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However, I wasn’t one to waste an opportunity, and she had clearly given me one by distracting Shane long enough for me to get away. Using it, I slipped into the kitchen, which, save for the occasional trip into the library, was my usual spot in the house when I wasn’t checking on Sophia or administering her medication.
At the sight of the woman at the counter, I felt my annoyance slip away from me. Sheila looked up at the sound of the door and immediately smiled. “Ah, I wondered when I might see that handsome face.”
“Have you moved onto flattery now?” I asked her, going to the nearby storage closet to stow my bag out of sight.
“As if you don’t get enough flattery,” she said with a chuckle, and I realized she was stirring a pot.
“I know cooking can be on our list of things to do but is Sophia alright with that?” I asked, stopping at the island counter to stay out of Sheila’s way.
Sheila snorted softly. “Like I was going to use anything in this house without that woman’s permission? I’m sure if she could get away with it, she’d happily string someone up in the front yard as a warning.”
“I take it you two have been getting along quite well,” I snorted, wiping a stray piece of dirt from the countertop.
“Oh, we’ve gotten along just fine,” Sheila said, adding something to the mix. “We had us a nice little bit of understanding this morning, and things have been just fine. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s not an easy woman…and she knows it.”
“Pretty sure she likes it that way,” I said softly. “And do I wanna know what this ‘understanding’ of yours was?”
“That,” she said, turning around to shoot me a warning glance, “is between her and I. Don’t go prying into a lady's business.”
I wasn’t too sure about referring to either of them as ladies, at least not in the classic, genteel sense. I could easily see either of them having the run of a house or kingdom like a medieval woman. If that was what constituted a lady, then they certainly counted. I also wasn’t foolish enough to tell either of them that, even if part of me suspected both of them would take it as a compliment.
Which, to be fair, it was.
“Unless, of course, you want to tell me how you managed to get on her good side,” Sheila said, eyeing me.
I blinked. “Her good side? When the hell did I do that? That woman barely tolerates me.”
“No, I think she barely tolerates me. And she certainly hasn’t tolerated Holly, Rebecca or Michael.”
I recognized the names of the three people I had seen taking over the morning to mid-afternoon shifts. “She’s never said anything to me about them. And between you and me, she’s not exactly shy about letting her displeasure be known.”
“No, she is a woman of her own opinions and convictions. That is certainly true. But she has made it known to them and made a passing comment that while I was not as good as you in her eyes, I was better than them.”
I had to laugh. “Okay, you’ll have to tell me that part because I can’t think of anything she’d say that would make me sound good in her eyes.”
“She told me thankfully I wasn’t half as useless as ‘those other three’ who take over in the mornings.”
“Okay, but that’s the morning shift.”
“They’re also the ones who take over for the nights you have off.”
I hadn’t known that and decided it was probably better if I simply didn’t say anything at all. As much as I generally preferred to get along with my patients, I had resigned myself from day one that Sophia Perkins would never like me and perhaps had liked very few people in her entire life.
“Weird to think of her liking anyone,” I muttered.
“Oh, I don’t know. She’s quite fond of that handful of a son of hers,” she said, glancing toward the doorway.
“Please do not talk about him,” I groaned. “If you do, the sensory powers he gained from a deal with the devil will go off, and he’ll show up.”
She moved the pot off the stove, then glanced at me. “God saw fit to grant you eye candy to look at while you work, and you’re complaining?”
I scowled at her. “First of all, I behave myself while I’m working.”
“I’m talking about looking, not touching. No one said anything about touching.”
I decided to ignore both that and the insinuation that I was the one who had brought up the touching. “And he’s a pain in the ass. Though I’m sure you’ve probably already managed to dote on him and offer him a bowl of chili.”
Sheila chuckled, opening cabinets to dig out bowls. “Jeff is a nice boy who deserves some wholesome food while out there all by his lonesome.”
