It wasn’t until two months later that I finally broke down, running barefoot to her house at two in the morning.

“Are ye okay, lovey?” she asked urgently, pulling me inside the house before I’d even grabbed the key from the string around my neck. She must have been watching for me.

That night, my parents had two visitors. From the different pitches of their voices, I’d guessed it was both a man and a woman, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. However, as I’d sat against the side of my bed, my fingers in my ears and a book resting on my knees, I’d noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Then I’d watched in horror as my doorknob turned slowly and silently.

If it hadn’t been for the small slide-lock I’d picked up at the little hardware store down the street and installed myself, whoever was trying to sneak into my room would have succeeded. I’d stared frozen until the knob stopped turning, then hopped to my feet and practically dove out my window to safety and Peg.

“I’m okay. I’m okay.” I repeated a few times, trying to convince us both. “I just got freaked out. I should go back. I overreacted.”

“Absolutely not!” Peg shrieked. “Ye’ll not go anywhere tonight.”

I was still so shell-shocked, I just watched silently as she locked the front door and grabbed my hand.

“Ye can sleep in the second bedroom.”

“But my parents…”

“They’ll not know a thing unless ye want them to,” she assured me, pulling a cord above her head to turn on the light in the small room. “I’ll wake ye when I go to work and ye can slip back in yer room.”

“I don’t—”

“Don’t ye argue with me!” Peg scolded, flitting around the room to find sheets and a quilt for the bed. “Ye’ll just stay right here tonight, where I know yer safe.”

“I probably overreacted,” I repeated as she held the blanket and sheet up so I could slip inside. “It wasn’t a huge deal.”

“I don’t care if ye were imaginin’ green monsters. Somethin’ spooked ye, and I’ll finally get some sleep tonight if I know yer safe under my own roof.” She leaned down to kiss my forehead, something I never remembered my mother doing, and stood back up to turn off the light.

“Sleep, my girl.”

I fell asleep easily that night, the smell of Peg’s house and the softness of the bedding and mattress comforting me like nothing had ever done before. She woke me like she’d said she would the next morning as she left for work, which gave me plenty of time to sneak back in my window before it was time to get ready for school. After that night, a pattern was established.

The next time we had visitors, I didn’t wait before racing to Peg’s house to climb inside the soft bed I’d come to love and listen to the most important parental influence I’d ever have snore softly in the next room. It didn’t happen every night, or even every week, but every time my parents paid for a prostitute to visit our house, I went to Peg’s. And every time, she met me at the door.

I never even had to use the key she’d given me in the months that followed; she always waited up to let me in.

Chapter 3

Amy

“Whoa! Who de fuck are ye?”

The voice coming from the edge of the bed startled me awake, and as soon as my eyes opened, I froze in terror. The man’s face was shadowed as he leaned over me, and I couldn’t even take a deep breath to scream before the light in the spare bedroom flicked on.

“Patrick! Stop scarin’ the poor girl and get away from the bed!” Peg scolded, immediately calming me. Oh, good. Patrick. I knew that name. Peg talked about her son all the time.

I turned to give Peg a small grateful smile, but jerked my eyes back to the man when he kicked the side of the mattress.

“Who de hell is dis? Ye takin’ in strays now, Mum?” he asked angrily, looking me over with a scowl. Damn, his accent was so thick it took me a second to realize what he was saying… and then I was pissed.

“Fuck off!” I snapped.

“Patrick!” Peg scolded at the same time.

“Ah, she speaks?” he replied sarcastically, scowling at me.

I glared back silently, unwilling to get into an argument with the prodigal son. I knew I was the interloper, and I was instantly terrified that his presence would ruin the safety I’d found with Peg. Even if he was being a jackass, he was her son and I was just the pitiful neighbor girl whose parents were too occupied with prostitutes and drugs to realize I was gone.

“Patrick Gallagher, this is my house and if ye don’t stop glarin’ at that girl, I’m goin’ to beat ye bloody!” Peg hissed, surprising us both.

“What de hell, Mum?”

“Out!”

He didn’t glance at me again, but threw his arms in the air, causing me to flinch back as he stormed out the door. What a dick.

“Ye alright? He didn’t scare ye, did he?” Peg asked after he was gone from the room.

“Uh, a little.” I laughed nervously. Was this when she’d tell me to leave? Shit.

“Ignore him. My boy’s all bluster. Ye’ve got school in four hours. Try and get some more sleep, eh?”

My jaw dropped as she turned off the light and pulled the door mostly closed. Had she really just told me to go back to sleep? How the hell was I supposed to do that? And why hadn’t she asked me to leave?

I sunk back down against the bumpy mattress and pulled the blankets to my chin as my mind circled around and around, going over what happened. I could hear their quiet voices in the kitchen while Peg banged pots and pans, but I didn’t even try to listen to what they were saying.