True to You

A Place for Me

2019

Laine shifted uneasily, hating the thrum of nerves in her chest. She was not the shy girl. She'd never been the shy girl not that anyone would have ever described her as an outgoing show pony either. Not even her loving mother. She swallowed around the fist of grief in her throat. No, she was simply...confident. That was it, confident. And she was confident enough to not feel the need to pretend she wasn't. Expect right now, waiting on the doorstep for someone to answer the door, she didn't feel confident, not at all.

What the hell was she even doing there? It wasn't as though she was homeless and had nowhere else to go. She had more than one option, it was just that she couldn't face going back to her dorm or sitting through lectures. Even the idea of playing music with other people, something that usually sparked joy for her – Marie Kondo would be so proud – left a feeling of dread in her stomach. The only music she wanted to make felt dark and lonely and thus belonged in a dark and lonely place, solely for her. No, the reason she'd agreed to the suggestion that she go spend time with her largely unknown relatives was because she didn't want her grandparents to worry. Once again they were off on a research project and their concern and guilt at leaving her at home on her own was clear.

Her hand hovered in mid-air as she contemplated rapping her knuckles once more on the solid timber of her cousin's front door. Cousin? Uncle? She wasn't entirely sure just what Brian Haner Jr was to her. On the one hand he was her mother's age so it felt like she should call him Uncle Brian, in the same way she called his father Uncle Brian – her mother had always called Brian senior Uncle – but on the other he wasn't her uncle. Plus, she felt too old to call people she'd only just met uncle, or aunt for that matter. He was her cousin, albeit a kind of distant one that she'd never met before her mother's funeral. She'd met Uncle Brian and Aunt Suzy a couple of times, the last time when she was sixteen just before she'd suddenly shot up in height and grown boobs. She'd looked like she was twelve so she couldn't at all fault them for commenting on how much she'd grown and how surprised they were she was in college when she saw them again at the funeral.

With a deep breath and a glare at the hand that still hovered indecisively mere inches in front of the timber she pounded on the door wincing at the explosion of shrill barking on the other side. Terrific, a dog, by the sounds of things it was only a small one which was a positive. It wasn't that she didn't like dogs, it was just that they made her nervous. She'd never been lucky enough to own any pets and the only dogs she'd come across with school friends had been grumpy, spoiled lap dogs or snarling guard dogs. The door swung open and a ball of white fluff exploded through it yapping at eardrum piercing levels. Laine took a step backwards as a woman she recognised as Steph, Brian's wife lunged through the door and grabbed for the fluffball.

"Pinkly! Get back here!" Steph admonished as she clutched the wildly wriggling little dog to her chest. "Hi Laine," Steph beamed in her direction, "don't mind Pinkly she gets a bit over excited. I'm only glad that I wasn't around for her puppyhood when apparently she peed herself everytime someone came to the front door."

That little wriggling, panting ball of fur was a fully grown dog? Somehow a dog that would have been right at home in Paris Hilton's handbag was not what Laine had expected Brian would own.

"Anyway," Steph continued, "enough about the Haner hell beast. Welcome! You will be our first guest in the pool house!" She glanced around frowning. "Do you have any bags?"

Laine jabbed her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of where her Jeep was parked. "In my car."

"Nice wheels. We can grab your stuff later." Steph gave her an approving nod before stepping back and extending her free arm to direct Laine inside.