I frowned. “She died when Hailey was two. Hailey doesn’t remember her at all. Which is for the best, considering she’s the one who found her.”Chapter 9* * *Hollis – 12 years ago“When did your mom get this? Is it real?”

Anna picked up a necklace from the kitchen counter. The piece of crap had an obviously fake diamond dangling from a rusty-looking chain.

I frowned. “No. My half-brother showed up at our door last night to sell it to my mother. Can you believe that shit?”

“Stephen? I didn’t realize you guys kept in touch with him after your parents got divorced.”

“We didn’t.”

Stephen was my father’s son with his first wife and a few years older than me. When my parents were married, he’d come visit once or twice a year. He was always trouble—smoking at eleven and sneaking out of the bedroom window in the middle of the night. And when my father walked out on my mother a week after her diagnosis, we never heard from either of them again. Good riddance to both, if you asked me.

“So he just stopped by out of the blue?”

I nodded. “And he brought his pregnant girlfriend with him. Claimed he was in the neighborhood and thought he’d stop by to see how we were doing. But then he gave my mother some sob story about how they’ve been living in shelters and really want to get an apartment to make a nice life for their baby. Somehow he managed to squeeze fifteen hundred bucks out of my mom. He gave her that piece of shit and told her the pawn shop appraised it for three grand, but he thought she’d like it so he gave her an opportunity to buy it first.”

Anna brought the necklace up to examine it closer. “Your mom had to know it wasn’t real.”

“Of course, she did. But you know how she is. She’ll help anyone. It’s her best quality and her worst. She was hooked the minute he had her feel the baby move in his crackhead girlfriend’s stomach.” I shook my head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t even his kid she was carrying. He could’ve just rented some pregnant addict for an hour to come help con my mother out of cash.”

Anna sighed. “Your mom doesn’t have fifteen hundred dollars to give away anymore.”

“Of course not. But my father’s spawn doesn’t care about that. He’s selfish, just like his dear old dad. He didn’t even ask how my mom is feeling. I doubt he knows she’s been fighting cancer for six years or that she went back to work less than a year ago when she finally went into remission.”

“I’m sorry he showed up and did that to Rose. It makes me sad that people take advantage of her good nature.”

“Me too. So why don’t you come over here and cheer me up?”

Anna smiled. We’d been together for a long time now, but the way her face lit up at the thought of me putting my hands on her never grew old. She walked over and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Sorry. You’ll have to take a raincheck on that cheering up. I have to babysit in fifteen minutes.”

I pouted.

She laughed. “You’re adorable when you sulk.” Giving me a chaste kiss, she said, “Call me the second the mail comes, even if you don’t get anything today.”

“Okay.”

Anna had gotten her acceptance to UCLA yesterday, along with almost a full academic scholarship. We’d sent in our applications the same day, but I still hadn’t heard anything.

I walked her to the door and opened it, only to find the mailman approaching with a thick stack of mail in his hand. Anna grabbed it from him and ran to the table to start rifling through.

“Medical bill.” She tossed an envelope to the side.

“Medical bill.” She tossed a second envelope to the side.

“Medical bill.” She tossed another.

“Electric bill.” She tossed again.

On the fifth envelope, she froze. “UCLA! Oh my God. It’s here!” She held it out to me. “Open it! Open it!”

I shook my head. “You do it.”

She didn’t argue. She tore into the envelope and started to read. I held my breath. Both of us had the grades to get in—that wasn’t the problem. Neither of us had the money to go unless we got a lot of financial help.

Her eyes widened as she read. “Dear Mr. LaCroix, Congratulations on your acceptance to the University of California at Los Angeles. Attached please also find your National Letter of Intent, which details information on an athletic scholarship offered on behalf of the UCLA Bruins.” Anna tossed that top letter into the air, and her eyes scanned the next few pages. She jumped up and down. “You got a full ride, Hollis! A full ride for baseball!”

I snatched the papers from her hands. There was no way UCLA was offering me that. It seemed too good to be true. But sure enough, there it was in black and white. I looked up at her, bewildered. “Holy shit. We’re going to live in sunshine three hundred and sixty-five days a year.”