It had been easier than I thought it would be, getting him out of here for the afternoon. All I’d had to tell him was that I needed him to take a load of boxes to the thrift store on the other side of town. I’d taken a load there myself the other day, and the quite frankly ancient guy that ran the place had kept me there forever, regaling me with his entire life story. It was torture, but it was more than convenient. It was the only way.

But as soon as Ash is gone, my resolve starts to waver.

This might not be the best idea I’ve ever had, but I don’t have a lot of options. I don’t want to tell Ash, but I’m already running out of money. Renting the Dumpster and getting it hauled away cost way more than I thought it would. And I’m not dipping into my college money. I’m just not. So this is my option.

The shed.

And I need Ash gone if I am going to get this to work. Because he’d probably try to talk me out of it if he knew what I am thinking, but really, what other option do I have?

At least it’s summer, I tell myself. And while it might be boiling inside the garden shed, it will be out of any rain and elements. Basically, it will be the same as if I’d cleared out a room in my mother’s house, since the power is still off in there. Exactly the same.

Except I’ll be living in the shed.

Oh god, I can’t believe I’m doing this.

We finally managed to get the backyard mostly cleared out, and here I am, about to fill it right back up again.

Ash is going to kill me.

***

“Seriously?” Ash demands when he sees what I’ve done to the backyard. He catches sight of me and pins me with a look. “Fucking seriously?”

“I know! I’m sorry,” I say, and I am. I understand his frustration. The backyard is covered again. There was just so much more stuff in the shed than I’d been expecting. I couldn’t find anywhere to put it. But I managed to get it all out and the mattress I’d scrounged from the house in before he got back.

“Seriously? Dammit Star, what the fuck happened?” He’s reaching up and raking the fingers of both hands through his hair, looking around the yard like he’s never seen it before, and to be fair, that’s probably what it feels like. We’d just about gotten used to seeing the same stuff over and over again when we were cleaning before. But all this stuff is new to him. He probably feels like I’ve set us all the way back to the beginning. “Where did this stuff even come from?”

“The shed,” I say, and wave at it over my shoulder.

“Holy crap,” he sighs, and wipes his hand over his face. “Why?”

Okay, I knew this was coming. I take a deep breath and just hope that I can explain this without sounding like a total lunatic.

Ash

I can’t say anything. I know I can’t. I live in a fucking car, so if Star wants to sleep in a garden shed, that’s her business, but still . . .

“This is a really fucking bad plan,” I spit out and then immediately clamp my teeth together to shut myself up. Instead of saying anything else, I just dump the bags of garbage at the curb and turn to walk back toward the yard. Star keeps pace with me, though, dropping the box she was carrying and following me back.

“It’ll be fine,” she says, and her voice is light but I can tell my opposition to this plan is bothering her. Good. Maybe then she’ll change her mind.

“What happened to you being afraid of being eaten by wolves?” I ask, shoving the gate open and stepping back into the yard. It’s taken us all day to get it back to where it was before, and there’s still tons of stuff that we still need to go through. Apparently some of the stuff in the shed might actually be salvageable, ultimately headed for somewhere other than the dump. Who knew? “Or the fact that, oh yeah, you’d be living outside where anyone could mess with you.”

“Awwww,” she says, and I whip my head around to look at her, just in time to catch her batting her eyelashes at me dramatically. “Are you worried about me, Ash?” You little smart ass, I think, but I can’t help it. I smile at her, and she crows with laughter, having caught me.

“Shut up,” I mutter, and lean down to haul another box of garbage off the ground. “I’m just afraid of who’s going to pay me if you get eaten or dragged off my fucking marauders or something.”

“Marauders,” she repeats, nodding along like she’s humoring me. Like I’m the one acting like an idiot here.

I heft the box up, holding it mostly with one arm so that I can use the other to point at her. “Stop being a smart ass,” I say, and shake my finger at her. “My point still stands.” I drop my arm and use it to support the box. “Maybe I should leave Bruiser here. To protect you.”

“Bruiser,” she repeats, and hearing his name my dog’s ears prick up and he turns to look at her from his seat a couple feet away. She turns to me and rolls her eyes. “You think Bruiser is going to protect me?” she asks, and his tail thumps against the ground at the sound of her voice. She reaches an arm out and makes a finger-gun and points it at him. “Bang,” she says, and my dog just fucking flops over. The traitor.

I never should have showed her that trick. I’ve had the dumb dog back for less than a day, and he’s already turned against me. She turns back to look at me, a smug little smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Somehow, I don’t think he’s up for the job,” she says.

I just glare at her over the top of the box. “Shut up. It’s still a bad plan.”

But she just smiles at me, and for the millionth time since we met, I’m struck by just how bizarre my life has become.

At least it couldn’t get any weirder.

Right?

Chapter 9

Ash

What the fuck?

Diapers? Seriously?

Nothing but stacks of diapers, for as far as the eye can see.

I’m standing in the doorway and there’s a wall of diaper boxes in front of me, blocking off access to what should be a bedroom.

This place just gets weirder and weirder.

We finally get to work on the house, and this is the first thing I find when I open a door. It’s like I’m working in a goddamn fun house. I feel Star come up behind me and freeze in place, and when I turn to look over my shoulder at her, she looks as fucking baffled as I feel.

“You’re an only child, right?” I ask, waving my hands at the mess in front of me. She’s never actually said so. I’ve always just kind of assumed since there’s no one else here, cleaning out this shit with us, but I could be wrong.

But she nods her head. So that’s that. “Yeah,” she murmurs, reaching out to run her fingertips along the side of one of the boxes. Then she shakes her head like she’s trying to clear it, and I wonder where her head’s at. “I . . . ” She stops there, like she can’t find the words, and her hand falls back down to her side. I sigh. This damn house has already thrown so much shit at her, I’m amazed she hasn’t broken yet.

I reach out and lay my hand on her back, trying to steady her. She looks like she’s about to keel over.

“What?” I ask. “What is it?”