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The woman looked back and forth between me and Boone for a second before answering. “That was quick. Well, Angela, the name’s Clara.” She extended her hand.
I shook it with my best smile. “Nice to meet you, Clara.”
“If you have the room list for the D wing,” Boone said, “I’ll go check that out.”
She handed him a sheet of paper from her clipboard, and a second later he was gone. Not a goodbye, not a good luck, not a single word from him.
“Do you have any experience at this?” Clara asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I’m a quick learner.”Positive mental attitude, I told myself silently. This was merely the price of my escape from Kevin.
“But you’ve cleaned your own house before, right?”
“Yeah.”
“This is just like that, except you’re cleaning like the queen is coming over for tea. The two words you need to remember arethoroughandspotless.” She pulled a clipboard off the end of the cart. “This is your checklist. Complete everything for each room like you’re preparing for a royal visit, and we won’t have any problems.”
“I can do that,” I said with more confidence than I actually felt. My housecleaning had always been acceptable, but nobody would describe it as spotless.
“Good. You can buy your uniform first thing in town tomorrow at Harper’s. For tonight…” She motioned up and down my body. “That will do.”
Great. Another thing that required money I didn’t have.
“I’ll work with you on this room,” she said. “And after that you’re on your own.”
She wedged the door open with a doorstop, and I followed her in. The room was messier than I’d ever left a hotel room.
Clara sent me into the bathroom with glass cleaner as she pulled the sheets off the bed. With my checklist in hand, I started down the items. Clean the mirror, polish the faucet and handles, clean the sink, clean and disinfect the countertop, check the level in the tissue holder, and on and on.
The real fun began when I got down to the toilet and the floor. The previous occupant had obviously had too much to drink and puked, but didn’t have good-enough aim to get it all inside the toilet.
Clara had made quick work of the bed and was now running the vacuum cleaner in the room. When it stopped, she poked her head inside. “How you doing?”
Okay,” I answered. “Are they all like this?” I regretted the question as soon as it came out.I am glad to have this opportunity, I repeated to myself.I am very appreciative to have this opportunity. Super appreciative.
“No,” she answered, thankfully not taking my question as a complaint.
“Have you been doing this long?” I asked as I moved on to cleaning the tub, taking note of the item on the checklist that saidclear all hair from drain.
“This isn’t my job. I work the desk during the day. The boss asked me—” She emphasized the wordaskedas if she really meant told. “—to help out tonight because we lost two housekeepers today.” She shook her head. “Just up and quit with no notice. Not very professional, if you ask me.”
“Did they have a problem with the boss?” I asked.
“No. Nothing like that. But it’s still damn unprofessional to not give any notice.”
I nodded along with that as I wiped the hair out of the drain with tissue.
“I would never do that. Would you?” she asked, returning to the other room.
“Of course not,” I agreed. I’d always given notice if I left a job.
“Good. You better not.”
I’d walked right into that trap, but it didn’t matter. All I had to do was confirm Grace’s return date.
Although I was still headed to Mom’s when my sister got back, I couldn’t help the trepidation I felt about that step tonight. I hadn’t warned Mom, and I knew they had a small house. I could deal with a couch if I had to. The question was nothing a phone call wouldn’t answer, but I’d had enough bad breaks that it wasn’t a call I would make just yet. Besides, I’d couch-surfed before, and sooner or later I’d get my consulting job back on track and have money for a place of my own.
I’d researched the name-change procedure in Florida, and once that was done, my escape from Kevin would be complete.
