I can’t believe it’s finally over.

Tying my hair up in a bun, I braced for the heat of the afternoon and slung my backpack over my right shoulder for the last time. It was empty now. The only class I’d had left was a lab, and nobody had showed up. Dr. Isaac had let us three die-hard students pack up early. Leaving the halls of Georgetown, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of nostalgia. I was already picturing myself as a respectable, middle-aged career woman coming back here for a reunion. The hardwood floors echoed my footsteps with extra reverence, as if they knew how important these last few steps were, how I’d remember them forever.

The bright light of day assaulted my eyes, and I pulled down my shades. It’d only been a few weeks since I’d gotten Lasik, and I still forgot that I wasn’t wearing my Transition lenses anymore. A graduation present from Daddy. Speaking of Daddy, where’s that so-called bodyguard who’s not fooling anyone?

It only took a moment to find him, two rows away from my new Audi, another present from Daddy. The idiot stood out like a sore thumb, a red-haired meat-head sitting in an old Taurus in a nearly empty parking lot. I didn’t know how he expected to blend in around here with that thing. Maybe back in Idaho or wherever Daddy had plucked this one from. I tried to remember how many secret agents Daddy had assigned to me in the past four months since my mom had died.

The memory punched me. Four months. Just when I think I’m doing OK, I go and think about her. My therapist — forced upon me by Daddy and Ophelia, who do they think they’re fooling — said that I needed to talk about her or I would never get past it. Maybe I didn’t want to get past it, did they ever stop to think about that? Who wants to get over their own mother’s death? It wasn’t like I didn’t think about her. I thought about her all of the time. Like now. But I didn’t need some high-priced shrink to tell me how to come to terms with my feelings. I had my own form of therapy.

I waved to the Rent-a-Cop as I started the car and tore out of the parking lot. Let’s see how fast this one can drive. I turned down Oak Street and took off before he could even get the old clunker started. Too bad. I’d been hoping for a challenge this time. I pressed the gas, just in case, needing to put some distance between me and the tail. Nobody could know where my true therapy sessions took place, not even Daddy, and especially not some stranger he’d hired to follow me around like some creep.

Checking my rear-view mirror, I saw that he’d managed to stay close enough to see my turns. Anticipating the lights ahead of me, I slowed to a crawl, hitting the intersection just as the yellow turned red. The three cars between me and the Taurus were forced to stop. I made sure they all saw me turn right on Queens Street, then sped up to make a quick circle around the block.

Moments later, I arrived at the small inlet, parked my car under a large tree, and carefully made my way down the river bank. I cursed myself for not changing out of my heels and took them off. Standing at the edge of the water, shoes in hand, I dipped my toes in the tepid blue stream. Peace enveloped me. This was our place.

Mom and I used to come here all the time… before. This was where we’d talked about getting out of the life, finding some piece of land in the middle of nowhere, and starting over. This was where she’d confided in me that she thought she was being followed. I’d blown it off as paranoia. With everything we’d been talking about, of course she was freaking out. I had assured her it was nothing.

But now, just a few months later, this was where I had sprinkled a vial of her ashes. Daddy had wanted an elaborate funeral that would “make the Queen jealous,” but the funeral home had advised against an open casket.

I stood there for I don’t know how long, my toes being kissed by water that contained some small part of my mom still. The chirping birds lulled me into a serene haze as I thought about all of the plans my mom and I had made. All of the things I was now stuck doing without her. My graduation was coming up in a couple weeks. I could still see the form-fitting green dress she’d picked out for the ceremony. I wondered if it was still hanging in the closet upstairs.

Before long, the darkness in my mind clouded the serenity of our special place, and I wanted out. My t-shirt was sticking to me, and there was mud between my toes. These weren’t the sort of things that would bother me in a normal situation. My degree was in Environmental Law, for God’s sake. But here, of all places, I needed to keep the illusion of perfection alive. Perfect, like she always had been when she was alive.

I hiked the short distance back to my car, keeping an eye out for the ugly Taurus. It was nowhere to be seen. I’d succeeded in giving him the shake. Daddy would not be happy when he heard about this, if he hadn’t already. But he shouldn’t hire third-rate goons to babysit me in the first place. What good was he if I could lose him that easily? Somebody wouldn’t be getting a severance package.