CHAPTER 1
Travel trailer tip 1: When hooking up a travel trailer, remember to watch out for the hitch. Your shins will thank you.
With a pitch-black sky full of twinkling stars and a warm summer breeze caressing my skin, I stood in front of my fabulous pink-and-white Shasta trailer. I surveyed the scene as my family helped me prepare for the upcoming festival. Tomorrow was the start of the four-day annual Summer Arts and Craft Fair in my hometown of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Selling my art was my full-time job now, so I had to make the next few days a success.
The event was being held at the county fairgrounds. Nestled in the middle of a wooded area was an open space that was the perfect location for all kinds of events held year-round, such as the harvest festival in the fall, the Old Timey Christmas Festival, the Spring Tulip Festival, and many other events all summer.
My vendor spot was number forty-one. My adorable little travel trailer would be my home away from home now. I planned on spending a lot of time in it as I traveled the country, bringing my art to each and every state. It would be a fun adventure. At least that was what I reminded myself. I wouldn’t be alone in the trailer. My furry companion, a perky white Chihuahua, was always by my side. One of his oversize ears flopped down, and that was how he’d gotten the name Van Gogh.
Currently, my family was on site helping me with my trailer. Mostly they wanted to snoop to see what this new endeavor was all about. My father ran a small engine repair shop right next to my parents’ house. He was also a genius at fixing up classic cars—Corvettes, Camaros, GTOs. My mother had the full-time job of keeping my father and brothers out of trouble. Everyone said I looked a lot like my mother, with dark hair and big brown eyes the shade of a scrumptious piece of Godiva chocolate. My two brothers, Stevie and Hank, worked with my father in the shop. The three of them bickered all the time. Oddly, I knew that was their way of showing affection to one another.
Stevie and Hank had been “helping” me since my earliest memory. Like the time they helped repair my tricycle by taking it apart. Every single piece was set out on the front lawn like a jigsaw puzzle. They’d acted as if it was an innocent gesture of kindness. Or when I was in high school and they helped my date for the senior prom by taking him for a ride before the big night. My date was terrified to come anywhere near my house after that. They were my big brothers, though, and I loved them.
“We’re going to make this the best-looking booth in the craft fair,” my mother said with a wave of her hand.
My father mumbled under his breath as he tried to untangle the string lights that were meant to hang along the front of my trailer. My mother had volunteered my father for the job. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, it was just that he always had the best intentions but something disastrous happened.
“Look, the lights are tiny little campers just like yours.” My mother pointed. “I ordered them from Amazon.”
“They’re great, Mom, but we’d better help Papa before he trips over the lights and kills himself.”
I had the rest of the evening to set up for the craft fair. It had seemed like plenty of time at first, but now I was realizing the sun had set quite some time ago and the clock was ticking. I had to make sure I had all my paintings, blank canvases, and paint for when inspiration came, not to mention I needed to make sure I had everything planned for the setup. If customers couldn’t see my paintings, they surely wouldn’t buy them.
“I love that you got some of your art framed.” My mother touched one of the gold frames.
“I thought it was nice to make some available already framed and some without, in case customers want to pick out their own frames.”
“That’s good thinking. Isn’t our daughter smart?” My mother turned her attention back to my father.
My father mumbled something unintelligible again as he attempted to get the lights untangled from around his neck.
“I told you he’d hang himself.” I ran over to him. “How did you do that, Papa?”
My mother and I spun my dad around so that the lights would come undone from around his neck.
“Can you breathe okay?” I fanned him.
He waved his hand. “I’m fine. Don’t fuss.”
My mother rolled her eyes. “He’d say he was fine even if he was blue-faced and passed out on the ground.”
“Hey, is this thing supposed to be locked?” Stevie yelled out.
Just then, the back of the trailer tipped, making one side shoot up in the air like a seesaw.
“What have you done?” I shouted.
Hank ran over to help Stevie. “That’s not how you do it. Let me show you how it’s done.”
As Hank raced toward the trailer like a bull charging toward the matador’s red cape, he tripped over his own feet and landed face-first in the mud.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” my mother said.
Stevie laughed. “Thanks for the help, bro.”
“Let me show you all how it’s done.” I gestured for everyone to step out of the way.
“Be careful, honey,” my mother called out.
The guy who’d sold me the trailer had showed me all about it. Sure, I wasn’t an expert, but I couldn’t be any worse at this than my brothers.
As I worked on the hitch, my mother yelled at my father, “Be careful on that ladder.”
Oh no. He had the ladder. This wouldn’t end well. Would the rest of the evening be spent in the emergency room? Once I secured the hitch, I hurried over to my father’s side. I held the ladder as he teetered on the edge of the top rung. The roll of tape slipped from his hands, landing on the ground. As soon as I let go of the ladder to pick up the tape, the ladder swayed and my father tumbled to the ground.
“I knew that would happen,” my mother said.
While I helped my father to his feet, Van snatched the roll of tape and darted toward the nearby giant oak tree.
