CHAPTER THREE
Harley’s unease grew as she flew into Albuquerque International, as if she were not just crossing the country but traveling back in time as well—as if being a scared little girl again was a prerequisite for facing her father.
For that reason, she booked a hotel outside Flor Blanca, the town in which she’d grown up. The hotel was close enough to visit the hospital but far enough to feel like she could still breathe. She needed time to collect herself. She didn’t hold out hope of ever truly seeing eye-to-eye with her father, but if he could just acknowledge the pain he had caused her by his neglect and – later – his control, if he could finally just recognize his failures as a father, she could let the bitterness go and say goodbye.
That was all she needed. She hoped it wasn
