“Hoping to tempt him to eat a bit, yes,” she said. “Problem?”
Dani chuckled. “Gosh no,” she said. “I just wanted to thank you for being you.”
Surprised, Ilse shrugged, even though she knew Dani couldn’t see it. “It’s all good. You know that.”
“I know,” Dani said, “but it’s also why this place works,” she said. “We come from the heart. That doesn’t mean Keith’s eating anything. It doesn’t mean he’ll even be in any condition to excel here,” she said. “That was my concern with bringing in a family member, honestly. But we’ll do our best by him regardless.”
“Looks like a lot of people have done their best by him,” Ilse said quietly. “Now he has to get to the point where he can offer that to himself.”
“I know,” Dani said, “and that’s a mental shift that he’ll have to figure out how to make. He’s barely even recovered from the last of the surgeries, and I know his trip here was pretty brutal. But now that he’s here, he can settle in and hopefully make some progress.”
“Got it,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind keeping an eye out to see how he does,” she said. “I know Robin will fill me in to a certain extent, but she said it would be okay if I walked down there to see if he needs anything later.”
“If you want to do that, it’s fine,” Dani said in surprise. “But, given the number of relationships that happen around this place”—her humor slid into her voice—“you might want to watch out, just in case somebody’s watching.”
“You mean, the gossiping tongues?” Ilse asked drily. “I don’t care who talks. That doesn’t mean I’m listening.”
“Got it,” Dani said. “In that case, enjoy.” And, with that, she hung up.
Ilse put down her phone, and, ignoring everything else around her, she picked up her marker and headed back to her meal planning calendar up on the wall, which kept track of what had been served over each season of the current year. For previous years, she had an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of those. Her whiteboard sat on an easel near the wall calendar, in case she was stumped on what to offer or just to check what may have been repeated too often or not often enough.
The menu was something she had to work on constantly. Never was an easy time to deal with it, though. And, from any given week, she carried certain favorites over as regulars. The food was always touted as being some of the best in facilities of this kind, and no way she would let any month, day, or week drop below that standard. It was just not in her to do any less today than she did yesterday. And, with that note, she started working on the next menu.
Keith was dozing in bed and shivering slightly when a knock on his door got his attention. He opened his eyes to see a huge male, wearing a big grin, walking in the door, carrying a tray. He put it down on the small swing table and moved it closer to the bed.
“Hi, I’m Dennis,” he said. “Ilse sent this over for you.”
He looked at the food, looked at Dennis, and said, “I’m pretty sure I told her that I didn’t want anything to eat,” he said with caution.
But Dennis studied him with a critical gaze. “And you’re shivering,” he said bluntly. “You need some hot soup, and we need to get you some warm blankets. You start eating. I’ll take care of the other.” With that, he was gone.
Now that he was more awake, Keith realized that he really was quite cold. The hot soup was a good idea; he hadn’t really expected to get room service. It was a nice concept, but the thought that Ilse had sent it was what he struggled with. Still, he picked up the spoon and took a sip. Only partly admitting he was doing it for her.
Then he stopped, savoring the taste in his mouth before swallowing. Not only was it good and the flavors beautifully blended but it added a wonderfully warm and soothing element to his body. He picked up another spoonful chock-full of tender meat, and, before long, his soup was half gone.
He stared at his bowl, surprised. He almost never ate this much. And he noted a plate with meat and cheese was on the side too. At first, he wouldn’t have any, but he picked up one and then a second piece. The next thing he knew, one of the big pieces of toast was gone, as was most of the meat and cheese.
By the time Dennis walked back into his room, Keith was pushing away the tray.
Dennis caught sight of it, looked at him, and said, “Wow, you were hungry.” Quickly Dennis opened up the heated blanket and laid it across Keith’s body.
Immediately he moaned. “Oh, God. Now I know how cold I was. I had no idea.”
Dennis tucked him in, and the shivers started.
“You let those shivers work,” Dennis ordered. “Let’s get that body temperature back up again.” He nodded at the tray. “You ate half of everything. Do you want any more?”
“I want to,” he said, “but I’m scared of pushing my stomach.”
“You know what? That’s probably wise,” he said. “Let’s just call it quits with this amount right now, if that’s okay with you.”
Hesitating, Keith looked at it. “Let me have a few more bites of that soup.” Struggling to keep the blanket tucked around his chest, he had another three or four spoonfuls until it was mostly gone. As the tray was about to go, he picked up the rest of the meat and cheese and said, “Okay, now I’m done.”
“Good thing,” Dennis said, “because the only thing you left was a half a piece of bread.”
He smiled, sank back into the covers. “Man, I don’t know where you got this heated blanket from, but, God, it’s exactly what I needed.”
“Yeah, we all need them sometimes,” he said. “Now hopefully you’ll get some sleep tonight. That must have been a rough trip getting here.”
“Yeah, it was pretty painful. Right now, I’m mostly just cold,” he said.
“Of course you are. Your body has been through a lot. Now rest. That’s what you need.”
He nodded and sank farther under the covers, slowly munching the last of the meat and cheese. By the time that was gone, his eyelids drifted closed. He wasn’t sure how Ilse had known what he wanted to eat, but it was a perfect choice, and he appreciated it.
As soon as he got the chance, he would tell her. Later. Anything that required movement right now was way too much to contemplate. He closed his eyes, and, within minutes, he fell asleep.
Chapter 3
When Ilse walked from her on-site apartment into the center in the wee hours of the morning, she took a long, deep breath. She loved the place when it was quiet and almost empty. It was five o’clock in the morning. She didn’t always come in at this hour, but she had woken up and couldn’t get back to sleep, so she figured she’d get an early start on breakfast. She knew that some of her crew would already be here, but she had her own keys to get in and out.
Nobody manned the front desk yet, but nurses would be on, orderlies around, and, of course, her kitchen staff filtering in. She walked the long hallway where a light shone through a door partially open. She frowned at the idea that she wasn’t the only one awake a little too early.