“Yes. But I want Rich to stay with me,” Carlyn said, her brows knitting together.
“Rich is needed elsewhere. You’ll have to put up with me. Now, let’s get you over to the desk to get signed out, then you can be on your way.” Lianne winked at Rich. “Oh my, you’ve been a regular visitor here, haven’t you?” she said, looking down at Carlyn’s chart. “Maybe we should talk about accident prevention.” She glanced at Rich. “You can go, Doc. I’ve got this.”
Flashing a grateful smile at Lianne, he nodded at Carlyn and quickly left. It was definitely going to be a long day. And right now he needed a strong cup of coffee.
2
“That’s the last box, ma’am,” the head mover told Meghan, sliding the huge cardboard box onto the floor of her apartment living room. “We just need you to sign and then we’ll be on our way.
Meghan wove her way through the maze of boxes that were stacked haphazardly in her brand new apartment, and took the electronic tablet, using the stylus to scribble her name in the box he pointed to. “Thank you,” she said, taking an envelope from her purse and passing it to him. “This is for you and the crew.”
He winked and slid the envelope in his pocket. “Best of luck in your new home.” Looking over his shoulder, he grinned at the little girl in the small bedroom on the far side. “Hey kid, we’re going. Hope you’re very happy here.”
Isla looked up from the book she’d been flicking through, her legs curled beneath her as she sat on her newly made up bed. They’d already unpacked most of her room. It had been hard work – because every time they’d opened a box Isla had squealed and insisted on playing with whatever was inside. It was like Christmas had arrived early for her.
“Bye!” Isla lifted her hand to wave at them. “Thank you.”
“You have a nice kid,” the mover told her. “Some of them are stinkers. But this one – she’s a good ‘un.”
Meghan bit down a smile.
After they’d left, she picked up the three gift bags of cookies she’d brought home from the ice cream parlor and called over her shoulder.
“Sweetie, let’s go and introduce ourselves to the neighbors,” she said. Isla put her book down and skipped out of her new bedroom.
There were four apartments on their floor – the tenth. Three of them were identical – hers included. But the fourth stretched across the entire right hand side of the building, overlooking the sparkling blue ocean and pale beach of Angel Sands. It adjoined hers on one side, and on the other her neighbor opposite.
She knocked on the door of the big apartment first, but there was no answer. Oh well, she’d come back tomorrow with the gift. And she knew for a fact that whoever lived in the apartment opposite was definitely in – she’d seen the door open and close a few times as the movers came and went, as though whoever lived there wanted to know exactly what was going on.
Sure enough, the door to apartment 10C opened
before she could even knock. A lady with white hair and a huge smile was standing there, her eyes soft as she looked at Isla.
“Um hi!” Meghan said, holding the gift bag up. “I’m Meghan and this is my daughter, Isla. We just moved in to 10B and wanted to give you something for putting up with all the noise.”
“You didn’t need to do that.” The lady almost snatched the bag from Meghan’s hands, her smile widening as she saw the cookies inside. “But I’m glad you did. Come on in,” she said, standing back from the door. “I’m Gloria Barker. I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Gloria.” Meghan followed her inside. The apartment mirrored her own, though the furniture was different. “Have you lived here long?”
“About eight years now.” Gloria walked into the kitchen. “Can I get you a drink? I have sodas and juice, or I can make coffee?”
“A glass of water would be fine for both of us. Thank you.”
“Are you new to Angel Sands?” Gloria asked as she carried their drinks to the table at the far side of the living room, motioning for Meghan and Isla to sit down. She passed Isla one of the cookies, and she took it with a grin.
“Kind of,” Meghan said, taking a sip of her water. Her stomach gurgled as it went down. She hadn’t had a chance to eat or drink much all day thanks to the constant questions of where to put everything. “We were supposed to move in two months ago, but then the flood happened, so we’ve been staying in an extended-stay hotel.”
“That can’t be much fun, not with a young family.” Gloria clucked her tongue.
“I liked the swimming pool,” Isla said, shrugging.
Meghan bit down a smile.
“You’ll like the one here, too then,” Gloria told Isla. “Though it gets full on the weekends.”
There were four apartment buildings that shared pool access. Her landlord had already told Meghan she had to get there early to get a pool lounger.
“Did you move here for work?” Gloria took a bite of her cookie. “Oh my, these are delicious.”