said to Nelson as he put the last of the boxes in the backseat of her car. Clara and Ryan already had the rest in Clara’s car.
“’Course,” Nelson said. Coming out, he slammed the door and put his arms around her to hug her tightly. He smelled so good. Nelson had always smelled good. She shouldn’t have thought it, but she did. Her heart jerked, and she fought not to feel it. “You take good care of yourself, and don’t be a stranger.”
“I’ll try not to,” she said, wondering without trying to if this was where their stories would diverge for good. “Well, I’d better get going. Don’t want to keep Ry and Clara waiting.”
“Okay. Take care.”
“You too.”
Greg said a little prayer for her between patients. It wasn’t much, but he hoped it would help.
Bing. The little bell sounded in the elevator as the three of them, a cart, and a stack of boxes got to the fourth floor. Right elevator. Right side. Taylor had retrieved the key from the front desk, only to be given the cryptic directions, and they had decided to take one load of boxes up on their trip to check out the room.
They went through the first door into a large lounge area. It had a kitchen at the far end, and couches, chairs, and a television closest to the outside door.
“Whoa,” Ryan said of the set up.
“This is it,” Taylor said, standing outside Room 416. She took a breath and let it out. Nerves attacked. What if this wasn’t a good move? What if this move just brought more trouble like the last ones had? Okay, not the last one, but… She forced herself to insert the key and turn the lock. Here goes nothing.
Pushing the door open, she took only a tentative step forward, not sure just what she would find on the other side. What she found was a large empty, gray-carpeted room with a big bed, desk, dresser, and closet.
“Wow!” Ryan said when he pushed the cart inside. “This is huge! Way bigger than mine.”
It was bigger even than the one Taylor had shared with Hannah, and oddly, there was no second bed.
“Well,” Clara said, “I’d say this is quite an upgrade.”
For her part, Taylor was stunned speechless. She had thought it would be nice, and it should be with the price tag, but ‘Wow’ didn’t begin to cover it.
Clara turned to her and threw out her hands. “Welcome home.”
After they brought everything up, Taylor told her friends they didn’t have to stay. It would take her a while to figure everything out, but she didn’t want to rush it. Besides, they had things to get to and they didn’t have to stick around and help.
With that and a couple of hugs, they left.
The first thing she did was find her laptop, plug it in, and find the soundtrack that had become the background music for her life the last week. The music helped to make the space feel a bit more like home. That was good because right now, it felt more like one of the blank canvasses Lily always knew just how to fill.
Taylor sat down on the bed that had nothing on it and looked around. A blank canvas to do whatever she wanted. Maybe this time, she could paint butterflies and rainbows instead of storm clouds and destruction. It would be a new concept.
All day long, Greg thought about calling or texting to see how things were going, but every time he talked himself out of it. She was moving on. She didn’t need him hanging around being pathetic. He needed to accept that and move on.
“Knock, knock,” the voice called from the other side of the bathroom door, which Taylor had found while she was unboxing her life.
She went to the door and opened it. On the other side was a petite, young African-American woman with kink-curled hair and a lightly freckled face that sported very minimal makeup and inquisitive dark eyes.
“I thought that must be you,” the young woman said, glancing past Taylor into the room.
“It’s me,” Taylor said, putting her hands out but not knowing how to handle this awkward situation.
“Oh. I’m Olivia Martinez.” The young woman stuck out her hand which Taylor shook. “Some people call me Liv or Livvie. My friends call me Viv, but that doesn’t really make too much sense, I guess. And you are?”
“Oh, uh. Tay… Taylor Grayson,” Taylor said, fumbling her own name because of the torrent of