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stay...”
    “No. Go get settled. I’ll let you know when everything is set up to monitor him.”
    Vivian nodded and left the room, which he was thankful for. The last thing he needed was to carry on that heated conversation out in the open. One thing was for certain. He had to keep his distance from Vivian, which was going to be impossible to do, the longer Gary was in the hospital, but it had to be done.
    For his own good.

CHAPTER THREE
    “ M AMA ?” V IVIAN SET down her briefcase on the floor in the entranceway. She’d been surprised the door had been unlocked when she tried her key. Her mother never left the door unlocked, especially since they’d grown up in a less desirable location in the city. Although her mother’s house wasn’t in a bad part of town anymore; Vivian had taken care of that when she’d gone to Germany by buying this place. Still, it was no reason to leave her door unlocked.
    The door being unlocked had Vivian on alert. Especially as there was no answer to her query when she first walked in. Her mother was definitely home as Vivian had the car now. Her mother’s license had been revoked the day the diagnosis came down.
    It didn’t stop her mother from walking, though.
    “Mama?” Vivian called out again, a little more urgent this time. She walked toward the kitchen and memories of that horrible day when she was a young girl came rushing back...the moment she’d found her mother in a pool of blood. Painful nightmarish memories that she hadn’t thought about in a long time.
    Her mother’s suicide attempt after her father left was the stuff of nightmares for Vivian.
    It was something they didn’t talk about. That year, the year her mother checked out, haunted her for so long and in this moment, calling out to her mother, it was overpowering.
    “Mama?”
    Her mother rushed out of the kitchen, a tea towel in one hand, a dish in the other. She looked surprised. “Vivian? When did you get back?”
    “Just now.” She sent up a silent prayer of relief.
    Her mother embraced her. “If I had known you were coming for a visit...”
    Vivian’s heart sank and she could see that faraway gaze in her mother’s eyes. Her mother wasn’t lucid. “Mama, I came home a week ago.”
    “What?”
    “I moved back a week ago. Don’t you remember?”
    Her mother’s eyes sparked and then there was recognition and the fog lifted. “Right. Oh, right. I remember.”
    “Do you?”
    “Yes, yes I do.” Her mother shook her head and laughed softly, obviously embarrassed and flustered. “How was your day at work? Back to your old stomping ground.”
    A nightmare.
    Only she didn’t say that out loud. She didn’t want to upset her mother. Her mother knew about Reece and Vivian didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about her return.
    “Good. It was good. How was your day?”
    Her mother sighed. “I thought it was good... I’m sorry to let you down. I swear I thought I was doing good.”
    “You’re not letting me down and you are doing good. You just had a blip.” Vivian ran her hand through her hair, trying to brush away the stress that was building. “How often do these blips happen, though?”
    “I haven’t had one since you arrived. At least I don’t think so.”
    Vivian sighed again as her mother headed back into the kitchen. She’d been with her mother since she’d come home, but this was her first day away from her and she’d had a setback. Thankfully, nothing had happened, but perhaps she should look into having a nurse or a personal support worker here when she wasn’t here. Just to help her mother with the blips. Although her mother wouldn’t go for it.
    “Don’t go to all that trouble for me. I can take care of myself for now. You’re here to work, not fuss over me.”
    Her mother came back and they settled in the cozy living room that was filled with overstuffed furniture, fake floral arrangements and pictures of her from her childhood. All the things that made her mother happy.