“Hi, yeah. In about thirty minutes, I hope,” I replied.
Fiona frowned. “You kept that quiet.”
I was surprised, to say the least. Fiona and I weren’t close; we were merely neighbours who said hello when we passed each other in the hallway.
“Got a new job,” I explained, and then wondered why I was doing so. I didn’t owe Fiona anything.
“Where are you moving to?” Fiona asked pointedly, and I felt my hackles rise. Fiona was pushing beyond polite neighbour boundaries.
“Out of state. Excuse me, I’ve a few more things to carry to my car,” I said and darted back into my apartment and closed the door. I peered through the peephole and saw Fiona standing there, frowning. There was a look on her face I couldn’t explain, except it gave me the shivers. Fiona had always given off strongvibes of having issues. Suddenly, I was glad to be escaping, even though I was headed for the one place I had refused to return to.
Fuckin’ South Dakota.
I hated it. There was only one reason I would have returned—Clara. Clara had raised me and been a mother to me whenever my own went AWOL, which had been often. The first time, I’d been about four when Mom, on a blind whim, left me alone. Three days passed before Clara realised what had happened. She took me in and called child services.
When Mom reappeared five days later, she claimed she’d contacted my father, who was supposed to have come to collect me. As Daddy Dearest hadn’t been around for all of my young life, that was a barefaced lie. Clara had been furious when I’d been returned to Mom. Mom had figured out it had been Clara who’d snitched. Spitefully, Mom told her that if Clara was so desperate for a child, she could have me whenever Mom left town.
That, sadly, had happened frequently.
From that day forward, I was often dropped at Clara’s with a bag while Mom ran off with whatever had caught her fancy. Sometimes it was a job, or a vacation, and other times it was a man. Mom had been an over-indulged rich kid, and it showed. My grandparents had washed their hands of her when she got pregnant with me, but Mom had access to a trust fund and used it when she wanted.
As a kid, I wasn’t deprived of material things, but I certainly lacked love. Mom never outright said she resented me for losing her cash cow, aka her parents, but she never put me first either. I was nothing more than an afterthought. Sadly, for Mom, she died young in an accident when the yacht she was on blew sky high, taking several millionaires with her. Not her fault. The boat hadn’t been well-maintained, and the owner’s tightfisted ways had caused the incident.
When she died, I’d been sixteen, and with Clara’s support, I’d argued to stay with her. The courts had listened and agreed that I could live with the woman I considered a mother. Clara hadn’t had any other children, so we’d clung together through the years. I loved her as much as any child loved their parent.
Clara had been heartbroken when I fled SD at twenty-two, having had my heart not justbroken, but smashed to smithereens by my ex-boyfriend. Clara understood and visited at least three times a year, often staying for four weeks or a little longer. Now I was thirty-two and returning to the state I’d fled. Ten years was a long time, but hate still burned inside me at how Stone Ryan had treated me.
Fists clenched, I shoved all thoughts of Stone away and stomped downstairs to finish loading the car. I hoped the landlord would hurry back. There was a long drive ahead, and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
While not as panicked as I was five days ago, urgency rode me since I’d received the call. My beloved Clara had fallen badly and broken her hip and leg. She was now in her late sixties, and while not too life-threatening, Clara was in pain. Worse, after a week in the hospital, she’d discharged herself.
Stubborn was something Clara had invented; I was damn sure of that. She’d also refused to let me come home to check on her. Clara had told me to find a job and not worry about her. She’d hire someone to help. That wasn’t happening. I’d look after Clara, just as she’d once looked after me.
???
Scowling, I drove into Spearfish and headed for Clara’s house. It was in a very nice locale, although Spearfish was a desirable area to live in. The street Clara lived on was in highdemand, with bigger homes, more land, and a mix of well-to-do professionals. In this part of town, houses with a seven-figure price tag dwelt.
Instinctively, I turned onto Clara’s road and headed for home. My blood mother’s house had long ago been sold, and the money had been put into a trust fund, from which I received a small monthly allowance. When she died, everything had come to me, but I’d learned the value of hard work from Clara. She’d been a self-made businesswoman herself. If not for Clara, who knows what kind of spoiled brat I might have become.
Being an RN wouldn’t make me rich, but God, it was satisfying. Over the last eight years, I’d lost count of how many people I’d helped. From tiny new babies to those at the end of their lives, I’d met them all. The skills I’d learned saved lives, and that meant something. I wasn’t a useless drain on society; instead, I was productive and useful.
I turned onto Clara’s drive and headed for the garage. Around here, properties had trees as their boundary lines, which gave everyone living here a lot of privacy. I parked up, climbed out and frowned as someone opened the front door.
“Hello! You must be April! I’m Rose,” she called out in a friendly manner.
“Hi, that’s me. Who are you?” I asked as I approached.
“Clara hired me to help with her care and housework,” Rose replied.
I barely bit back a rude sigh. Clara knew I was coming home. “How is she?” I inquired instead of saying what I’d been thinking.
“In more pain than she lets on. From what I have gathered, Clara was an extremely spry sixty-nine-year-old. This inactivity is upsetting her.”
“Well, I’m not surprised. Clara loves riding and walking in the hills. Guess I’ll have to take her horses out for exercise unless you’ve been riding them?”
Rose shook her head, looking frightened. “Sorry, I’m not a horse person.”
“Good job I am.” I chuckled as I entered the house. The smell of roses and lavender hit me immediately, making me smile. They were Clara’s signature scents and told me I was home. With a nod at Rose, I headed towards the sunny, well-lit lounge that Clara favoured. It was her casual one, not the formal one, and floor-to-ceiling windows fronted one side. Clara looked up from where she was sitting in one of the huge, overstuffed armchairs.
