Homebound by Lydia Hope

Author:Lydia Hope [Hope, Lydia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2020-01-05T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

The next day Gemma felt better yet. Strength was returning to her body, and even though she wasn’t a hundred percent back to normal, she could finally wake up in the morning and not dread having to go through the day.

The weather was warm for winter, misty and foggy, not at all unpleasant, but it made her bad ankle ache worse because of it. The thing could now predict fluctuations in barometric pressure.

Her mood as she hobbled to work was grim. Last night at the dinner table, Aunt Herise had put her to notice about a rent increase. Not a shocker; Gemma had seen it coming ever since Uncle Drexel had lost his ability to provide.

The size of the increase, though, exceeded her steepest projections.

In her spiel about the rent hike that sounded rehearsed, Aunt Herise had rationalized that the family atmosphere and home-cooked nutritious meals would more than compensate for the price she was asking.

Family atmosphere, my heiney.

She was going to have to look for other accommodations. Maybe find a room to share.

Gemma was the first to arrive at her cell block, with Arlo showing up shortly after.

“Good morning.” He gave her a weak, insincere smile.

“Hello, Arlo. We missed you yesterday.” Gemma gave him an equally insincere smile in return.

“I’m sure you did. Couldn't be helped.”

“But at least I’m back to share the load. Thank you, by the way.”

“You’re so welcome. We rejoice in your presence.”

“I’m glad it all worked out.”

“Amen to that,” he said sourly and threw her a nasty look which she ignored.

The door clanged and Ruby came in. Gemma took one look at her face and knew all was not right in Ruby’s world.

At the first opportunity, she asked what was wrong.

“Cricket, what else.” Ruby drew a long-suffering sigh. “I took our kitten, Jute, to the market corner this morning. Left him on the street. Maybe someone will take him in. He’s so cute.” Tears welled in Ruby’s tired eyes and she blinked fast.

“No! Why?”

“Cricket can’t have him. He makes her wheeze so badly.”

Gemma’s heart was breaking. She felt on the verge of crying herself. “Ruby… ”

Her friend bobbed her head looking aged, helpless, and tired.

“He was meowing when I dropped him off. We fed him and it’s not too cold today, so I figured he has a chance. See, Cricket can barely breathe when he’s around. She’s beyond devastated. That cat meant the world to her. Gemma, what did she do to deserve this? What did we both of us do?” Ruby angrily mopped tears with her sleeve.

“You should’ve told me! Maybe I could’ve taken him.”

Ruby gave a rusty laugh. “Don’t be silly. Your witch of an aunt would probably make a stew out of him. She’s evil. By the way, how’s your uncle doing? Any progress?”

Ruby clearly didn’t want to dwell any more on the loss of her cat. What was done was done. Life went on.

“He’s better. After the second procedure, his wounds started to knit together. But I’m afraid he’ll never be able to use his arm like before.

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