PART 21

By the time I was seventeen, Colleen’s house had become my home in more than the legal sense.

I knew which step creaked, where she hid the chocolate biscuits, and that she left the porch light on if I wasn’t back from a school event.

She never used that light as a threat.

It was simply there so I could find my way.

My arrangement with Colleen continued through the appropriate court process.