My stomach twisted each and every time I said it. No matter how badly I wanted to be the one to pick her up, I had to work.
“I know, love you,” she said before bailing out the door. Right then my phone beeped. As I gazed down to see who the message was from, I sighed. I quickly reached over to turn off the screen. Inhaling, then exhaling loudly, I drove back to Silver Shores and tried not to think about my ex.
2
Chloe
The sudden urge to walk right back out flowed over me as soon as I entered the condo. Loud voices rang from the kitchen.
“Chloe, is that you?” Muriel shouted. She lived upstairs from us. That wasn’t why she was here, though. Carter had more than a few groupies who checked in on him, Kendall and of course now the baby. It was cute in a slightly overbearing, in your face kind of way.
When I’d first moved here, I found it odd and intrusive to be honest. Back home, I rarely had anyone over to visit. And if I did, they were invited. Not here. Any time of day, you’d have a knock on your door and never know who it was.
It took me a month or so to warm up to the residents here. Their friendliness was so foreign to me I didn’t quite know how to act. But it didn’t take long before they accepted me into their fold.
Years ago, Carter’s grandma had passed away, leaving him her condo. Here. In a retirement community. Instead of selling it someone who actually was retired, he’d kept it for himself.
Being a pilot, Carter’s time at home had been limited. He didn’t find it necessary to find a traditional bachelor pad when he had all the comforts of home here. The women at Silver Shores always made sure that Captain Carter Clynes had a fridge full of casseroles and other goodies.
When he and Kendall got married, she moved in with him and the rest is history.
“It’s me,” I said cautiously, slowly roaming in their direction. The group in the kitchen turned their heads to me at once.
“Oh, thank goodness, child,” Muriel said, putting her arm around me. The familiar scent of BenGay filled my nose. “Flo’s ready to come home,” she said, her voice quivering.
I was confused. Florence had fallen and broken her hip a month ago. She’d had surgery and the last time we went up to visit all looked well.
“That’s good news. Isn’t it?”
She shook her head. “They won’t let her go home unless someone can look after her. Full time.” Her dark blue eyes got watery as her jaw quivered.
Oh. Flo was independent. This was going to be a blow for her. “Just until she’s all healed up. I’m sure it’ll just be a short-term necessity.”
Her arm went around mine, guiding me further into the kitchen. “Yes, but you know how—particular Flo can be. She’s giving the doctors and nurses fits.”
To that I chuckled. If there was a live wire amongst the residents here, it was definitely Flo. Picturing her giving those around her a hard time was easy to imagine. “I bet.” I gazed over toward Kendall. The sullen look on her face worried me.
She passed the baby to Carter before grabbing a pen and paper from the drawer. “Flo needs to prove to the doctors that she’ll have enough care around her. Otherwise,” she started before getting cut off.
“They’re going to put her into a home!” Bertha exclaimed as the others in the room all gasped. There was nothing worse you could say to the older residents of Silver Shores. Everyone began chattering amongst themselves about how unjust the situation was.
Bertha, Flo, and Muriel were like the Three Musketeers. They’d been beside themselves ever since Flo’s accident.
Raising my hands, I spoke above them, “Look everyone, I’m sure she’ll figure it out. She’s got family here, doesn’t she?” I couldn’t remember for certain, but I thought she’d mentioned a son or daughter who worked in the medical field.
The room grew silent, followed by many pursed lips. Kendall spoke up, “A son.”
Right, a son. Now it came back to me. “He’s a doctor, right? I’m sure he’ll arrange for something. Or maybe even stay with her?”
Bertha snorted. “Let’s just say he’s a better doctor than he is a son.”
“That’s not fair, Bertha. He’s a doctor. He’s busy.” Muriel sniffed.
But everyone in the room agreed with Bertha, including Carter. “I’ve only seen him a few times and he’s never so much as walked Florence up to her condo. Just picks her up every so often and then drops her off at the door before rushing off again.” All the heads around him nodded and the conversations between them started again.
This time, Kendall raised her voice to get everyone’s attention, her gaze stuck on me. “Basically, what Flo needs is someone to say they’ll be around and available to help her.” Half a dozen sets of eyes nailed me to the floor. “We all were talking and since you’re almost done your physio practicums and all you have left are your exams—that maybe you could help out?” Her shoulders shrugged, nearly touching her ears.
The way Kendall said, “all you have left are your exams” was such an understatement I wanted to laugh. I still had classes to attend and more papers than I could count to write. But Flo was such a sweet lady. She lived across the hall and we visited with each other often.
Talking with the residents here was pretty much all the socializing I did. They all knew I had a soft place in my heart for Flo. Of course, I’d help out. “I’ll do what I can. She’ll still need to have a nurse around for when I can’t be there.”
A round of cheers sounded, followed by many relieved faces surrounding me as everyone took turns giving me a hug.
“This is wonderful news,” Bertha said, giving me an especially tight squeeze. “I’ll call her right away. I knew you’d help out.”
A few hours later, I got a call from Kendall asking if I could meet with Flo’s “team”. They needed to verify for themselves that I existed and was qualified to handle her unique set of needs. It took me a good half hour to reschedule the appointments I’d made—and to ask Kendall to pick up Maya for me.
The familiar pain stabbed through my heart as I realized I’d be disappointing my daughter. Again. I took a deep breath, pulled up my big girl panties and drove to the hospital for the meeting.
Traffic was terrible, especially at this time of day. I prayed there’d be room for me in the parking lot where I had to go. If I had to hoof it too far, I’d be late.
Luckily, the gods of great parking spaces shone down on me. After locking up Kendall’s vehicle, I double checked my phone for the floor and room number of where I needed to be. I saw a set of elevators right in front and raced to them as the doors on one were closing. “Hold the doors, please,” I called, running as quickly as I could in my heels.
Instead of the doors stopping, they continued closing. Jerks. I could have held back, like a sane individual and waited for the next one. But I was triggered. Whoever was in there must’ve seen and heard me. They were intentionally not helping me out.
I stuck my arm out halt the doors’ progress. As I stepped into the elevator, I looked up into the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. They practically sparkled. For a moment, I stood there, mesmerized, thinking how I’d never seen quite that shade before.