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In the meantime, deciding she’d need periodic spoiling, she’d left a slush account on the side to pay for a few wonderful vacations over the next several years. Her gramps had urged her to go, spend the money and have a good time.Charli, my beautiful girl,let your gorgeous curly hair down, get pregnant, enjoy… ahh life.
Ha! He did have a way with words. When she’d pointed out she didn’t have a husband, he’d come back with a shocker.
“So what? Nowadays, you don’t need a spouse to have a kid. Not if you don’t want one.”
She laughed again, her memories delightful. One thing she did agree with, she’d never needed a time-out more.
Once again, the southeastern coast of Florida called to her, and she’d made all the arrangements to vacation in Fort Lauderdale. She’d even found a lovely home to rent in a nice area with an oceanfront view and didn’t care about it being too large for one person.
She’d invited her gramps to come for a visit once she got settled, which he’d happily accepted, and all his paraphernalia would soon fill up the place. He never heard of travelling light.
Unable to face a lot of vacationing research after the months she’d gone through, she’d fallen back on their favorite city from previous stays. As a get-away from the rigors of a life constantly on the edge, it suited her perfectly. The urban location, perfect for a sun-lover, held everything she could want. Trendy restaurants, wonderful shopping and vistas of ocean beauty close by would fill the heart of any person in need of cleansing dark memories.
Heading to the bathroom to turn on the hot water in her spa tub and add the Japanese Cherry Blossoms bath soap that smelled delicious, she sauntered toward the hallway, calling out, “Alexa – turn on –Man, I Feel Like a Womanby Shania Twain.”
In a few seconds the music poured from the Amazon Echo thingy her gramps had given her that year for Christmas. Skipping to the beat of her favorite song, careful not to spill a drop of her expensive, spicy-smelling, fruity-tasting Shiraz, wiggling and dancing while she moved, she hummed along with Shania.
As she neared the front door, all hell broke loose.
Someone banged for attention, and the ruckus stopped her in her tracks. Clear enough to grab her attention, female screams for help filtered through the solid wood.
Adrenalin surges simmering just below the surface from her last job kicked into high gear. Quickly putting her sloshed drink on the floor and retrieving her weapon from the hidden drawer where she stored it when she was at home, she readied herself and checked the peephole. Observing the distressed person on the other side, she breathed deeply and stuck her rioting curls behind her ears.
“Alexa – turn off.”
