AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I am,” I said, leaning back in my seat and watching her, adding nothing else.
“Well, I suppose that probably means my son won’t go chasing after you then,” she said with a soft scoff.
I chose not to acknowledge the statement, including the fact that she qualified it with ‘probably.’ I had no idea what that meant about her assessment of her son, but at the very least I could take it as a solid reason for me to behave myself around him. She clearly understood him well and believed him to be not only straight but apparently a bit of a womanizer.
“I hope I do not need to address the issues of ownership and theft with you,” she said, leaning forward to steeple her fingers on the desk.
“No.”
“Good. After the last incident, I was assured it would never happen again. And while I may never completely trust anyone, that does not mean I’m not without some degree of understanding. That last girl was a mistake and one I hope they and I will never make again.”
I wondered if she had a bad history with female employees in the past, and now with her illness making everything so much more difficult, she was even more paranoid. Or perhaps it was her worries about what her son would or wouldn’t do when she wasn’t looking if there was a particularly cute female nurse wandering around.
“I’m here to do my job,” I told her simply. “I want to ensure you’re comfortable and being taken care of. I have no intention of trying to get between you and whatever work you want to do.”
“Want has very little to do with anything,” she told me sharply.
“Then what work you need to do,” I told her, leaving out that I understood many people with serious illnesses needed work to keep them busy.
As much as people liked to talk about positive outlooks and hopeful viewpoints being a strong medicine, I felt purpose was the greatest motivator for most people. So long as she wasn’t working herself into the ground unnecessarily, then I had no reason to get in her way while she went about her business. That sort of thing would go a long way toward helping her stay strong and able to fight more than anything else.
Of course, I wasn’t going to tell her I might have to step in at some point. Her treatments were about to get more aggressive from the looks of her profile, which meant she would be able to do less and less as time went on. I could only hope that when the day inevitably came that I had to try to put the brakes on, she respected me enough to allow that sort of interference.
“Well, your understanding is appreciated, but we’ll have to wait and see if you can follow through on your word,” she told me, and I realized the hazel eyes I’d seen on Shane came directly from her.
“I do not expect you to trust me simply because I’ve shown up and given you a smile,” I told her, leaning forward. “Trust is built on experience, and I’m here to do my job. In time, I hope, you’ll understand that I’m pretty competent despite this pretty face and clever tongue.”
For the first time, she allowed the smallest of smiles. “You are a pretty man. I would say it's a shame to waste it on other men, but perhaps it’s better that no woman should ever have to be pulled in too far.”
Well, at the very least, I could say it wasn’t specifically her gender she distrusted. Then again, I wasn’t going to fault her for disliking my gender when she’d been married to a cheating bastard who’d gone off and died in another woman's bed. I suppose there was something respectable about the fact that she just plain didn’t like or trust people, and her preference of nurse was simply a practical matter in her mind.
Yet, in a way, I understood her. Though it had been in my teenage years, I could remember what it was like to be bitter and angry with the way life treated me, and I was more than happy to extend that to other people. I knew deep in my heart that if it hadn’t been for Diane and Tony, I would have probably kept that mentality for the rest of my life. I had no idea quite what this woman had been through, but so long as she allowed me to do my job, I didn’t need justifications.
“I’m sure a few of those men would probably agree with you,” I told her with a shrug. Lord knew I had a few exes who would be more than willing to tell her just how much of a pain in the ass I was.
“In my experience, someone with a string of exes behind them that have few things to say is either the worst sort of person or the most unlucky,” she said, watching me.
“Luck is just something we blame when things don’t go our way and, weirdly enough, also something we praise when we should probably be giving ourselves credit,” I told her.
Her expression didn’t change, but her head canted slightly to the side as she looked me over, a new gleam in her eye. “Well, Mr. McCully, we’ll see how you handle working here. I imagine you’ll need to take my vitals and ask a few questions.”
“That I will,” I said, standing up. “Up to and including after you eat, before you go to bed, and after you wake up.”
“I’m quite aware of how helpless and sick I’ll become,” she said as though she didn’t believe it.
I, however, didn’t require her to believe anything. Her treatments were going to escalate, and while she might think she was tired now, it would only get worse. Hopefully, I managed to gain at least some sort of mutual respect or understanding between us before she inevitably spent most of her time in bed.
“Then let’s get started,” I said, rounding the desk.
* * *
I was not surprised to find she was as punctual as she was demanding. Two hours after my arrival, she had taken her dinner alone in the dining room, though Shane had stopped in to sit with her and talk. I found out a few hours later that he took his own dinner later, somewhere after nine but before eleven. Sophia, however, would not join him for his meal, returning to her office after she ate with designated rest time until nine.
That was her ‘before sleep’ period when she was meant to have another check-up and her medicine. I met her in her bedroom, noting that it wasn’t much different from the rest of the house. In fact, there wasn’t much in the way of individuality anywhere in her private space.
Sophia paid me little attention save to offer me a limb or take the medicines I gave her as directed. She remained sitting on the small chaise in one corner of the room, reading a historical account about the Silk Road and its development. Her eyes steadily slid across the page with ease, barely moving as I did my job.
“Are we finished then?” she asked as I placed my things back in the bag.
