A Five-Minute Life

“One of the stipulations of my keeping Thea at Blue Ridge,” Delia continued, “is that under no circumstances are you, or any other male staff, to have direct contact with my sister. If what you say is true—you’re just doing your job—this shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

I tilted my chin up. “Not a problem.”

“Good. Because if I hear that you so much as looked her way, I’ll call in another demand.” She gave me a humorless smile. “You’d be amazed at how amenable a facility can be to client’s wishes when it’s within that client’s ability to sue said facility into the ground.”

She started past me, then stopped. For a second, her dark eyes softened beneath the hard mask of her face.

“I am grateful you stopped that man. I know it sounds like I’m not—”

“I don’t need your gratitude, Ms. Hughes.”

She stiffened. “I disagree. My gratitude is the only reason you still have a job, Mr. Whelan.”

I didn’t take Thea on her FAE that day, and I never would again. I had to be content the new doctor was interested in Thea’s case. Still, the idea of working under the same roof with Thea every day and not talking to her was a kind of torture.

Jesus, I really am a creepy stalker.

Maybe it would be better if Delia had me fired after all.

I should do what she wants and quit. Start over somewhere else. Keep my head down. Do my job.

Rita and Alonzo fumed about Delia’s edict in the dining room after lunch.

“That’s some bullshit,” Alonzo said. “I can talk to her.”

“Have you met Delia Hughes?” I asked with a wry smile. “Forget it. My job’s hanging as it is.”

“But after how you saved Thea?” Rita said, shaki

ng her head in disbelief. “When I think of Brett in her room…” She shivered.

“Delia’s protective,” I said. “Can’t blame her for that.”

She and Alonzo exchanged glances, and I felt the pity roll off of them in waves.

“No big deal,” I said shortly. “There are plenty of residents who need help. You can assign me to one of them.”

Alonzo watched me through narrowed eyes. “Mr. Perello,” he said after a long moment. “He needs someone with him for his daily smoke.”

“Great,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Alonzo went back to work, and Rita reached her hand across the table and gave mine a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Jim. I wish things were different with Thea. For her sake, but for yours too.”

“For m-m-my sake?”

Her smile tilted toward pitying. “You seem so taken with her. And in her own way, she cares about you.”

I stared, my skin heating.

The stuttering orderly and the broken-down girl. I could practically see Doris shake her head. What a pitiful pair you make.

Now my skin burned with humiliation and I pulled my hand away. “I gotta get back to work.”

I rose from the chair and headed out without looking back. I cleaned up a few resident rooms and took Mr. Perello for a walk outside. He sat on a bench and savored his one cigarette.

“This is a life, isn’t it?” he asked, watching the smoke curl up and hang thickly in the humid, summer air. “Not the life. A life. I guess that counts for something.”

A life.