Chapter 1

Emily couldn’t have been happier.

Even though her relationship with her former boyfriend ended badly, she was determined to move on and begin this new phase of her life. She had spent eight years in the Army as a combat medic. Before that, after high school graduation, she had worked in a nursing home. Frustrated with the lack of professionalism there, she walked into a recruiter’s office in Phoenix and was told that a “health care specialist” job was available and that she would be working in a hospital setting.

Of course, that’s not exactly how it worked out. Shortly after her advanced individual training she was told that she would be “deploying to Iraq as a combat medic.” Emily spent the next eight years keeping her male counterparts healthy “outside the wire” in Kirkuk Province. Having returned from Iraq healthy and whole, she considered herself lucky and left the service before her luck ran out.

Soon, however, she found that everything was not as rosy as she thought. Her career in the Army was not considered “suitable medical training” for a position in civilian medical service. Undaunted she enrolled in school to become a registered nurse. It was tough, but not as tough as going out on patrols in the 115+ degree summers in Iraq.

Now, just recently graduated from nursing school -- and after applying for over twenty nursing positions -- she had just landed her first job in her new chosen career. The letter had come earlier in the day.

‘Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you the position of staff nurse in our Phoenix Long Term Care facility. Compensation and benefit levels were previously stated during your first interview. Please return a signed copy of this offer sheet and report for work on the fifteenth of the month for orientation and shift assignment.’

Yes, she couldn’t be happier.

“Ms. Harris, there’s been a slight change in plans.”

The head of HR looked both nervous and pleased at the beginning of her orientation meeting. “One of our long term patients has just been released to home care, at his wife’s request. Mrs. Paldino has requested that we assign one of our nurses to her as her husband’s private duty nurse. Since you are just beginning, you will be our employee working in her home. Your pay and benefits will come directly from us. Of course, there will be an evaluation period for the first month. If things don’t work out, we will make every effort to return you to this facility. Believe it or not, this may be a really plum assignment; for the same compensation, instead of having twelve patients to care for, you’ll have only one. And from what I understand, the working conditions will be a whole lot nicer. Here are the patient’s medical records and the address; please report there immediately. Good Luck.” Following the GPS directions on her cell phone, it took less than thirty minutes for her to get to the northeast corner of Phoenix, but another fifteen minutes to get through the security gate. The guard gave her a single sheet of paper; on it was a simple map of the community with her destination circled in red. The house sat in the center of what looked like a largely-forgotten corner of the tract. She traveled for about a quarter of a mile on one paved road, turned onto a second paved road, and then onto an unpaved driveway. A hundred yards ahead, she could see two relatively unimpressive buildings; the smaller of the two was a three-car garage, the larger appeared to be the side of a large multi-level residence with a circular apron in front.

Emily parked directly in front of the large door and got out of her car. The buildings and the desert vegetation surrounding them had the effect of shielding the area from the other nearby houses. As she stood at the front door, waiting for someone to respond to the doorbell, she couldn’t help but think that she was in the middle of nowhere -- and that this was no accident.

The door opened and an attractive athletically-built woman greeted her. “Hello, I’m Lisa Paldino; you must be Emily Harris. Come in, please.”

As the door shut behind her, Emily took in the great expanse of the living space in front of her. The house was built split-level style, with a very open floor plan and was tastefully decorated with a distinctively Old West flare.

“Did you have any trouble finding us? I know it can be quite a journey, even though you never actually leave Phoenix. But where are my manners; come, let’s go to the kitchen and get better acquainted over something to drink.”

Dressed in slim fit boot-cut jeans, a red plaid cotton shirt, and a pair of Western boots, Lisa led the way from room to room towards the kitchen. If Emily had been so inclined, she would have found Lisa highly desirable. Even dressed as she was, her clothes probably cost more than Emily would be making in a month.

“I have coffee, tea, water or soft drinks; or I could open a bottle of Chardonnay? What can I get you?”