Love, Inherited

Ch. 1 - 'Pieces Of My Life'

Hayden put down her paintbrush and wiped her hands before taking her hair out of the tight bun and immediately feeling her scalp relax. It was 2 am, another sleepless night. She poured a large glass of wine, took off her smock, and curled up on the worn sofa with her latest Harlequin novel. A little dose of Joseph might not help her sleep, but it sure would lead to some nice dreams if she was lucky! She got about three pages in before the book ended up too blurry to read.

The fevered screaming of her iphone told her it was time to face another day. She took the book off her chest and sighed, wishing she had stayed awake to know who Joseph ended up with. Glancing at the clock got her out of her funk and running. She would have to jump into the shower without coffee and cursed herself for not setting up the pot last night. She glanced over at the painting to see if her day of exhaustion would be worth it.

Her breath caught in her throat. Yep, totally worth it. The contrasting colors swirled. Marcus would be pleased. It was beautiful. A seductive couple entangled in a swirl of arms and legs on a beach staring into each other's eyes while a stormy sky loomed overhead. She had used sand and halloween spider webbing to add texture, and it made the water and sky leap. Marcus had left it's contents up to her, and she painted a fantasy she'd had since childhood. Love on the beach under the stars. The overhead storm came from knowing her dream was a million miles away from there, but the end result was one of her best works to date. Swirls of deep colors and textures framing the couple who are only aware of each other.

It was almost perfect, except of course, like always, Hayden could see some flaws. The sand swirling around them in the air had a tad too much pink. But all Marcus would see would be the couple. He was a guy after all. The physical features of him and his girlfriend were pretty amazing, not true to life, but spot on hot. She had painted them with an air of blur to make it more romantic and less like a personal portrait. It would be a great engagement gift. Well, that and a ring that cost more than Hayden's rent for a year!

She yelled at herself for stalling and dreaming again of things she would never have, and got ready at top speed for her class. It never looked good if the teacher was late, and it happened a little too often. She had already been 'warned' and she couldn't afford to lose her job. Living in this apartment already stretched her non existent finances, and without teaching and side paintings, she would be moving back with her sister in Tampa. Since they hadn't spoken in about two years, that was not an option she wanted to consider.

Walking in to her classroom was always a bit depressing. It was a drab room with hospital like colors that provided very little in terms of creative stimulation. Students were responsible for bringing all their own supplies in, and those weren't cheap so the class size was always small. The bonus of course, was that those in attendance usually took their craft seriously and some of them were really talented.

Two hours of watching people paint was almost a form of torture, but seeing their canvases change and morph week by week was pretty amazing. Maybe it wasn't a life of romance and adventure that she'd always imagined, but it paid the bills. And once they moved into still life with real models, things always got a little better. Well, for her anyway, not so much the students. They usually spent the first twenty minutes trying not to stare at the nude body posed in front of them, which made for a hard time getting those small, or large, depending on the model, details accurate. Seeing them squirm was one of the best perks of the job. That, and the mud flavored coffee in the lounge.

On her way back to her apartment Hayden pulled in the local mini mart for a last minute snack. As she put the car into park her phone began to buzz. The caller ID was a number she didn't know stating Williams, Law Offices but she picked it up anyway. "Hello."

"Ms. Holt?"

"Yes, this is Hayden Holt, can I help you?" Hayden was a bit curt. The only reason law offices called was for bills long unpaid, and that meant even less money to survive on.

"This is Cassie from The Law Office of Warren Williams. We'd like to know if you could come in tomorrow morning at about 11:30 am for a reading of Deanne Donahue's will regarding your inheritance. Would that time work for you? I know it's short notice, but the appointment after that will be next Wednesday at 8am. We could set that up if it's better."

Hayden took the phone off her ear and looked at the number again. "I'm sorry, what did you say? I wasn't aware that Dee died. Are you sure your calling the right Holt?"

There was a pause on the line, some rustling of paper and a long sigh "I'm so sorry, I assumed you knew. I'm not usually the one to make the calls. And this is probably why. Umm, do you want me to have someone else call? Or do you want to call back. I'm not sure what to say now. I'm just supposed to set up a meeting."

Hayden swallowed. Aunt Dee had been her favorite person through her teen years. To not even know she had died was a kick in the gut telling her how far she'd strayed from everyone.

"It's ok, tomorrow is fine. I can be there. Can you just text me the address? I'll make sure I'm there. It's ok, really. I appreciate it."

A large sigh of relief was heard on the other end. "Ok, thank you so much, again, my apologies for my blundering. I'll send the directions to this number and I hope you have a great day, well..., oh dear. I'm just going to hang up now."

Hayden laughed in spite of the poor woman's misery. "You have a good day too, and honestly, it's fine."

As she changed her mind about the mini mart and pulled out of the lot she thought about aunt Dee. When her parent's had excommunicated her aunt for her 'poor lifestyle choices' it was painful. Dee was the one Hayden always knew she could talk to or tell anything without having a shocked or judged response. Dee was never prompt, or traditional, but she was one hell of a great aunt.

Hayden looked forward to spending the rest of the evening doing laundry and finally figuring out if Joseph finally dumped his toy Cassie and got with Catherine where he belonged. She resolved not to think about tomorrow.

Whatever Dee had left her, be it a piece of jewelry, or her collection of romance novels they had both loved devouring, she knew she'd feel guilty about it. She hadn't seen Dee in years, although she had reached out for a few years after moving out on her own, and  she had written several times. She had confided in Dee about her falling out with family, her relationship with Shane going to hell, and most things in between. But soon the empty mailbox told Hayden that Dee had moved on without her. And after a while, she just stopped writing. In fact, at this point, she wasn't even sure why she was put into her will at all.

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Elvis put out 'Pieces of My Life' in 1975. Probably the same year I started kindergarten. Gerald Ford was America's president and 'Wheel of Fortune' had its debut!!!