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“Speaking of people who have spent too much time around one another,” Sophia groused right before I was out of earshot.
* * *
It was nearing the end of March when my phone beeped, showing Sophia’s name and a simple message.
Come to my room.
There was no urgency to the message, only the same authority I had long since learned to live with when it came to Sophia. The only strange part was it was nearly midnight, and even though she was making her way steadily down the road to recovery, her sleep had been adjusting back to her old habits. Sophia wasn’t normally up at this hour, and if she was, she never called on me.
Closing my laptop, I left the kitchen to make my way up the stairs. The house was completely silent as it usually was at this hour. Shane had come a few hours before to stop by and visit his mother. Sophia had grown more lively, creeping back into her old vigor and personality, but Shane’s visits had continued to be as frequent.
Sometimes it was difficult to see him constantly, a sharp-edged and pointed reminder of what had almost been but wasn’t. It was in the moments where I saw his eyes light up or the way he’d sometimes cast a small smile in my direction. Yet even with the pain, there was still the warmth of his presence and the knowledge we weren’t keeping each other locked out anymore. Friends wouldn’t have been my first choice, but it was a prize I appreciated all the same.
“You rang?” I asked softly as I entered her bedroom.
“In a manner of speaking,” Sophia said, and I blinked when I realized she was sitting on the chaise rather than lying on her bed. She motioned to a chair opposite her. “Sit.”
“What are you doing out of bed?” I asked her, eyeing her warily.
“I’m more than capable of getting around on my own for short distances,” she told me, pointing to the seat again.
Sighing, I did as she told me, only feeling a flutter of worry once I finally sank into the leather chair. My brow shot up when she reached out to the table between us and poured a measure of liquor from an unmarked bottle into a glass.
“Drink,” she said, holding it out.
“I don’t drink on…”
Her brow arched. “You won’t drink on shift, but you’ll cavort about with my son while you’re on the clock? That strikes me as some strange standards.”
If it were possible for someone’s eyes to pop out of their head in shock, mine would have done so. “Excuse me?”
“Drink,” she said, lips thinning in disapproval.
Numbly, I reached out and took the glass from her. Under her watchful eye, I took a small sip. Even in my shocked state, I blinked in surprise at the taste. I had no idea what liquor it was, but it was the best I’d ever had. Any booze that was brown and within my price range had to be mixed with something sweet and absolutely chilled. Whatever she’d given me was so smooth I was surprised it didn’t shoot down my throat, the flavor a little smoky but rich and earthy in the best way possible.
“Good Christ, no wonder rich people drink all the time,” I muttered as I felt my sip begin to warm my stomach.
“I’m not much for drinking, but this at least I can stand,” she said as if she hadn’t just given me the greatest tasting liquor I’d ever had. “Now, we have a few things to discuss.”
“Please tell me we aren’t going to discuss…what you just said,” I said, and I wasn’t ashamed to admit it came out as a whimper.
“As you know, my health continues to improve rapidly,” she said, ignoring my less-than-stellar response. “Which means it won’t be long until your services here are no longer needed, at least your company.”
“Uh,” my brow rose. “That’s true…wait, my company?”
“Yes, the one you’re currently employed through unless you’ve forgotten after being here for so long.”
“No, I haven’t forgotten. That’s just…a weird way of putting it.”
“Well, there is a second option.”
“That being?”
“Work for me, personally.”
I stopped my next drink and lowered the glass. “Work for you?”
“Despite my improvements, there is still going to be a period of time where my health must be constantly monitored,” she said. Sophia paused, and then her lips thinned. “And quite frankly, I’m not getting any younger. That means my health will steadily decline from here on out, cancer-free or not.”
