Hillary shifted her weight from her right foot to her left. She didn’t dare take off her shoes in this dump. Her four-inch Manolo Blahnik’s were killing her, but she couldn’t possibly remove them. Who knew what vermin were crawling around this dive?
“Eat it, Dad,” she said, depositing another glass of orange juice beside his plate.
“I did. Can’t eat any more. I’m full.” Harry sat at the kitchen table, fork in hand and napkin tucked into his shirt collar.
“You have to. Finish it.” Hillary felt her face flush. He needed the same dose every day. It was cumulative, and missing a day meant starting over again. She sure as hell wasn’t investing any more time or money than she already had.
“I did, Hillary. I’m not hungry anymore. You want the rest?” Harry pointed at the hash browns with his fork.
“I already ate.” Hillary imagined her life a few weeks from now. Sell this dump and she’d be flush in cash again. Maybe skiing in Switzerland, like the royals did. She might even meet a prince.
“When? I didn’t see you.”
“Of course you did. You forgot. You’ve got Alzheimer’s, old man.” Hillary drew circles around her ear with her forefinger. “You’re nuts, remember? Or did you forget that too?”
Harry shook his head and he put his fork down.
She grabbed it and shoveled a forkful from Harry’s plate. She held the fork an inch away from his mouth. “Open up. Eat the rest.”
Harry held up his hand to protest.
“I said—eat!” Hillary shoved the potatoes in her father’s mouth as he opened it to object.
“Stop it!” Harry deflected her hand with his forearm. He spit out the potatoes, scattering hash browns all over the table and floor.
“Look at what you’ve done!” Hillary screamed as she slammed the fork down on the table. “Who’s going to clean up this mess? You don’t deserve to have anyone taking care of you.”
Her father lowered his arm and shrank into his chair. This was a total waste of time. The house was disgusting, with clutter, dirt, and dust almost as bad as the houses on that Hoarders TV show. Except Dad’s worn out Sears furniture was still visible amongst the outdated seventies décor. It sickened her just to stand in it.
Each day in the Denton dump was one more stolen from her new life, the life she deserved and had waited far too long for. After months of hiding from the neighbors and Kat, her plan had worked perfectly. A new life awaited. It was just within her reach, now that she’d met the man she was going to share it with.
She just needed her father out of the way first. And to keep him away from that prying bitch, Kat. There was no time to waste.