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He looked us up and down with pursed lips. “Uh-huh. Well, he must like her. I’ve never seen him that nice to anyone. Go check in at the nurses’ station for your assignments and you can go.” Then he left too.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Maddy whirled on me. “Is this a joke? Please tell me this is some prank show. The mood of our boss is dependent on his relationship with Amber?”

I licked my lips. “You heard Hector—he’s never been this nice.”

“Uh yeah, because Amber hasn’t unleashed the kraken yet. Do you know how fucked we are?”

“She’s doing really well,” I said defensively.

“Yeah? And you think she’s going to do well for the whole time we have to work with that guy? She’s gonna burn his fucking house down and we’re gonna be left there with the garden hose. This is my nightmare,” she whispered. “Med Surg, Amber, and this?”

“I’ll talk to her,” I said. “When we get back.”

“Good. Make her leave. He’ll be upset for a bit, but it’s better than the alternative. Just tear off the Band-Aid.”

“Yeah.”

But I knew Maddy was right. We were fucked.

CHAPTER 14

EMMA

After work, I rang the bell to the mansion and stood there fidgeting. Mom hadn’t answered a single text all day.

Maddy was in the pontoon on the dock, playing games on her phone waiting for me. She’d sent me like an ambassador for Rust Water Cottage to try to convince Mom to leave.

It was never going to happen. I knew this. But Maddy wouldn’t let it go unless I tried—and really, I should try. Maddy was right, this whole situation was a ticking time bomb.

I had this sinking, sickly feeling of being out of control. A gnawing anxiety of what was to come. Mom always made me feel like this, I realized. When she was here, when she wasn’t here. A gaping, bottomless impending feeling of doom.

I rang the bell again in quick succession. A few seconds later I heard a bolt lock turn and when the door finally opened, it was Maria.

“Hi, is my—”

“You here for your madre?” she said, annoyed. She pushed the door open and stood with her arms crossed while I peered past her into the house.

The door opened to a large vestibule, and beyond that was a spacious living room. Huge vaulted ceilings, white sofas, a shiny black baby grand piano—and Mom, on a ten-foot ladder with her back to us… painting a wall?

I blinked at her. “What—Mom, what are you doing?” I called.

“She can’t hear you,” Maria said. “She has to have music for inspiration.” She put her fingers in quotes. “Ésta casa se está yendo a la mierda,” she mumbled. “Already like she owns the place.” She threw up a hand. “Well? Come in.”

I walked into the house.

Mom stood at the top of the ladder barefoot in denim capris. She wore a men’s button-down shirt knotted in the middle with the sleeves rolled up, probably Neil’s. It was too big to be hers. Her long hair was tied back into a red bandana. Half a dozen brushes and paint cans sat open and scattered on a clear plastic sheeting under the ladder. I was practically underneath her before she spotted me. “Emma!” She pulled out her earbuds. “You’re back!”

She set her brush on top of the paint can she was using and started down the ladder. “I’ve been waiting all day. What do you think?” She gestured to the mural she was working on, beaming.

I peered up at it. Large colorful roses. It was a whimsical design. Bold and beautiful.

Mom had always been artistic. I remembered the time she did face painting at a Renaissance fair for a few weeks when I was ten. She’d paint my face first and then let me run loose for the rest of the day to watch the roving performers and pet baby goats in the petting zoo. It was one of the best summers of my life.

This summer was up for debate.

“It’s nice,” I said, watching her climb down. “But is Neil okay with you doing this to his wall?”

She got to the bottom rung and hopped off. “Who do you think paid for the paint? I pitched the idea to him this morning and he loved it.” She put her hands on her hips and looked up at it. “I mean of course he did, look at this place, it’s like living in an asylum. All this white, it’s depressing. I’m going to do the whole wall, top to bottom, first thing you see when you come in. It’s going to change his life, completely different energy.”