✅ My Cousin's Keeper [NaNoWriMo 2021]

98. My Nemesis

The park had quite a lot of tracks that were open to cars, although you might not realise it. The place was quiet enough that most people paid it no attention unless they were jogging through on their way to somewhere else. Unlike the Imperial Park in Greater Ashfields, the old common in Palmerston, or just about every open space in Upper Ashfields, there was nowhere that the optimistic could stretch out in the hope of getting a tan. There were places that caught the sun, and a lot of perennial flower beds that seemed to always be bright and colourful even if they'd picked up a different crop of wildflowers since the last time a gardener had attended them; and there were open spaces where you might have a picnic, but they were sheltered by the orchard. It wasn't anyone's first choice for a place to enjoy the summer.

I eased my truck along a narrow track between two lines of trees, and parked up. I didn't stop the engine, though. I didn't want Ffrances to know that I was idle, or she might wonder what my plans were. I was already finding it hard enough to have this little meeting, and I didn't want to tell her about it as well. Mistress had a special way of praising me when I'd done something she approved of; and an unconditional apology probably qualified. And when she was praising me, telling me what a good girl I was, it was always so easy to tell the whole truth regardless of what I had intended to say.

I leaned out of the car window and glanced in the direction of Pine Ridge Municipal Care Trust. I didn't expect Ffrances would be looking back at me, but I knew she was there somewhere. A long, thin tendril of the park reached inside the walls, and formed a garden where recuperating patients could stroll, but that was all I knew about it. I'd never explored the wilderness gardens, and my experience of the hospital's Japanese garden was limited to a single romp in a swing seat once when I'd been able to draw my girlfriend's attention away from her office Christmas party a couple of years back.

I turned to look down the path that lead to Raybridge instead. That was the important one. It saw a fair number of joggers, on their way to Palmerston or to Bullocksfeel, but there was nobody in sight at this time of the morning. It wasn't the right weather for any but the most committed of joggers right now, and the flowerbeds were more like frost-topped forests of dead twigs. The park was even less appealing now that it would have been in summer.

My phone chirped, and I glanced down. An old-fashioned text message, asking if I was here yet and apologising for the delay. I quickly answered with directions to where I was stopped – coming from the Pine Ridge entrance, apparently – and then glanced at another notification that would probably put me in a better mood.

One of my favourite authors seemed happy today. TheAuthorsLittleSister had left a note saying that as well as the new chapter of The Baby Button this morning, she expected to post another this evening. She put this down to her overbearing boss taking a day off work, giving Sister a chance to work on her magnum opus in every minute that wasn't occupied by actual work. I replied to say that I was looking forward to finding out what happened to Leona, and that her boss should consider she's lucky to have such a creative person in the office. Then I slunk back in my seat, reading the story while I waited for my meeting.

I didn't get to read half of the story before I heard a gentle tap on the window. I reached over and opened the passenger door, and did my best to present a calm smile.

"Hey. Mind if we talk and drive? I wanted to apologise properly, but it's kind of chilly and the heater here doesn't work so well when we're not moving."

"I've not had breakfast," he said with a shrug. "Could go to the volunteer café. Plenty warm there." I thought about the offer for a second, then shook my head. PRMCT had a café that was run by volunteers, raising money for all kinds of non-medical stuff like painting murals on the walls of the children's hospital. And the food there really was excellent, I knew that from experience. But I knew that Ffrances would be aware the moment my phone was anywhere near that building, and she would probably want to see me, and ask why I was there instead of at work.