Trailer Park Heart
Becky Calvin leaned out of her window when I walked through the school doors. “Hey, pretty lady!”
“Hey!” I smiled at her, sidling up to the window ledge. “You look cute.” She was dressed as a cat in the most minimal way possible. She wore adorable cat ears and a fuzzy black sweater, and she’d painted a kitten nose and whiskers on her face. She was the cutest.
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Would you believe I get excited for school parties? Growing up, my dad never let my brother or me dress up. This is like living out a missing part of my childhood.”
“Your dad didn’t let you celebrate Halloween?”
She shrugged. “Baptist preacher, remember? When I was a kid, Halloween was the day that all the sadists came out to kidnap children.”
I snorted a laugh. “I didn’t know we had so many sadists in Clark City.”
“The funny thing is now that my brother is married with kids, my dad is all about the holiday. He dresses up with my nieces and nephews and takes them all by himself.”
“Does that make you mad?” I laughed.
Shaking her head, she said, “Not really. I’m happy he’s a better grandpa than he was a dad.”
“I feel the same way about my mom,” I sympathized. Only for totally opposite reasons. Becky’s dad was too involved in her life. My mom encouraged me to go trick-or-treating, albeit by myself, but that way she felt like I had enough snacks to last me a while. It was basically free grocery shopping on her end.
“Hey, I heard a rumor about you,” she said, leaning closer so the office trolls behind her didn’t overhear.
“Oh, no, I can only imagine.”
She waggled her eyebrows dramatically. “Word around town is that Levi Cole has the hots for you. How come you never told me he’s been burning a flame for you since high school.”
“Because he hasn’t,” I snapped, more forcefully than I should have. “I mean, not that I knew about anyway. He picked on me back then. Not much has changed.”
“I heard something about Pug’s last weekend,” she whispered.
I couldn’t help it. I leaned forward and dropped my voice. “Oh, no. What did you hear?”
“About the fight.”
“What fight?”
“The fight with Levi and that horse trainer.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” I encouraged her, dread curling my toes inside my Chucks.
“You really don’t know? I could have sworn you were there.”
“Were you there?” I asked her, exasperated.
“Well, no. That’s just what I heard.”
“Becky, I know for sure I didn’t see a fight. If I had seen it, I would remember seeing it. Now can you please tell me what happened?”
She pursed her lips for a moment, feigning indecision, but believe me, it was only an act. Then she launched into her story. “Apparently, Levi was pissed off because you showed up with another man to his party and he sulked the whole night. Kristen March tried to get his attention for hours and he would have none of her. That’s what Monica Kerry told me anyway. When Kristen asked him what his problem was, I guess he said it was the guy you were with was pissing him off. Then everybody had too much to drink and the horse trainer said something to Levi about you and Levi punched him in the face.”
“Oh, my god, then what?”
“Then, I don’t know… I wasn’t there.”
“Did they fight?”
“No, I think Levi knocked him out cold.”
My face flamed tomato red and I considered my options: grabbing Max and leaving town, grabbing Max, going home to the trailer and never coming out again. Grabbing Max and heading to Mexico. “That’s the most ridiculous story I have ever heard. I wasn’t even there… for long.”
Just long enough to dance all over Ajax for hours and then make out with Levi by the bathrooms.
Apparently, I was there long enough.
Shit.
Becky shrugged casually, but her eyes sparkled with interest. “Does Levi have it bad for you?”
I frowned at my hands. “I didn’t know any of that until just now.”
“He hasn’t said anything to you?”
He had said plenty to me, but I wasn’t going to share that with Becky. “He said he wants to be friends. We weren’t really, er, friends, in high school. I was a brat.”
“I also heard he went home with Kelly Fink that night.” She shrugged again, the light dimming in her eyes. “So maybe it’s not what everyone’s saying it is.”
A foreign feeling burned beneath my skin, clawing at my bones and upsetting my stomach. Kelly Fink? Really? Levi couldn’t see through that shallow hag?
To Becky I said, “Bet Kristen loved that.”
Becky gave me a look. “Kelly better hire private security or something.”
Despite the icky feeling inside me, I smiled. Becky made a good point. “If Kelly disappears, we know what to tell the sheriff.”
Becky laughed and grabbed some nearby papers to shuffle. “I’m kind of bummed, Ruby. I was hoping he had a thing for you.”
I laughed, unable to stop the bitter sound from falling out of my mouth. “Why?”
She spread her hands helplessly. “Because you’re one of us, a girl on the fringe. The haves have been mating the haves since the beginning of time. What about all us have-nots? You are like… Cinderella.”
I looked down at my too short, striped waitress dress and stained Chucks. “I’m pretty much the opposite of Cinderella.” Not even Cinderella came from Clark City, Nebraska. And she definitely didn’t have an illegitimate child with the prince’s brother.
“You know what I mean,” Becky insisted. “I’m rooting for your happily ever after. That’s all.”
I rolled my eyes. “Trailer Park Princess. It does have a kind of ring to it, yeah?”
“Stop,” she groaned. “Don’t be crazy.”
I wasn’t being crazy. I was just keeping it real.
Tapping the ledge with my right hand, I took a step back. “All right, Becks, I need to get in there before Jamie has a conniption.”
She made a face. “Good luck to you. I heard your decorations turned out awesome though.”
Was nothing private in this town? “How do you know so much?” I asked her.
Gesturing at the space around her, she leaned forward and whispered, “This is the main hub of communication. If you want to know anything about anybody, you just come talk to me. I hear it all.”
I would have to remember that. “Good to know. See you this weekend at the Halloween extravaganza?”
“Literally would not miss it for anything.”
I wished I could have felt that much enthusiasm, but I would buck up for Max. He was super excited about trick-or-treating around town. I’d sent him to school in a version of his costume this morning, but he would get to paint his face this Saturday night for the final Supper in the Square and go all out.
Jamie greeted me when I stepped inside the first-grade classroom. There were two other moms already there, helping string crepe paper streamers from one side of the classroom to the other. Just like at her house, this room looked like Halloween had thrown up everywhere.
But I was starting to realize that’s just how Jamie worked. She was contained chaos. I liked that about her.