Page 20 of Tangled with the Tight End

I wake to the doorbell a few hours later.

I lift my phone off the side table to check the porch camera.

The display is slow to come on, so I shout, “Come in!”

Anyone who made it through two sets of gates and the driveway gate is here officially.

The display comes to life.

Winona is standing on my porch, her wavy blonde hair falling down her back, and a small bag in her hand.

What is she doing here?

I speak through the doorbell microphone, pressing a button on my phone screen to access it. “Hey, Winona. What are you doing here?”

“Declan?” She looks around as if I’m about to materialize on the porch but my voice beat me to it.

“I’m talking through the camera speaker,” I explain.

She turns toward the camera and directs her next sentence right at me. Her blue eyes sparkle in the sunlight streaming onto the porch.

“I’m here with Riverview Home Health.”

“You’re …” my voice trails off.

Not her.

No.

She’s not a nurse. At least I don’t think she is.

“You’re a nurse?” I ask.

“No. I’m not.”

I’m about to ask her what she’s doing here, then she says, “I’m a nurse’s aide.”

They sent me a nurse’s aid.

They sent her.

Chapter 5

Winona

Those who keep speaking about the sun

while walking under a cloudy sky

are messengers of hope.

~ Henri Nouwen

A loud buzz echoes around me in the massive entryway. White brick extends two stories high and all around me, all the way up to the oversized lantern-style porch light that’s hanging from a chain overhead. The entrance to Declan’s house is as big as the bathroom I share with Cass—minus the toilet and shower. It would be odd to have those out here. Though I wouldn’t put it past them. Rich people do weird things. Maybe some of them have porch potties.

I peer in through the beveled glass on the double front doors. Everything inside looks like a kaleidoscope. I can’t make out any real details.

Blowing a piece of hair off my face, I straighten the strap of my messenger bag onto my shoulder. The circular driveway behind me leads around to three double-car garage doors and then over the tidy planting of trees to the side of the house and out past the private gate at the end of the driveway. The other properties on this street are barely visible from the porch. Some people actually live opulent, luxurious lifestyles right here in Waterford.