How many people could say that?

Thirty minutes later, Marina walked into the assisted living facility and signed in at the front desk. The nurse’s aide who usually worked at the front opened the locked door to allow her inside. She forced a smile and entered. It might have been two weeks since she’d last visited her mother but emotionally, it still felt like yesterday. Which made her feel guilty and sad and angry. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You weren’t supposed to dread seeing your mother, and as long as she had a breath left in her, Marina was going to make damned sure Avery never felt that way about her.

The professionals always tried to tell Marina not to take the things her mother said to heart. That Letitia wasn’t quite right and she didn’t mean the things she said. But Marina knew better. When doctors saw Letitia, she played the role of the feeble-minded old lady. The kindly, knitting grandma with white hair and a penchant for daytime talk shows. But Marina saw the shift in her expression when the doctors looked away. The narrowing of her eyes as she tried to figure out what angle to work. How to better her position.

She’d seen that shift all her life. Letitia often pretended to be one kind of person in front of others, but she was always herself when it was just her and Marina. So Marina didn’t buy for a second that Letitia said horrible things to her because her mind was slipping. The truth was, she’d always said horrible things. Not that Marina doubted Letitia was crazy. She was absolutely batshit insane. But she was cruel crazy. Not the-aliens-are-coming-to-get-me or the-dog-is-talking-to-me crazy. Marina would be the first to point out that it was getting worse with age, but the hatefulness had always been there. People in Last Chance who had known Leticia well enough to see her true colors would agree.

As she walked down the hall to her mother’s room, she was grateful once again that Letitia had played games all her life. If the doctor had known the real woman behind the innocent smile, he would have known her problems weren’t caused by dementia. But Hallmark granny shooting at the postman was enough for him to seal her lockup warrant. Finally, Letitia’s kindly old lady ploy had gotten her the exact opposite of what it usually did.

It was the best possible solution to a horrible situation, because as Letitia got meaner, she grew more violent. It was the violence that finally jolted Marina out of her forty-seven-year stupor and had her looking for creative solutions before her mother killed someone. The postman had been lucky she had refused to wear glasses. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have missed.

She knocked on her mother’s door but there was no answer, so she inched the door open and peered inside. Her mother sat near the window, staring outside, the bars on the window a constant reminder that she could see things outside the building but she couldn’t live among them.