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At the same time, Paisley’s past had caught up with her. Also, wow, Phoenix in June was a whole lot warmer than western Montana. The heat smothered her like a weighted blanket as she stood on the curb watching for Kait’s Kia.

When it pulled up, she slung her backpack into the backseat and slid into the front. “Hey, thanks for picking me up.”

“No problem.” Kait grinned from the driver’s seat. “I’d hug you but?—”

A vehicle honked.

“But they take that whole no-parking thing very seriously around here.” She pulled back onto the pavement as an SUV edged into the spot she’d barely vacated. “Thanks for coming.”

Paisley snapped her seatbelt and let out a long breath. “Yeah, no problem.”

“It was good of your boss to give you some time off. How long do you have?”

“About that. How long do I need?”

“It’s hard to know.” Kait pursed her lips and merged into traffic. “Mom’s… not good mentally.”

“Is Amelia coming?”

“Who knows? She never responded. She’s probably too good for the likes of us.”

Right, Amelia’s dream was within reach. Paisley’s had been. Sort of. “Tell me what to expect. Are we going to the hospital now?”

“We can. I have to work at four, but there’s enough time for a visit.”

“You didn’t take time off?”

“For this?” Kait rolled her eyes. “I need the paycheck more than ever with Mom’s shenanigans. She sure won’t be paying her share of the rent for a while.”

“Oh.” Paisley yearned to ask why Kait had made it seem so urgent if that’s how it was. “Please, I’d like to see her.”

“Then you can crash in her room at my place, at least as long as she’s in the hospital.”

“I thought she was dying?”

“I said maybe, but she seems to be doing better. Physically, at least. Like I said, mentally is a different case.”

“I wish you’d told me that before I came.”

“Then you wouldn’t have come, right?”

“Well, I do have a job, too. And now I look flaky for suddenly ripping out of there.”

“Mom asked for you like a thousand times. I needed you to come.”

Was Paisley some sort of pawn between her mother and her sister? Had she thrown away everything in Montana on a whim? Inhale. Exhale. Again, before she dumped her frustration on her sister. “Okay. Well, I can stay a few days. I’ll talk to her today and see what’s up.”

And then she’d see if she was even welcome to return. Maybe Mr. Sullivan would have replaced her by Monday and assigned her lodging to the new person. Maybe Weston would be so angered by her actions that he wouldn’t want her back, either.

Then she’d pack up her stuff — if Cadence hadn’t already thrown everything out — and hit the road for who knew where. Somewhere she wouldn’t need a reference to get a job.

She really should have thought this through better. And then that whole thing regarding praying about it, except that God tended to take rather long to answer prayer. Did He keep forgetting the people He’d created lived very finite lives?

They turned in at the hospital, and Kait rattled off directions to Mom’s room. “I’ll park the car and be up in a bit. See you there.”

Paisley shouldered her backpack and watched her sister drive away. What if Kait abandoned her? She wouldn’t. But she also hadn’t been completely honest about the details.

Or… maybe she had. Maybe things had changed. The only way to know for sure was to find Mom’s room and hope for the best.