I count my money with shaking hands.
It is never enough.

I lock my door three ways each night.

Nina watches me from behind the gift shop glass. Her eyes tell me what her words do not. I am trapped in Vegas.

Then I meet Michael. His clear blue eyes see too much.

He speaks of his farm like it is heaven. The air there can heal broken things, he says. I laugh in his face.

But when Nina demands I join her counterfeiting scheme, I run to his mountain refuge.

The farm teaches me to breathe again. Winter shows me patience. Spring gives me hope. Summer brings me strength I never knew I had.

But my past follows like a black shadow. Nina finds me. Accuses me of grand theft. Can prove it, falsely.

I am an orphan, but my dying mother seeks me out. Cancer.

But now I stand on solid ground. I face what comes with roots that grow deeper each season.

The air and land heal. Love for Michael sustains me. I am planted here. Maybe I can learn to bloom.