“Make it work. Face your demons. Write the damn book.”
MARI
Me and Trevor are laughing when the others walk back into the kitchen. I’m holding one of Ward’s books and it must look as if we’re laughing about that. Feeling guilty, I quickly put the book down.
“Ward is ready for your lesson,” Rob says. Ward has a scowl on his face. He looks anything but ready. Or maybe he always looks that miserable.
“Good luck,” Trevor whispers under his breath as he walks away.
“Is he always this difficult?” I ask when it’s just me and Rob. He slips on his jacket and looks as if he’s ready to leave.
“He’s an acquired taste. He takes some getting used to. Stay out of his way, and he’ll stay out of yours.” He chuckles. “Get him a box of donuts if you really want to make a good impression.”
“But what am I supposed to do? What do I cook? Is there a cleaning schedule? Where are the cleaning supplies?”
“You look like a smart woman. You’ll figure it out.”
I rush after him. “What does he eat? Where do I buy the food? What hours am I supposed to—”
He lets out a groan, and from that one simple sound I can tell that this guy doesn’t have it all figured out. This is as new for him as it is for me. He grabs his briefcase and looks at his watch again. “Take this,” he slides a card out of his jacket pocket. “Call me if you have any questions.”
“I have questions now!”
“I have a plane to catch, and I don’t want to miss it. I’ve been stuck here for four days waiting to find a housekeeper. You’re perfect for the job.”
Lucky me. I feel as if Rob has washed his hands of Ward, and dumped his duty to me. I rush towards the door as he prepares to make his exit. He can’t leave me alone in this house with that beast.
“I’m not sure I want this job.” It’s a last ditch attempt because my fear has overtaken me.
Rob spins around fast. “You have to take this job.”
“Why?”
“Because I need you to do this. That guy can be a piece of hard work. He’s not always like this, but …” he shrugs. “His mother died last year and the guy is a mess. He won’t talk about it, but he’s had stuff to deal with. Problem is, he also has a book to finish. This is my way of getting him to finish it. Him getting fit and back is shape wouldn’t be a bad thing either,” he mumbles.
My head is spinning and a trickle of compassion oozes from my heart. He lost his mom? I feel sorry for him because caring for my mom and losing her to dementia has ripped a hole in my heart.
“Fine then. I’ll stay.” Let’s face it, what other choice do I have?
“It’s only temporary. Until he finishes the book.”
“Easy enough for you to say.”
“Call me if you need anything, or,” he pauses then looks at me. “Or if you can’t get anything out of him.”
“You haven’t even showed me to my room, or taken me around the house. I don’t even know where everything is.”
He lets out an anguished. “I cannot miss my flight. I’ll call Ward and get him to show you around. You might as well bring your things over as soon as possible. Goodbye, and good luck.”
I wonder how much of that good luck I’m going to need.
Chapter 5
MARI
Excitement mingles with fear and apprehension as I make my way back to Jamie’s place. I have to start packing. I don’t want to take much, even though I could move all of my things into the mansion and the author guy wouldn’t even notice.
I think about it for a few seconds and let the idea go. Ward Maddox is a rude, feral, short-tempered man.
I don’t want to give him ammunition to get rid of me. As things stand, he already seems to hate me being there.
I throw things into my suitcase and my shoes and toiletries into another bag. I don’t want to take a lot, which means most of my life’s belongings will stay here at Jamie’s place. He hasn’t complained one bit. Jamie has been the kindest soul to me, letting me keep most of my stuff here. His apartment isn’t as tiny as mine, but that’s not the point, the point is, I have so much stuff. I had to take everything with me when the landlord told me to leave. I’ve got a lot of my mom’s things with me as well. A part of me thinks she’ll come home. In my head, I tell myself that her nursing home stay is temporary. That one day I’ll have a better job and I might be able to bring her back home, when I have a home, and then I’ll be able to hire a private nurse for her. My imagination goes wild sometimes.
I bet I could match Ward Maddox when it comes to making things up, though I wouldn’t want to fill my head with gory things. It has to be shiny, happy things in my world. Unfortunately, right now, my world is anything but that.
I don’t want to dwell too much on my current predicament: that I’ve landed a job in a beautiful home, with a beautiful salary. The nice things are overshadowed by the beast of a man I will be living with.
I can’t wait to tell Jamie.
He walks in a few hours later and sees my suitcase by the door.
“What’s this?” he asks, glancing at me with a dour face.
“I got the job!”
“Already? This is the interview you went to today?”
I nod excitedly. “Incredible, right?” I clap my hands together, trying to make myself feel good about this even though it dawned on me earlier that I’ll be living with a total stranger, and a guy who’s not really nice at all. The house might be a luxurious haven but this guy looks scary.
“You were offered the job on the spot?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Wow.” Jamie takes his backpack off his shoulder and leans against the door, as if the shock of my news isn’t what he wanted to hear. I expected more from him. A little bit of excitement for me, given the bad week I’ve had. But even when I tell him that the guy offered to double my wages, he doesn’t flinch. “Aren’t you worried about that?” he asks, adding more fuel to the fire that is my worry.
“Guess who the mystery man is?” I ask him, “The guy who I’ll be cooking and cleaning for?”
He looks confused. “I have no idea.”
“He’s someone famous. Someone world famous.”
Jamie’s eyes wide. “World famous?”
“Not like a movie star or anything. Someone more low-key. You might know of him though.”
He looks at me as if I’ve asked him to marry me.
“Ward Maddox,” I pause and let that sink in. Jamie blinks twice.
“The Ward Maddox? The guy who wrote The Attic? The guy who writes horror?”
I nod, relieved to get some sort of reaction from him. “Isn’t it exciting?”
Now he’s buoyed up and asks me all sorts of questions. I answer them as best as I can, while leaving out all negative stuff about Ward. I tell him everything about the house, the parts of it that I have seen.
Later, I pack my belongings into my car, but Jamie insists on coming with me to help.
Somehow, having Jamie by my side for as long as possible, is a great comfort to me.