“Yes, I have them.”
As Jason was leaving he said, “About Saturday night, if you’d like some time off, that’s fine as I’ll also be going out to dinner with Harold and some other friends.”
“Oh that’s great; I’ve some family close to the area that I would really like to visit.” Liar, Liar, pants on fire.
“See you tomorrow Claire,” Jason replied as he shut the door.
Holy Moly, Suzy was right; that man did have a smoking hot set of buns, whew! Breathing a sigh of relief, Claire started clearing off her desk and shutting her computer down. Bringing out her cell phone, she sent a text to Pam letting her know that she would be available to do the party on Saturday evening as planned. Claire gave her watch a quick glance and hurriedly gathered her purse. Her mother and Louise would be waiting on her for dinner.
Chapter Three
Claire’s mother had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes almost five years ago and despite their best efforts, each year seemed to take a further toll on her health. To add to the problem, her mother was also in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Louise had been her mother and father’s housekeeper for as long as she could remember. Her father was a corporate lawyer and prided himself on leading a certain lifestyle. Being waited on and able to brag about having a maid was part of that lifestyle. When Claire’s father and sister were killed in a tragic auto accident three years ago, Louise had moved in with her mother for some much-needed companionship.
Her mother had never really recovered and blamed herself for the accident. Her father was always very particular about their meals and when her mother hadn’t purchased what he wanted for dinner, he had insisted on going back to the supermarket to get the correct items, since no one else was intelligent enough to make sure it was handled correctly. Her father had also discovered that day that her sister had been seeing a boy that he deemed unacceptable, so he had made her go along so he could spend the travel time lecturing her. In a sense, her father and sister died for gratin potatoes versus plain mashed potatoes.
Since the fast decline of her mother’s health, Louise had become an absolute necessity. Claire didn’t know what she would do without her. With her mother having a steadily increasing problem with her memory, Louise saw that her blood sugar was checked regularly and that her medication was given at the correct times. Claire had worked out an agreement with Louise to provide her a room and a small salary. Even though Louise’s salary was modest, it was still a struggle to meet most months with the price of her mother’s medication and the upkeep on the house.
Claire walked to the elevator and took a deep breath to avoid the suffocating feeling of the confined space as she waited for the doors to open. It was past six on a Friday evening which meant most of the office had already left for the day. Claire waited on the elevator door to open to the parking garage which was another source of discomfort for her. Would she ever get over this claustrophobia that she’d been cursed with her whole life?
She opened the door to her Toyota compact and slid onto the thread-bare seats. A new car at any point in the future seemed very out of reach. Luckily, Daisy, as she called her car, seemed to be dependable and loyal but was in no stretch of the imagination a man magnet unless it was a repairman.
Claire turned onto the street towards her mother’s home. Claire’s mother lived a few miles from the beach in a small town called Murrells Inlet. Although close enough to Myrtle Beach to be very busy during the summer tourist season, Murrells Inlet still had a certain small-town charm. As she turned in the driveway of the two-story home, Claire stopped to appreciate the exterior. For those looking for the fairytale of a house with a white picket fence, this was it. It was only when you took a closer look that the house was starting to resemble something from a Freddie Kruger Movie. The last few years of neglect were starting to show. Life had been nothing like a fairytale though for the people who had lived in the house.
Her father was an overbearing, manipulative man who verbally abused them the entire time he was alive. Nothing was ever good enough to please him. If Chrissie or herself didn’t make all A’s in school, they were stupid and lazy; but if they did, it was because they took easy courses that anyone could pass. Everyone walked on eggshells around him, terrified of what would set him off for that day.