The Truth About Hope. Kate James

after her and latched on to the bottom of her yoga pants, starting a determined game of tug-of-war. Hope pulled her pant leg loose, picked up the puppy and cuddled him. “I...I can’t.”

      Priscilla raised an eyebrow. “He says he needs to talk to you. What would you like me to tell him?”

      “I don’t know. I don’t care. Please just have him hang up.”

      Priscilla moved to the phone and lifted the receiver. “No,” she said into the phone. “I’m sorry but she’s—” She sent Hope a final questioning look, but Hope just shook her head emphatically and took a couple more steps back. “She’s not available...No...Is there a message?...I see. Yes. Goodbye.”

      Hope placed Einstein on the floor. “What did he say? No. No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” She turned on her heel and rushed into her bedroom, Einstein scampering after her.

      Luke’s email arrived later that day. The subject line read: “Urgent.” Hope’s finger hovered over the mouse as she vacillated. Should she open it or not? Fleetingly she wondered if it could be about something more than her having left Canyon Creek, but she dismissed the thought. Eventually, she deleted the email unread and set up her mailbox to send any future emails from Luke directly to spam. It would be better—easier—for both of them if it was a clean break. That way Luke could get on with his life.

      The first letter arrived a week later. Priscilla brought her the plain white envelope. Hope didn’t need to see the return address to know it was from Luke. The handwriting was all too familiar. She threw it unopened in her wastebasket.

      All future calls went unanswered and all future letters were relegated to the garbage.

CHAPTER FIVE

      WITH NOT MUCH to do until school started, Hope was outdoors as much as possible. She couldn’t deny the beauty of San Jose, especially in the area where her father’s house was located. Being outside had the added benefit of making it less likely that she’d bump into her father. Glencastle had stunning grounds, yet he never seemed to venture out. The times they spent together tended to be what she considered command performances. If it wasn’t mealtime—usually dinner—it was either because she’d displeased him in some way and was summoned or because there was some aspect of her future he hadn’t fully resolved and he wished to “discuss” with her.

      As summer passed, Hope gravitated more and more to Priscilla and Morris for companionship. The three of them kept their friendship to themselves, and Hope avoided her father’s other employees as much as she could. She sensed that they were different from Priscilla and Morris, and she didn’t want to risk having them report on her.

      She assisted Priscilla with her household chores and helped Morris wash and tinker with the cars. Soon after she had arrived, her father had bought her a sporty little Audi, which joined the collection of cars in the enormous garage.

      She’d learned that Priscilla was a single mom to an adorable six-year-old named Molly, who was developmentally challenged. Priscilla’s husband had died serving in the armed forces overseas. Priscilla said she was fortunate to have both her mother and her mother-in-law, who shared the responsibility of looking after Molly when she was at work and Molly wasn’t in school.

      Hope had met Molly on a couple of occasions when Priscilla had brought her to Glencastle; she was a happy child and sweet natured. It wasn’t a hardship to look after Molly whenever Priscilla needed her to.

      With every passing week, Einstein grew. And grew. But he didn’t seem to be losing his clumsiness.

      Finally, as summer neared its end, the phone calls from Luke dwindled, as did his letters.

      Hope threw her energy into preparing for the start of the school year, with a combination of nerves and excitement. Not just because it would get her out of the house, but she enjoyed learning. After only a brief conversation during that first dinner, it had been decided that she’d attend Los Gatos High School for twelfth grade and then San Jose State University the year after.

      Early on in her relationship with her father, Hope had understood the importance of picking her battles. Since she had no objection to attending San Jose State, and since one high school in San Jose was the same as any other to her, it was easy to comply with her father’s wishes in this regard.

      For her last year of high school, her father allowed her some latitude in the courses she chose—and what she studied was more important to her than the actual school she attended—but they had a full-blown argument over what her major would be in university the following year.

      He had retained his cold detachment, and Hope suspected that his desire for an heir had been the driving force behind his insistence on having her live with him. She’d discovered from Priscilla that he’d never had any serious relationships after her mother. With no other children, he intended to groom her to join his technology company. But Hope’s interests lay elsewhere. She wanted to work with animals, in health sciences or research.

      Hope put her father’s long-term goals for her out of her mind and concentrated on the here and now. It was no longer possible to go back to Canyon Creek after she turned eighteen, considering how she’d departed and how people felt about her—but he’d still have less control over her at that age. If they couldn’t come to some reasonable compromise regarding her education, she’d have to consider her options. When she talked it over with Aunt Clarissa during one of their periodic phone conversations, Clarissa agreed that Hope shouldn’t concern herself about her first year of university yet. A lot could change in the intervening months. Why worry about something that might not happen?

      Hope applied herself at school, but it didn’t seem to matter how high her marks were or how much she tried to learn about her father’s business; she just couldn’t seem to please him.

      Her phone calls with Aunt Clarissa were a source of comfort and support. But things had changed for Clarissa, too. She’d gotten a new job—a leadership position with a competing company—and had a boyfriend. Hope was happy for her. She knew Clarissa would always be there for her, but with the added management responsibilities and the new demands on her personal time, Hope accepted that their contact would be less frequent in the future.

      At school, Hope kept to herself. She had no interest in making friends. She didn’t want to expose herself to heartache again with her future so uncertain.

      With summer approaching once more, she wanted to do something productive with her time. She was offered a job at the pet store where she shopped for Einstein. Nothing fancy. She’d be stocking shelves, helping customers, doing some grooming and, best of all, they’d let her bring Einstein to work. She’d never had a job before and she was over-the-moon happy! But when she mentioned it to her father, he forbade her to accept the position. He declared it beneath her. If she wanted a job, she could work for him. Start learning about the business.

      Hope turned down the job at the pet store. Her father’s resistance was just too great. She also declined the administrative position he offered her.

      Priscilla came up with an idea that appealed to Hope and met with acceptance from her father. She volunteered at the local medical center to assist with the care of critically ill patients.

      The passage of time might have dulled the pain, but Hope still missed her mother terribly. She knew that the upcoming one-year anniversary of her mother’s death would be a particularly bad day for her.

      Other than when Hope was in school, the hours she spent at the medical center were the rare occasions she and Einstein were separated. She tried to schedule her hospital visits for when her father was away from home. She preferred to leave Einstein with Priscilla in the house, rather than with Morris in the garage, especially since his duties required him to be in and out all the time.

      It didn’t always work out.

      Hope received a call early one morning from the hospital, informing her that a regularly scheduled volunteer was unable