A Kiss in the Shadows by Eve Kincaid

Author:Eve Kincaid [Kincaid, Eve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark and Stormy Books

15

When she was young, Erin thought her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. Long hair that varied in color from blonde to gold to a deeper shade of honey. She wore flowing skirts, dangling earrings, and bangles around her wrists. Leanne Grady was a free spirit who would proudly wear a garland of daisies in her hair if her daughter brought it to her. She was an artist, and she taught art at the local schools, where she was popular among students and other teachers. But she was also deeply troubled and when Erin was six years old, the first signs of mental illness appeared.

As she parked in the visitor section of the private hospital, Erin remembered the first time she came here to visit her mother. She was nine years old and didn’t understand the nature of Leanne’s illness, or why her mother couldn’t come home. Over the years, there had been several more stays at the hospital’s psychiatric ward. The most severe was when Erin was twenty-four and still living in San Francisco. It was six weeks before Leanne was released, and by the end of that difficult time, Erin knew she had to move home. She got a job at the LCH Med Center and left her friends and her job at San Francisco General behind for her hometown. That way, if Leanne had another breakdown, Erin would be close by to care for her siblings, help her stepdad, and manage Leanne’s care.

It had been the right decision. She had a good life in Lost Coast Harbor. A bit boring, sure. But she was able to spend time with Colin and Hayley, and with her mom and stepdad. She’d reconnected with Bree and met Maddie—her two best friends. She had a job that she loved and coworkers she mostly liked. And if she could get the mental health clinic open, she’d be able to give something back to her hometown.

The doors slid open with a faint hiss and Erin walked into the familiar lobby, and then checked in at the reception desk. A few moments later, a nurse arrived to take her upstairs to her mother’s room.

“Your father has been here every day since she arrived. He’s so nice,” the nurse said.

Erin smiled to cover the stab of guilt that she hadn’t come to visit yet. Alan had been staying with friends in Santa Rosa so he could be at the hospital every day for visiting hours. During the day, he worked from their living room as best he could, advising his staff at Lost Coast Harbor High School, conducting conference calls, and writing reports. Then he’d spend two hours with his wife, unsure whether he’d be greeted with a sobbing, hysterical woman convinced that angels were surrounding the hospital, or a woman too medicated to speak. On a good day, Leanne might be lucid, but sad that she was putting her family through hell.

“How is my mom doing?”

The nurse gave a quick nod

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