This Heart of Mine. Brenda Novak

were gone, she walked to the gate and stared as far down the road as she could. Nothing.

      “Phoenix?” Her mother had managed to quiet the dogs. “You still out there? What’s goin’ on?”

      Phoenix returned to study what lay on the ground, searching for movement. Had Buddy filled those boxes with cockroaches or earwigs or some other kind of bug? “I told you, nothing. Go back to sleep.”

      “The dogs heard somethin’ or they wouldn’t have gotten themselves worked up like that!” her mother insisted.

      “It was just me, chasing off a raccoon.” Whatever her visitors had brought, her mother didn’t need to know about it. Lizzie had been tormented enough for being odd, difficult, overweight, a recluse.

      “You best be careful, girl,” her mother warned. “There ain’t nobody in this town who likes you.”

      “I know, Mom. You tell me that every day,” she said, but not loudly enough for her voice to carry to the other trailer.

      “Did you hear me?” her mother yelled.

      Phoenix spoke louder. “I heard you. Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.” Tough talk for someone acutely aware of her own weakness. Fighting with other women was one thing. That had been frightening enough. But Buddy? He was a huge man, positive she’d killed his baby sister, who’d been only a year younger than he was, and he seemed to believe that justice meant an eye for an eye.

      “Get inside and lock the door,” her mother urged. “The bastards who run this town would love nothing more than to catch you out at night.”

      “I’m going,” she said, but circled the boxes that had fallen instead. Whatever they contained—bugs or snakes or rat poison—she needed to get rid of it.

      Once again using her bat, she nudged the box that had broken open. It was clothes, all right. As she’d noted before, it also contained canned vegetables, beans and soup. And a shoebox. She thought that might be where she’d find the dog shit, but when she knocked off the lid, she saw that it was...running shoes?

      “What’s going on?” she murmured. The clothes were for a woman. There wasn’t any writing on them or blood that she could see. She couldn’t smell urine. Everything looked nice and new. These were name-brand items with the tags still on them.

      More of the same, as well as some packaged food, filled the second box.

      Who’d brought her these things?

      Whoever it was had included a receipt. Whoa...someone had spent a great deal and left her the option of return or exchange.

      That sure as hell wouldn’t be Buddy.

      Were these gifts, then? Everything was in her size, or close, and had been dropped at her doorstep. It had to be for her. But she was afraid to trust what she saw. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had given her anything, other than the small handmade gifts she’d exchanged with her friend Coop and a few of the other women in prison at Christmas. Cara had given her that laptop, but she’d also made Cara a fair amount of money for helping facilitate the bracelet business.

      “Look at this stuff!” she muttered as she began to dig through everything in earnest. This was better than any Christmas she’d ever had.

      She held up a pair of lace panties. Victoria’s Secret?

      Returning those to the pile, she pulled out a sundress, carefully brushed off the dirt and hugged it to her. It was a two. She was fairly sure it would fit. And it was so darn pretty...

      Eager to try it on, along with everything else, she started gathering up what had spilled. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the dark figure in the hoodie. She figured it had to be Kyle and felt bad for misjudging him. He was the only person who’d shown her any kindness so far.

      “Thank you,” she whispered, and was suddenly so overwhelmed with gratitude all she could do was sink down on her knees and cry.

      * * *

      Afraid the dogs would start barking again, Riley held very still. When Kyle had run off, Riley had hidden. Now he was pressed up against the back of Lizzie’s trailer, taking advantage of the deep shadows, and couldn’t go anywhere until Phoenix went inside. He’d thought he’d just wait until she went in, then slip out of the yard. But she was too overcome to be in any kind of hurry. And seeing her, someone who was so distrustful, so prepared to battle some unknown assailant, break down when she finally realized she had nothing to be afraid of made Riley’s chest tighten to the point that he could barely breathe. He could only imagine what it must be like for her, to have so little in the way of resources and yet feel as if she had to take on the whole world.

       There ain’t nobody in this town who likes you.

      And yet she’d come back...

      He clenched his fists and leaned into the rusty old filing cabinet that helped provide his cover. He refused to tear up—but fighting his emotions left a huge lump in his throat. Damn it! He’d known better than to get involved in this.

      But it was the burning behind his eyes and the empathy that made his heart ache that caused the anger. He’d never been happier to give someone a gift.

      Grateful to Kyle for thinking of it, for bringing it to his attention and making him feel responsible for meeting at least some of her needs, he watched as Phoenix wiped her cheeks, dusted off each item and restacked the cans inside the boxes.

      The lights inside her trailer snapped on as soon as she carried the heaviest carton through the door. Then she returned to collect the other one.

      After her door closed for the second time, Riley could have left without giving himself away. Instead, he was tempted to creep up to her window to see if she was trying on what they’d bought. It would be gratifying to see how it fit. His interest wasn’t sexual, so it didn’t seem all that reprehensible. But he decided that peeping through her bedroom window wouldn’t be appropriate despite his intentions.

      Besides, Kyle had to be impatient waiting at the truck, which they’d parked half a mile or so away.

      With a final glance at the bat she’d left on the ground, Riley was moving toward the street when he spotted a piece-of-shit bike leaning up against Phoenix’s trailer. She must have plans for that, he decided. She probably intended to fix it so that she’d have some transportation.

      Noah, one of his best friends, owned the bike shop in town. Riley could get it fixed quicker and cheaper...

      One of the dogs barked, making him a little anxious, but he couldn’t stop himself. He grabbed the bike before he left and was carrying it with him when he met Kyle on the road.

      “What the hell is that?” Kyle asked.

      “What does it look like?” he replied.

      “Is that where you’ve been? Trying to steal her bike? I was beginning to think she caught you.”

      “It wasn’t the bike that held me up.”

      “Then what did?”

      “It took her a while to open those boxes and figure out they were safe to accept.”

      Kyle’s expression showed interest. “You saw her open them?”

      “Yeah. After she chased you off, she thought whoever had left the stuff was gone.”

      “But...how did she not see you? With that damn floodlight it wasn’t even very dark.”

      “That’s why I couldn’t move. I was hiding in the shadows behind her mother’s trailer.” And she definitely hadn’t seen him. If she’d known he was there, she would never have broken down. That was what had made her relief and gratitude so honest. Here was someone who’d withstood so much tragedy without flinching. She hadn’t complained or railed at him when he didn’t bring Jacob to see her in the correctional facility, even though she’d requested it several times.