Page 64 of Shattered Chords

Pack on muscle, huh? Easy to say; not so easy to do, considering my current diet, but I didn’t want to argue with Malik. He meant well. He also seemed thrilled about being my roommate. Besides, I liked the idea of training with a professional.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” I agreed.

“What time shall I come by? I’ve got a few things I want to drop off.”

“I’ll be home by eight.”

“Cool. See you later. God bless.”

I swallowed the religious comment and wished him a productive day, then killed the call.

My own day had a packed schedule too. An appointment with my therapist before lunch. Then another appointment with my attorney in the afternoon, and an AA meeting in the evening. But my biggest problem? I was terrified to leave Snowflake home alone. I almost convinced myself that taking the puppy along for all my errands wouldn’t be a big deal, but then I remembered how scared he was in my car when we drove together for the first time. I couldn’t make the little guy go through that again.

“Will you be all right if I run out for a few hours?” I asked as I picked him up from the blanket and settled him on my chest.

In turn, he stared at me with his huge eyes.

“I suppose since you’re not putting up a fight, that’s a yes.” I ran my palm over his head and along his small body. He seemed to like that. “You know what, bud? You and I are destined to do great things.”

It sounded like I was trying to persuade myself more than I was trying to persuade him. Like I was trying to persuade myself that I had more brilliant life left in me.

Snowflake stretched, his paws slipping across my neck, and licked my chin excitedly.

10 Camille

I wasn’t sure why exactly I was so nervous.

I’d dropped off my daughter at school on her first day of a new academic year quite a few times, but she was a sophomore now and she felt less and less like my kid and more like my roommate. Especially since getting her to have dinner with me at this point required a rock star’s involvement.

My Ally was growing too fast.

“I’ll get a ride home with Cal,” she said as she climbed out of her seat and swung the passenger door open. Hot air creeped inside the car and I caught the faint scent of burnt grass and wood.

“Cal? Didn’t he graduate last year?”

Ally hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. “He’s dating Trish.” Trish was in the same grade Pauline and Ally were, and it took me a second to realize what my kid had just revealed to me. “He’s picking us up after class,” she continued.

“Dating?” I gaped at her. So much for myharmless boyslist.

“Yes, Mom. See you later.” She shut the door and charged across the neatly trimmed lawn for the entrance, bypassing the other kids.

I was so stunned by the fact that the parents of a fifteen-year-old girl were letting her date a guy who was nineteen that I almost ran a red light while I was turning the corner. Thankfully, there was no shortage of people who expressed their feelings about my driving with obnoxious honking, which kept me pretty much in one lane for the remainder of my trip. My ears, however, were still ringing by the time I got to work.

When I stepped out of my car, the air felt positively heavy and smelled like cigarette smoke. Heat bit my cheeks and crept beneath my summer blazer, reminding me that sweat stains were extremely visible on pastel colors. Harper was off today, but Renn’s white SUV was already here. Only, instead of white, it was gray and devoid of shine, and when I approached the vehicle and carefully brushed my fingers across its roof, they collected a whole lot of dust.

No, not dust, I thought as I studied the dark coat of grime on my skin.Ash.

Old memories flashed through my head. The firefighters at our door. Ally crying. Dad instructing us to cover our faces as we ran to his Volkswagen. I remembered being ripped away from my life and tossed into a hotel for three days, not knowing whether our house would still be standing when we came back.

Instinctively, I looked up, but there was nothing above me but a stretch of bleached blue sky with one single cloud floating lazily across.

I hurried inside and headed straight to my office, where I powered up my laptop and checked the news. The fire that had destroyed the camping site near Santa Barbara was spreading south and the wind only made it worse, but there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger to those who lived south of Oxnard.

Renn was putting the finishing touches on the displays on the main floor when I entered. Today, she wore a pair of white slacks and a baby pink short-sleeved jacket over a black silk top. The shoes were my favorite. Black stilettos with delicate clear heels. She always knew how to pick them. Just like Harper, she dressed impeccably.

“You’re early today,” Renn noted as I walked over to the reception desk and looked at our list of appointments.

“I took Ally to school. Didn’t seem wise to go back home for thirty minutes. Plus, all that traffic.” Which I blamed on the beginning of the new academic year.

---