Read My Lucky Days: A Novel for Free Online Page A

be onsite in the city. I guess he had options. Have a home base that he saw for a few days a month or relocate.
    He chose to relocate, over and over again.
    Not something a guy with a family should do as a career, but my parents didn’t really operate like people who had a child.
    Corporate would give my father a new location, and then we made the move to the new place. He would spend the next several months overseeing the current management, looking over the finances, firing people, hiring people, educating more on waste and cost and profit.
    As the CEO always raved, my father had the magic touch when it came to the restaurants. He was very good at his job. My family always stayed in a place just long enough for the improvements to take effect.
    Just long enough for me to meet people. Just long enough for me to feel the griping sadness when I had to say goodbye. And sometimes I didn’t even try to meet people, knowing I was just going to leave again.
    My parents were the only constant in my life. And once I got old enough not to harm myself while alone, they usually just left me at the house while they went out with their friends. It was exciting for them. A constant change of scenery as they fulfilled their wanderlust of new people and new places. They never seemed to notice that I didn’t handle the transitions very well.
    I’d come to the conclusion pretty early in my life that my parents didn’t really want kids. I wasn’t neglected. I had clothes and food. But when I got older, I realized other families were different. Mine lacked something. I eventually realized it was warmth. And without warmth, a person felt a little cold on the inside.
    That had been my life as a kid. A lonely existence, but the only one I had ever known. I learned to pack a box before I could tie my shoes. And best friends were something I saw on TV. I never kept anything sentimental because it only took up space when we had to leave. More to unpack. More to repack.
    The day I pulled up in front of the dorms, I had stared at the brick building for a good ten minutes before getting out of the car. I was the new girl again. The feeling had always caused nervous jitters.
    I watched the students, rushing around in every direction, pushing carts of clothes and struggling to unload truckloads of their belongings.
    And then it hit me. For once in my life, everyone was starting over in a new place.
    Everyone was like me.
    That day had changed my life, something I had desperately needed. For the first time, I was unpacking, knowing I was staying in the same town for at least four years, which was longer than any other place I had lived growing up. It gave me a feeling of peace, a sense of belonging.
    And then I met Peyton and Skylar. My roommates. And my first long-term friends. A year later, we left the dorms together and rented a little house not far from campus. For most students, the move to college felt temporary. For me, it felt like home.
    It was perfect.
    They were the sisters I never had. The best friends I had always wanted. And the stability I had craved. They were both a little over-the-top in their own ways and I was their Katie.
    I was sensible. Reliable. The one who made sure the electric bill got paid. Katie.
    And last night, I had let them push me into being more like them. Something I didn’t allow to happen very often. As I crawled out of bed, the image of his face slipped into my thoughts. And then I was smiling before I even realized I was smiling.
    Lucky.
    I wondered what he was doing this morning with his brother. I didn’t know how he could even see straight today. My own head was clouded with exhaustion as I walked into the kitchen. I needed food. Good thing my Friday class was canceled and I didn’t have to stumble across campus.
    I got out a new package of bacon and a skillet. Placing the slices across the bottom, I cooked the meat until it was crispy and then made a sandwich. I cleaned up the mess and then sat at the