Best of Me

Chapter 6

Cora slowly closed the front door behind her and stood in the entry hall her head bowed and eyes closed as she tried to catch her breath. She turned and caught a glance of herself in the mirror on the wall and bit back tears. She was feeling decidedly sorry for herself and it was no wonder why. She had started the day off well, she had been up early and spent an hour in bed putting the final touches on her drawings before packaging them up for delivery. 

She had been downstairs and had a good breakfast, hungry for once, and when she had passed Garrett on the stairs on the way to her aunt's room she had smiled and he had returned her smile with a small one of his own. It had felt like she had moved a mountain and she had entered her aunts room full of cheer.

The woman seemed unusually chipper and she ate her meal quickly as if she had somewhere to be or something to do. Cora had thought nothing about it, believing that luck was on her side for a change, and took the tray down to the kitchen where Margie had presented her with a list for the grocery store.

Cora's spirits weren't even dampened by the wet and chilly ride to and from the store and she had even managed to go by the publishers and get her check; something else that lifted her spirits.

However, when she had arrived home she had realized that luck was not on her side. Her aunt had had a plan and she had wasted no time in putting it into play.

Now Cora stood in the hall, sopping wet, looking at her appearance remembering how her heart had been in her throat when she had seen the moving men carrying down her drafting table and her art supplies.

She had demanded to know what they were doing and they had told her that they were clearing out the junk from the attic, but Cora noted that the only junk they were taking was her stuff. She had asked, begged them to stop, and the man had considered it for a moment before he shook his head and told her they were being paid double to get it out within the hour.

Cora had looked up from her conversation with the man and found her aunt standing at the top of the stairs smiling maliciously. Garrett had obviously told her about her little studio space and her aunt had decided to destroy it, just as she destroyed anything that brought Cora happiness. But this time it wasn't just about her happiness, it had been a financially disastrous move. There was no way Cora could hope to replace the art supplies that had been taken away.

Cora hadn't said a word and had turned on her heel and walked right back out the door, jumping on her bicycle and riding away from the house. She hadn't been sure where she was going but she had to get away. Paying attention to traffic wasn't even a thought in her head and she was sideswiped by a car.

It destroyed her bicycle, sent her flying over the handlebars and landed her unconscious in a puddle. When she had awakened, she was in the hospital and someone was shining a light in her eyes and asking her what her name was. For a quick moment, she had thought about pretending not to know but then she remembered Margie and Leon and realized that she couldn't do it.

Four hours later, after a lot of arguing, she walked out of the hospital with a possible concussion and severely bruised ribs. She had refused to take any major pain killers and had allowed them to only give her over the counter stuff since she still had to get herself home. They had wanted to know if she had anyone who could come and get her and she had told them that she had no one.

She couldn't call Aunt Mable and Margie and Leon would only suffer if they helped her. She had to take care of it on her own. After a short taxi ride home, which had been outrageously expensive, she now stood in the hallway looking at her bedraggled appearance in the mirror. The nurses had done their best to clean her up, and if one didn't look to closely at her it was hard to tell that she had been dumped in the mud. But she felt like she had, she would love a bath and a good hair wash.