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Chapter 1
Indigo – a woman who does not suffer fools, especially when he’s in her shower
Indigo
The sign welcoming me to Winter Falls comes into view and the tears I’d barely managed to wrestle under control burst from my eyes once again. With my hands shaking, I pull to the side of the road. Grief, shame, and loss pour from me as I stare at the sign.
Why didn’t I visit Grandma for the past five years? Yes, Mom forbade me, but I’m a grown woman. I don’t have to follow Mommy’s rules anymore.
And why didn’t Grandma tell me she was sick? It’s not as if we weren’t in touch. We spoke every Saturday morning while I drove to yoga class. She told me all the gossip in Winter Falls – who got caught skinny dipping at the river, who snuck off to White Bridge for a ‘secret’ date everyone knew about, what sexy book the book club was reading – but she never said a word about having cancer.
Now Grandma’s gone and I’m here to settle her estate. Clean out the house Grandpa built for her and sell it. I took aleave of absence from teaching since Mom still refuses to step foot in Winter Falls.
I don’t know what Mom’s problem is. While I was growing up, we came to Winter Falls every summer. It was magical. Swimming in the freezing river, playing softball with the other kids, sleeping in a tent in Grandma’s backyard, and Grandma teaching me how to bake, although never her apple pie since the recipe was ‘top secret’.
But then I graduated from high school, and Mom and Grandma had their big fight. Grandma never would tell me what it was about. Neither would Mom.
To be honest, I never expected Mom to tell me a thing. I’m not exactly her confidant considering her goal in life is to form my life exactly the way she wants it to be. My goals and wishes are irrelevant.
Meow!
I glance back at my kitty in her cage in the back seat. She bats at the bars.
“You wouldn’t have to stay in the cage, Katy Purry, if you didn’t try to drive all the time.”
Meow!
“I’m going already. Geez.”
Katy Purry is one demanding cat. I’m not kidding when I say she sits on my lap when I drive and tries to steer the car.
I park on the street in front of Grandma’s house since she doesn’t – didn’t – have a driveway. Most houses here don’t since cars are practically banned. Winter Falls’ claim to fame is being the first carbon neutral town in the world. Which means cars with internal combustion engines are not allowed. Most people use golf carts to get around.
I stare at the Colonial house. The wraparound porch where I fell and skinned my knees when I was fleeing the kitchen with a piece of stolen apple pie. The hunter green exterior Grandma insisted I paint and re-paint until she was satisfied with my brush strokes. I had green paint in my hair for the first month back at school.
And the bright red front door smack dab in the middle of the house. The closed front door. In the past, when I pulled up to the house, Grandma’s door would be wide open and she’d be standing in the doorway waving at me to hurry up and get inside. Not this time.
I inhale a deep breath and force myself out of the car. I open the rear door to release Katy Purry from her cage. She immediately jumps out and into my arms.
“You ready for this, Katy Purry?”
Meow! Meow!
Uh oh. Those are ‘I’m hungry. Feed me now, peasant!’-meows.
I scratch her neck as I walk to the front door. “I bet Grandma has some nice tuna for you.”
I’m lying. Grandma would never have canned tuna in her house. The one time I asked why, she gave me a lecture about dolphins and mercury and I don’t know what. I was five. I never asked for a tuna sandwich again.
I try the door. As I suspected, it’s unlocked. People in town don’t usually lock their doors. Not when ‘Winter Falls is the safest town in the world’.
The scent of cinnamon and apple hits me the second I enter. It smells as if Grandma has been baking her famous apple pie all afternoon. But she hasn’t. She’ll never bake her delicious pies again.
I—
Hold on. Do I hear water running? I listen closely. I do. There’s water running somewhere upstairs. So much for the safest town in the world.
I clutch Katy Purry to my chest. She must sense my apprehension as she doesn’t fight me. There’s a first time for everything.
