iously. Okay, go unpack, M. I’m expecting Mrs. Brittany in a few hours, and I’d like everything settled. I’m sending out for some lunch. What would you like?”
“Just a salad with some chicken, maybe.”
“Okay. Let me know if you need anything else. Oh,” she said as I started out of her bedroom, “there’s a maid here every day, of course. She’ll make your bed and change the linens, the towels. We send everything out to be washed, dry-cleaned, whatever. There’s a hamper in your bathroom. The maid will see to what has to be washed.”
“I’ll get so spoiled,” I said.
“So what? Don’t you think Aunt Lucy is spoiled? There are plenty of women like her.”
“I don’t ever want to be like her.”
She smiled.
“I doubt that you’ll ever be. Get going.”
I returned to my room and began hanging up my clothes and putting things in the dresser drawers. I had my favorite teddy bear, the one Papa had given me when I was only five. I wondered if Roxy would remember it. As I did in my room at home, I placed it between the pillows on the bed. Just having it with me brought me some comfort. I heard the buzzer ring. A delivery boy had brought up our lunch. I didn’t step out until he was gone.
“You don’t have to hide from everyone, M. It would be silly to try, anyway. I’m only concerned about my clients,” Roxy told me.
I joined her in the dining room. She had set the table.
“Don’t think because I did this much that I’m any sort of homemaker,” she said. “I don’t wash dishes, polish furniture, anything.”
“Can I ask how long you’ve been here?”
“Some other time,” she said. “I don’t feel like talking about myself right now. I suppose I’ll have to go to your school and register as your guardian or something.”
I shrugged. “I guess.”
“Well, don’t expect me to step into this big-sister role easily. I’ve been on my own too long.”
“What about friends?”
“What about them?”
“Don’t you have any close friends?”
I didn’t want to mention the young woman I saw her with that day when Chastity and I followed her.
“Close acquaintances,” she replied.
“What about when you were in school, living at home?”
“You don’t think I kept in touch with anyone I knew back then, do you?”
“No, I guess not.” I paused. “You sound as if you’ve been very lonely, Roxy.”
“I survived,” she replied, but I saw I had drawn a little emotional blood. She looked away. “I was too friendly with someone once, someone else who worked for Mrs. Brittany. Things didn’t work out for her.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Let’s just say she took one of her clients too seriously and leave it at that.”
“You don’t see her anymore?”
“She died,” Roxy said, and slammed her fork down on the plate. “I asked you not to ask questions, M, and the first thing you have me doing is talking about things I don’t want to talk about.”
“I’m sorry.”