Her address’s only redeeming quality was that it put her close to the bus stop. Fat raindrops began to fall. The clean scent dissipated the overwhelming smell of pot as she passed the first drug dealer’s house. No one had to tell her not to slow down, not to look left or right, not to notice too much. She’d grown up here, knew the streets and the dangers that lay in plain sight, as well as those that didn’t. There was no way she was going to stay in Seattle. Living anywhere near this hellhole she’d grown up in was out of the question. She wanted out, wanted to be thousands of miles away, to start a new life with none of the ugliness and poverty and fear that had been her life up until now. She wanted to cut ties with her mother and find a place to settle down, create roots and a sense of belonging, both to community and to someone special. Justin’s face flashed through her mind. He’d shared his family with her, showed her what it was like to have roots, people who cared about him.