“Van, come back with the tape.” I chased after my four-legged companion.
Of course, he thought this was a game and was determined to win. My brothers yelled for Van to stop as they ran behind me. After a couple of minutes of playing chase-the-Chihuahua around the old oak tree, I scooped up Van with the roll of tape still dangling from his mouth.
I handed the tape back to my father. “Are you okay, Papa?”
“I’ve had worse falls than that,” he said.
Unfortunately, that was true.
“Do you think you should climb back on that ladder?” I asked as he walked away.
“There’s no talking to him. He won’t listen,” my mother said.
We watched as my father climbed back onto the ladder with my brothers supervising. Stevie and Hank bickered back and forth about who would hold the ladder.
“I’ve never seen such chaos,” a female voice said from over my shoulder.
I spun around to find my best friend, Sammie, standing behind me. Samantha Sutton, or Sammie as everyone affectionately called her, and I had been friends since first grade. Of course, to be friends for that long we had a lot in common. We both liked eighties music, lounging by the pool in the summer, and bargain shopping. As for appearance, we were complete opposites. Sammie was tall, with long legs, and I was short. She had blond hair cut into a bouncy bob and I had long, dark hair.
“When did you get here?” I asked as I reached out to hug her.
“You mean, how much of this scene did I witness? Enough to see that it’s business as usual for the Cabots.”
I blew the hair out of my eyes. “Welcome to my world.”
“I’m fully aware of your world, remember? It’s been this way for the total of all the years I’ve known you.” She handed me a pretty pink package.
She knew how much I loved the color pink. Pretty much everyone knew pink was my signature color when they spotted my old pink truck pulling the pink trailer.
“What is this?”
“A little something I thought might make you feel better.”
“You bought me a gift? Why did you do that? You didn’t have to do that.” I immediately untied the white ribbon.
“I know I didn’t have to, but it’s just that tomorrow is a big day for you. A whole new start to life.” She moved her arm in a sweeping gesture. “It deserves a celebration.”
I hugged her again. “Thank you. You’re such a great friend.”
“Hurry and open it. I want to see if you like it.”
I hurriedly opened the package. The suspense was getting to me. My mother had slipped over to see what all the fuss was about.
“Oh, you’re ruining the paper,” my mother said.
“We could reuse that.”
My mother wanted to keep every bit of gift wrap she saw. We’d exchanged the same gift bags back and forth for six years now. If one got smashed or ripped she grieved for days.
I eased the pink paper away from the box and handed it to my mother. She slowly folded it, as if it were a piece of delicate silk. I pulled the mug from the box. A self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh was on each side.
“Do you love it? When you pour in hot liquid his ear disappears.”
I laughed. “It’s perfect.”
“Interesting,” my mother said.
The sound of a motor caught our attention. The man in charge of organizing the craft fair was driving a golf cart down the path in front of our booths. With his wide shoulders and hefty stature, Evan Wright barely fit behind the wheel of the vehicle.
“Who’s this guy?” Stevie asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
“He’s the guy in charge here,” I whispered.
“He seems shady if you ask me,” Hank said.
My brothers, mother, and father were suspicious of everyone. I tried not to be that way, although I supposed on occasion I succumbed to that attitude too.
Evan rolled to a stop in front of my booth. “It’s a bit late to be out, don’t you think?”
“There’s a curfew?” Sammie asked.
Evan eyed Sammie. “No curfew, but people are trying to sleep because they’ll be up early in the morning. I heard a lot of ruckus over here.”
“Ruckus,” Hank said with a chortle. “That’s a funny-sounding word.”
Stevie laughed too.
My mother smacked them on the back of the head with the gift wrap remnants. She meant business if she was jeopardizing her paper.
Evan tapped his fingers against the steering wheel while waiting for an answer. The gold ring on his finger clanked against the metal of the wheel.
“We were just wrapping up,” I said with a forced smile.
He scrutinized all of us for a bit longer before accelerating away.
“That was weird,” Sammie said.
“Well, it takes all kinds,” my mother said.
“Ta-da,” Papa said.
The string lights glowed in the night sky. They added just the right amount of coziness to the area. It didn’t feel quite as lonesome now. I’d worried that I’d get lonely once my family left. Yes, I couldn’t believe I’d thought that, but I had.
I hugged my father. “The lights are fantastic. Thank you, Papa.”
“Well, I should go and let you get some rest before your big day tomorrow.” Sammie raised her voice, hoping my family would take the hint and leave too.
She’d obviously noticed my yawning. The family didn’t catch subtle hints, or if they did, they ignored them. Tomorrow was Friday, the start of the fair. I needed to rest for the big event, but with my excitement, I wasn’t sure how I’d ever fall asleep.
My mother surprisingly picked up the clue. “Boys, it’s time to go.” She clapped her hands.
Somehow my mother rounded up my brothers and father. Sammie left too. I clutched Van in my arms. It was just the two of us. Tomorrow was the big day.