“Mrrow?” Tabitha picked her head up at the voice and quickly followed Maria out to the kitchen. This was the dark-haired one that dropped the little pieces of meat all the time, the feline remembered.
“I see you’ve taken over while I was gone, eh?” She set the bags down on the counter before tossing her purse into the drawer reserved for that purpose. Her wet coat went into the laundry room along with her scarf. “Well, let’s see if we can’t try and get something quick whipped up before Ronnie gets down here.”
“Looks pretty nasty out there,” the black-haired woman said as she entered the kitchen a few minutes later. “Think maybe I’ll take the day off and stay home.”
“Did you have a good weekend? I see you certainly left enough dishes for me.”
“Actually I did have a good weekend,” Ronnie replied as she crossed the room looking for a fresh cup of coffee. “The roads are pretty nasty, right?”
“Well, they’re not the best but they are driveable.”
“But it could get worse,” she said, making the statement sound more like a question.
“I suppose it could, Ronnie. I didn’t really get to see what the weather report said this morning.”
“So it could get worse out there.” The executive seemed pleased with her reasoning. “I’d better work from home today. Wouldn’t want to take the chance.”
“Of course not, after all you’re what…eight miles from work or so?” Maria opened the refrigerator to survey the damage from the weekend. “Omelets?”
“Sounds good. I’ll go check on Rose while you’re doing that.”
“What does she like in hers?”
“I think mushrooms and green peppers…oh, and cheese, of course.” Ronnie picked up her coffee cup and headed toward the office, leaving Maria to her tasks and Tabitha to follow after the housekeeper in hopes of a treat.
Rose was still sleeping when Ronnie entered the office and sent an email to her secretary and to Susan announcing that she was going to work from home that day. Rose slept through the sound of the television being turned on and the constant flicking from one station to another. The only thing that brought her out of her dream world was the smell of fresh omelets and muffins when Maria brought breakfast in to them.
“Knew something had to wake you,” Ronnie quirked.
“Mmm? Oh, morning Ronnie,” she said, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “Morning Maria, how was your weekend?”
“It was fine, Rose. How was yours?”
“Good.” She sniffed the air. “Oh, that smells wonderful.”
“Maria’s cooking is always wonderful. That’s why I keep her around,” Ronnie teased.
“I knew there had to be some reason,” the housekeeper joked back. She turned her attention back to the injured woman. “How are your legs feeling?”
“They ache a lot but the heat seems to help.”
“Good. You just do what the doctor says and I’m sure you’ll be up and about in no time.”
“Yeah, as long as she doesn’t try to do everything for herself,” Ronnie chimed in. “We had to make a trip to the ER.”
“You did? Oh my!” Maria looked from one to the other. “What happened?”
Ronnie filled the housekeeper in on the incident while Rose tried unsuccessfully between forkfuls to change the subject. The head of the house was just finishing up her breakfast when the doorbell rang. “That must be your nurse,” she said to the young woman.
“I’ll see to her coat and then bring her in here,” Maria said.
A few minutes later the nurse entered the room. “Hello. My name is Karen Brown and I’ll be your nurse,” she said to Rose.
“Hi, I’m Rose Grayson.” She held her hand out to the nurse.
“Ronnie,” the executive offered.
“Well, I suppose the first thing I should do is wash up and take a look at those stitches on your cheek.” Karen looked up at Ronnie. “How long has she been home?”
Ronnie chose not to correct the nurse about Rose’s residence status. “They released her Friday afternoon.”
“Have you done any passive therapy?”
“No, but she’s been up in the wheelchair a little bit.”
“That’s not passive therapy,” Nurse Brown corrected. “Well then, I suppose we’ll clean the wounds and we can get started.” She glanced at Rose’s cheek and the stitches that ran across it.
“There’s no sign of infection there. When are you supposed to go back and have your stitches removed?”
“Friday. With any luck I’ll be up and walking again soon.”
Karen pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up, Miss Grayson. Your legs have been through a tremendous trauma. It’s going to take a great deal of time and effort before you’ll be able to get around on your own. Let’s not worry about walking yet and just concentrate on getting you healed.”
Ronnie stood up and grabbed her empty cup. “I’m getting some more coffee. Do you want some, Rose?”
“Yes please, thank you.” She held out her cup.
“What about you, Miss Brown?”
“Oh no thanks. I don’t drink caffeine.”
“Fine, I’ll be back in a minute.” She headed for the door but was stopped by the melodic voice.
“Ronnie?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you give me a few minutes?” Rose gave an embarrassed smile. “I have a couple of things that I need to take care of.” She looked pointedly at the bedpan sitting on the small stand.
“Oh, uh, okay. I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”
But Ronnie did not go in the living room. Instead, she haunted Maria while the older woman tried to get her daily chores done. “So, you saw her, what do you think of her?”
“She’s not my nurse. You should be asking Rose about her.”
“But do you think that she’s all right? I mean, the agency said she was a registered nurse. Should I have gotten more information about her? I can call Susan and have her run a check with the State Board.”
“If you think you should, Ronnie,” replied Maria, the duster in her hand flying over the antiques.
“Has she said or done anything you don’t approve of?”
“Well…no, not really.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“No problem. I just wondered if I should or not, that’s all,” the executive replied, her tone slightly miffed. She stood there silently for a minute, the tension building within her. “I have a lot of work to do and my computer is in there.”
“You have another one upstairs in your room that you could use if you had to.”
“But the data I need is on this one,” she lied, knowing full well both computers connected to the network housed at the corporate offices.
“Ronnie, if you need to get in there I’m sure Rose would understand.”