused.  I start to think that it might be Preston, back from his business trip early as a surprise, but when I hear the sound of two children running through the hall, laughing and playing, I know I couldn’t be more wrong.

But then, who is it?

“Carter I’m too busy right now, okay? I have a pile of paperwork to catch up on for my boss.  I can’t have any distractions.”

They’re right outside the door, I close my eyes, hold my breath, willing her visitor away.

“I brought the kids as a surprise,” Carter explains.  “They haven’t been swimming over here in ages.  I was afraid Preston might rub off on them or something.  Come on, stop being a work-a-holic.”

I don’t know who that guy is, but the fact that he seems to hate Preston as much as I do, makes me like him immediately.

“Aunt Betsy! Can we sleep over!” The voice of a little girl booms from the hallway.

“Yeah! Can we? We want to have a dance party!” Another voice, a little boys, follows afterward.

“How can you say no to those little faces?” Carter speaks up with a laugh.  “Kids, tell your Aunt Betsy how much you love her.”

“We love you!”  

“I...I can’t...Maybe next weekend.”

She’s trying so hard not to give in, and I know, normally, she would love to have these people over the house.  Carter has to be her brother, and he brought his kids over today so they could all go swimming at the pool which I’m sure is on the roof of this penthouse.  I feel like shit, because she’s about to send them home, solely because I’m here.  

“Well, I’m not taking no for an answer.  Marilyn went to some class reunion this weekend, leaving me saddled with these two, and you know how long I can be alone with them before all hell breaks loose.”  

“Carter!”

“C’mon kids, come in here and change! Your Aunt Betsy isn’t in her right mind at the moment.”

The doorknob turns.

Oh no.

“Carter wait!”

Then the door swings open.  The kids rush in of course, completely unaware that I’m in the bed for a few seconds.  Then the younger one, the girl, stops in her tracks as she turns and faces the bed.  She has brilliant green eyes, freckles all over her face, and curly red hair.  Adorable, but right now, I wish she would disappear.  “Daddy! There’s a man in Aunt Betsy’s bed!”

She’s pointing at me, and I wince, laughing slightly, trying not to scare the crap out of the two kids who are now standing before me.  

“What the hell is this?”

I sit up slightly and look towards the doorway.  A young man is standing there in a bright orange t-shirt (Kahuna Bobs Big One), and denim shorts.  He couldn’t be much older than Betsy, and I know I was right when I said he had to be her brother.  They have the same eyes, same chestnut brown hair, and the same look of fearlessness on their faces.  

“Lucas and Ashley go change in the bathroom.” Collins says it sternly and points out into the hallway.  The children don’t question her, just stare at me with wide eyes for a few more moments, before doing as they’re told.

Then they’re gone, leaving me alone with Collins, and her brother who seems less than thrilled that a stranger is staying with his sister.

“Hey.” I manage to smile for Carter.  “How’s it going?”

“Who the hell are you?” He questions, his eyes accusing me of a million different things.  “Betsy...”r32;

“This is my friend, Justin,” she tells him calmly.  “I couldn’t find anybody else to take him in, so...he’s staying here for a little while, just until Preston gets home.”

“Your friend?” He seems more than confused for a few seconds, before a brilliant look of realization takes over his expression. “You mean...you...”  He smirks and looks at me.  “The one you were telling me about?”

She just nods.

I’m so confused.

“You realize this is crazy, right Bets? I mean...if anybody finds out, mom and dad...or the Harringtons...”

“That’s why you’re not going to say anything, to anybody.  Including Marilyn.  If the kids tell her about the man that was in Aunt Betsy’s house, you’re going to tell her it was the cable guy.” She stares at her brother, a fierce look in her eyes, like she means business.  “Right?”

“I...”  He rubs the back of his neck, and glances at me.  “You know I have your back.  But...”

“Good.”  She steps in the doorway, blocking his view of me.  “So go to the pool, and I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

“Betsy...”

“Did you forget about that time I had to pick you up at the strip club, when you were puking all over yourself?” She shoots at him.  “Remember what I told Marilyn the next day? That we ate some bad seafood and I had you sleep at my place?  I really hate to think of the reaction you would get if she found out the truth, Carter.  After all, according to her, she has the picture perfect husband.”

“I really hate you,” he grits out.

“See you at the pool!” She smiles brightly.

He takes one final look at me, and stalks away.  I can hear him calling out to his kids several moments later, yelling at them to hurry up so they can go to the pool.  He sounds agitated, and while I’m more nervous than I’ve ever been before, when I look to Collins for some guidance, I find that she’s leaning against the wall, smirking to herself.

“Is this funny to you?” I mutter.

“Carter is harmless,” she reassures me as she moves towards my bed and sits down on the edge of it.  “He knows I would kick his ass if he mentioned this to anybody.”

I cross my arms and stare up at the ceiling.  “So much for being discreet, huh? So much for ‘nobody is going to find out, Justin.’ Shit, I really don’t need this right now.  I could lose everything, Collins...I could...”

“It’s under control,” she silences me by pressing a hand over my mouth, which I quickly push to the side.  “Trust me, Justin.  Carter is my brother, and we’ve been through way too much in our lives for him to stab me in the back now.  Besides, he can’t stand Preston as it is.  He loves the fact that I’m “betraying him,” so to speak.”

“He looked at me like I was a criminal.”

She shrugs.  “He’s protective of me, that’s all.  I’ll go up and talk to him, and then he’ll understand why I’m doing this.  I don’t want you to worry about it, anymore.”  She pulls the blanket over me a little better.  “Just get some rest, okay?  I’ll be back in a couple of hours when things have calmed down.”

I flick the TV on when I find the remote next to me on the bed.  “Whatever.  I’ll enjoy the couple of hours I have left here, before your brother convinces you to throw me out.”

“Nobody could convince me to do that, Justin.”

I stare at her, and for the first time I see something different in her eyes.  It’s a look of caring, a look that says...she’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure I get my life back.  “I don’t get you at all.”

She laughs lightly as she gets up from the bed.  “Most people don’t.”

I watch her walk away from me and out the door.  She flashes me one more genuine smile, before she closes it behind her.  Then I’m left with my thoughts.  I don’t know what to think, what to expect.  I don’t know her brother, and even though she seems to think she has everything under control, I know people can be very persuasive when they want to be.  What if he convinces her its not safe having me here, that I pose some kind of threat to her well being? What if he convinces her that I’ll steal everything in the house? I just...can’t get those questions out of my mind, and I know why...

It’s because nobody has ever trusted me like Collins does.  Not even my mother, and all I can do is wonder what went on in Betsy’s life, that makes her want to trust me, and help me, more than anybody else.