“I know enough.”
It sounded crazy. It probably was. But I needed the money, and something in me wanted to believe her.
So I held out my hand and said, “Deal.”
At first, it was exactly what she said it would be. I drove her to doctor’s appointments, picked up groceries, and sorted her pills into plastic containers labeled by day.
I fixed a cabinet hinge, cleaned out a gutter, changed lightbulbs, and took out trash.
She complained through all of it.
I held out my hand and said, “Deal.”
“You’re late.”
“It’s been four minutes.”
“Still late.”
I would tell her she was impossible, and she’d say, “Yet you keep coming back.”
Slowly, without either of us saying it, things changed.
She started asking me to stay for dinner. Her cooking was terrible, but she acted offended if I noticed.
Slowly, without either of us saying it, things changed.
