Page 3 of Best Laid Plans

"What did he do?"

I shrugged. "Broke my heart."

"I'll tell Nina we won't work with Larue Homes." Luna was a loyal friend, who stood up for those she loved and cared about.

I shook my head. "Not going to give him that kind of control. My heart's not broken any longer, Luna. I'm healed."

Luna raised an eyebrow, and looked at the closed toilet.

I chuckled. "I wasn't expecting his vitriol."

She rose, and held her hand to help me up. "Come on, honey, let's fix you up so you can look like the badass you are if Anson sees you again."

She understood that I couldn't let him see that he affected me, because if he knew, he'd go for the kill. As it was, knowing Anson, he'd see my hard-won control around him as a challenge.

Now, when I looked back, I wondered if he'd seen shy, virginal Nova King as a challenge as well. He'd pursued me for six months, and had taken me to his bed on the day I turned eighteen. No one could say Anson Larue wasn't goal oriented.

We started dating when he came home from Yale during Christmas break of my high school senior year. It all began at the Sentinel Diner, where I worked after school. I knew who he was; everyone did. The Larue family practically owned Sentinel. His sister was in my class and proudly wore the Mean Girl crown. She and her best friend Bailey had bullied me back in freshman year when I first moved to Sentinel. They isolated me, but I didn't mind being alone—I'd been used to it since childhood.

Mama and I moved here because she was sick, and she wanted me to be close to her mother. In the end, Memaw died before Mama did, and at the age of seventeen, I was on my own. I worked and went to school, and had big dreams of getting out of my small town.

I had good grades and SAT scores. I was getting ready to apply to universities and, hopefully, receive financial aid. I was taking all the shifts I could at the diner, so I had enough money for expensive university applications. The high school had given me some vouchers, but they didn't suffice.

When I met Anson, the most handsome and cool boy in town, it was like meeting your favorite rock star. He upped the ante by paying attention to me—and I was a goner.

We spent all our time together from Christmas break through mid-January, when he went back to Yale.

We weren't exactly dating. It was friendship with sexual tension. He'd come to the diner, and then walk me to my apartment. We'd take the long way to my place and talk for hours. I'd cook dinner for him on my days off, and he'd eat with me in my dingy studio apartment.

We kissed for the first time on New Year's Eve, which he spent with me instead of at Larue mansion, where there had been a party. I'd been flattered.

I thought we were done when he returned to Yale, but then we began an unexpected and wonderful long-distance relationship. He texted and called me regularly. I made sure to pay for unlimited cell service, even though it was expensive. If I told him, I knew he'd offer to cover it, but I didn't want him to think I cared about his money—especially after he'd told me how many of his past girlfriends had.

I didn't think anyone knew about us—but when Alma confronted me and asked me to back off, I knew the cat was out of the bag.

"Why don't you want people to know, Sugar?" he asked me over the phone.

"I just don't. They'll see us together and…," I sighed. "You know my mama was a ho, don't you?"

"And my father is a philanderer. Spends more time with his mistress than his family," he retorted. "Means fuck all, Sugar. You're not your mama, and I'm not my daddy."

"I'm scared of what people will say."

"Who gives a fuck?"

A mulatto girl with no money and no family, and no support system does, I thought, but I didn't tell him that. I didn't want him to see me as weak or afraid. I loved him and I wanted to have the courage to love him for however long we had. I was under no illusion that he was my forever; he wouldn't want to be saddled with Eileen King's illegitimate daughter for more than a few months.

I decided that I'd lose my virginity to him. Maybe we'd see each other all summer while he was home at Sentinel—and then, hopefully, I would be able to go to university, and start my life. I'd miss him, but I'd at least have had this time with him.

I was waiting to hear from schools and hoping against hope for aid, because I couldn't get a loan as I had no one to co-sign. And let's face it, minimum wage wouldn't pay for tuition.

I had a father. Mama had told me about him. Not that his name was on my birth certificate or anything. But she'd told me that, if ever in life, something so bad happened that I couldn't handle it, he could be my last resort. She was sure he'd help me. He'd never be a father, but he'd show up during my time of need. It was wishful thinking by a woman on her deathbed.

My father, I learned, was Emmett Bodine, who was related to every politician ever elected in Georgia. In fact, he was the Governor's cousin. He came from old money, and had had an affair with my mother when she'd been cleaning up her act. She'd given up being a prostitute and was trying to better herself by getting her GED. Then came Emmett, and she got pregnant. He walked away, and she was back to the life she hated to feed herself and her child.

When she got cancer, we came to Sentinel. I took care of her and my grandmother, who was also sick, the best I could.

It hurt to be alone, but I couldn't regret them dying. They both had been in so much pain. Grandma from her pancreatitis, and Mama from her uterine cancer.

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