Mine

Mine Copyright © 2023 by Cara Kent All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Author's Note Also by Cara Kent Nobody’s perfect. Except Helena Maddison. Those words, scrawled in the corner of the back cover of her senior yearbook, were all anyone needed to know about her. They brought a smile to her lips at seventeen and more than a decade and a half later, they were still in the back of her mind. She didn’t know who wrote them. She didn’t care. They were her mantra. The alarm on her phone went off while Helena was drying her hair. She flipped her head up, letting the blond waves tumble around her shoulders so she could glance at the screen. She’d chosen her bath products with the lightest scent to be considerate to the other passengers on the plane. Inconsiderate travelers were the first thing that could ruin a flight and after a long-haul next to a woman wearing a suffocating scent that reminded Helena of the flowers at a funeral parlor and left her with a raging headache that lingered long after touchdown, she vowed never to be that person. The reminder on the phone prompted her to check her flight. It was on time, exactly how she wanted it to be. She liked things the way they were supposed to be. Perfect. Hair dry and makeup done, she dressed in the blue dress she’d laid out the night before and went to the kitchen for the coffee automatically brewed according to the timer she’d set. Her bags were already lined up at the door and she tucked her phone charger into the outside pocket of her carry-on. As she sipped her coffee and ate a jar of overnight oats, she scrolled through the information for the rideshare she’d arranged several days before. Everything was exactly as it should be. The car would arrive in twenty minutes and get her to the airport with a comfortable two and half hours before takeoff. She finished eating, washed her dishes, and brushed her teeth. She carried her luggage outside with five minutes to spare. Usually she would wait at the end of her sidewalk, but steely clouds and wind whipping up sheets of cold rain kept her huddled under the protection of her covered porch. Ten minutes later, the car still wasn’t there. Trying to stay calm by reminding herself of the extra buffer of time she always included in her schedule, Helena checked her phone again. The car wasn’t moving. Another five minutes passed and she was still standing on her porch. An alert came through on her phone, but when she looked at it, her heart sank. Ride canceled by driver A few seconds later, she got a text. I’m so sorry. The weather is awful and there’s an accident. I’m stuck behind it and it doesn’t look like I’m going to be going anywhere any time soon. I went ahead and canceled the ride. Have a good day. Helena drew in a breath and held it for a few seconds to try to ease the anxiety creeping up inside her. The driver would have been better just leaving off that little tag at the end. It felt like adding insult to injury. There was still time, so she went back to the app and put in a request for a new ride. No drivers available. Helena bit her lip and refreshed the request. Still nothing. The weather and the traffic must have been keeping drivers out of her area. One more refresh offered her a couple of options, but they wouldn’t be able to arrive for at least half an hour. That was too long to wait. As time ticked by and continuing the refresh her search didn’t give her more options, she knew she had to change the plan for the morning. It was only getting later, and she needed to get to the airport. She couldn’t miss this flight. Despite hating driving herself to the airport, it sank in that it was really her only option. If she kept waiting for a driver to become available, she could be too late. Letting out a sigh, Helena popped open her umbrella and carried her luggage out into the rain. She loaded it all into the trunk and climbed behind the wheel as fast as she could to stop the rain from ruining her hair. She didn’t need to add not looking presentable to this morning. It didn’t take her long to realize why there was a lack of drivers willing to come to her house. The grey, dreary weather made driving in the early morning darkness even more challenging. Red and white lights cut through the rain like a twisted version of a Christmas parade, but they didn’t do much to combat the droplets bombarding Helena’s windshield.