Weekends Required (Danvers #1)(4)
Since the fast decline of her mother’s health, Louise had become an absolute necessity. Claire didn’t know what she would do without her. With her mother having a steadily increasing problem with her memory, Louise saw that her blood sugar was checked regularly and that her medication was given at the correct times. Claire had worked out an agreement with Louise to provide her a room and a small salary. Even though Louise’s salary was modest, it was still a struggle to meet most months with the price of her mother’s medication and the upkeep on the house.
Claire walked to the elevator and took a deep breath to avoid the suffocating feeling of the confined space as she waited for the doors to open. It was past six on a Friday evening which meant most of the office had already left for the day. Claire waited on the elevator door to open to the parking garage which was another source of discomfort for her. Would she ever get over this claustrophobia that she’d been cursed with her whole life?
She opened the door to her Toyota compact and slid onto the thread-bare seats. A new car at any point in the future seemed very out of reach. Luckily, Daisy, as she called her car, seemed to be dependable and loyal but was in no stretch of the imagination a man magnet unless it was a repairman.
Claire turned onto the street towards her mother’s home. Claire’s mother lived a few miles from the beach in a small town called Murrells Inlet. Although close enough to Myrtle Beach to be very busy during the summer tourist season, Murrells Inlet still had a certain small-town charm. As she turned in the driveway of the two-story home, Claire stopped to appreciate the exterior. For those looking for the fairytale of a house with a white picket fence, this was it. It was only when you took a closer look that the house was starting to resemble something from a Freddie Kruger Movie. The last few years of neglect were starting to show. Life had been nothing like a fairytale though for the people who had lived in the house.
Her father was an overbearing, manipulative man who verbally abused them the entire time he was alive. Nothing was ever good enough to please him. If Chrissie or herself didn’t make all A’s in school, they were stupid and lazy; but if they did, it was because they took easy courses that anyone could pass. Everyone walked on eggshells around him, terrified of what would set him off for that day.
Claire had planned to move out when she started college, desperate to escape. Chrissie had begged her to stay at least until she graduated, terrified of being left to face their father’s wrath alone. Claire tried to shield Chrissie as much as she could, which left her an easy target for her father. He had never physically struck them nor did Claire think he had her mother. Words were his weapon of choice, and he used them like knives.
For not the first time, Claire thought about how much easier it would be if her mother lived in a condominium that included maintenance and upkeep because the price of maintaining her home as well as her medication was staggering. She would also love to never have to see this house again. After the death of her father, her mother lived comfortably on his life insurance payment for a few years but in the last year that money had dwindled and now Claire was forced to pick up the medical bills that her Medicare didn’t cover; which seemed to be numerous as well as the maintenance of the home. With a sigh, Claire made her way up to the front walk and was met at the front door by Louise. No matter how bad her day, Louise always made her smile. Standing at just five feet tall, Claire’s taller 5’7 frame seemed to tower over her. Louise still insisted on getting a curly perm in her hair every few months and also claimed that as long as they made hair color, she would never be grey. She might not be grey but Claire had seen various other colors over the years when the hair color went wrong. At the present, it was more of a dark brown and what could possibly be a burgundy highlight. She gave Louise a hug and entered the foyer of the house. The original hardwood floors caught the light and gleamed. The staircase was straight in front of the door with the dining room to the right and living room to the left.
“How is mom doing today Louise? Did she take all her medications without too much of a fight?”
“She’s been having an off day, but seems better now.” Her mother seemed to be having many off days lately. “Her blood sugar was low this morning,” continued Louise “and that really takes her awhile to recover from.”
At that moment, her mother walked in from the kitchen at the back of the house and her eyes just seemed to light up. Her mother rushed forward and grabbed her in a hug excitedly saying, “Chrissie; I knew you’d come by today, I’ve been waiting for you!”
Claire looked over at Louise and saw the tears in the corners of her eyes. Louise stepped forward and put her arm around Claire’s mother and said, “now Evelyn, you know this isn’t Chrissie; this is Claire, remember?”
Her mother looked at Claire in confusion and then Claire could see the agitation beginning. “I think I know who my own daughter is,” said her mother indignantly.
Saddened, Claire looked at Louise and said, “It doesn’t matter Louise.”
The confusion and the agitation that followed was the reason Claire was forced to have a separate residence when it would be much easier financially for them to live together. For some reason, her mother never seemed to forget Louise, but she often confused her with Chrissie or didn’t recognize her at all. Even though she forgot that Chrissie was dead at times, she never asked after her husband. It was as if she could accept his death but couldn’t process Chrissie's.