Chapter 11
“You really didn’t know?”
“No, I had no idea. I swear!” Maddox knew they shouldn’t be staring, but they couldn’t help it. A bright, buoyant feeling expanded in their chest seeing her again like this. “You’ve changed. But you look good, I mean. Really good.”
Mrs. Bra—Ms. Farrington glanced away, and Maddox chided themself for the comment.
This probably wasn’t the time or place for that observation, even if it was true.
They struggled to figure out what to say and ended up rambling more.
“I-I guess I’m surprised you recognized me.
I mean, I knew you were acting weird toward me, but I thought maybe you had a problem with me being nonbinary or something. ”
Ms. Farrington’s head jerked up. “What? No, of course not.”
Despite the irritation in her tone, the denial was comforting.
“Your identity is of no concern to me,” Ms. Farrington continued. “But your discretion is.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the fact that you know me and what happened that day needs to stay in the past,” Ms. Farrington answered in a low voice. “Please keep that to yourself.”
Traces of that vulnerability lingered on her face, and Maddox rushed to reassure her. “I’d never think of discussing it! Look, Ms. Farrington—”
She kept talking as if she hadn’t even heard them; the brusqueness Maddox had grown accustomed to lately returned to her tone. “I mean, we all have things we’d prefer to keep quiet, don’t we? Like when resort staff members sleep around with the guests, for example.”
Maddox’s mouth snapped shut. How did she even know about that? They ground their teeth before giving a curt reply. “I don’t think there’s any need to go there. I said I’d keep everything to myself, and I will.”
She didn’t answer or even react. Did she actually believe Maddox would run their mouth off about something so private and sensitive? What kind of person did she think they were? After the silence lingered several more moments, Maddox finally huffed, “Good night, Ms. Farrington.”
They whirled around and walked out the door, letting it close behind them with a thud.
A few hours later, Maddox lay in bed watching the moonlit tree branches sway outside their window. Most of the anger that had bubbled up as they’d left Ms. Farrington’s room had dissipated, but they were still reeling from the conversation.
Ms. Farrington was Mrs. Brandt. Apparently, she’d gone back to her maiden name. Was she divorced or widowed? Maddox didn’t even know if she’d been married when they’d first seen her seven years ago. They hadn’t known anything about her, really.
It had only been their third day working in housekeeping at a small hotel near a nature reserve in Oklahoma.
A bout of the flu had kept several of their new coworkers home, and management had asked Maddox to help cover the bellhop vacancies.
They’d been fumbling through the unfamiliar duties all day and had nearly run a luggage cart into a woman checking in at the front desk.
The managing desk clerk had growled under his breath at Maddox, and then asked them to leave the cart there and take Mrs. Brandt’s suitcase to her room for her.
As the two of them had walked to the woman’s room, Maddox had apologized profusely for the luggage cart incident, and Mrs. Brandt had given them a small but kind smile.
“Don’t worry about it. It was just an accident. ”
When Maddox had set the luggage down in the guest room, Mrs. Brandt had given them a generous tip and had even patted their arm with a murmured wish that their day would get better.
Three hours later, Maddox had walked past the outside of Mrs. Brandt’s bottom-floor room, which had a sliding door leading to a small open patio.
Mrs. Brandt had been reclining in a patio chair, but something had looked off about her posture.
When Maddox had approached and spoken to her, she’d been barely responsive and disoriented.
Her speech had been slurred too. Worried, they’d gone into her room to get her some water and discovered two empty pill bottles on the floor.
They’d immediately called 911.
While Maddox waited for the EMT to arrive, the dispatcher had directed them to try to keep Mrs. Brandt awake. With growing alarm, they had talked to the nearly unconscious woman, imploring her to stay alert.
Even now, Maddox could feel the panic and distress swirling in their chest from the memory.
That day had come only five months after the car crash that had taken their parents from them.
Grief and guilt had been their constant companions ever since.
And that day, as they’d knelt on the floor talking to the woman and shaking her arm, they’d silently sobbed and asked whatever God was up there why everything they touched seemed to get destroyed.
Finally, the ambulance had arrived and taken Mrs. Brandt to the hospital. After watching it pull away, Maddox had promptly vomited up the contents of their stomach.
Maddox flipped over onto their back and attempted to ground themself in the present again. The present, where they’d gotten the answer to the question they realized they’d been holding for seven years. Had the sad, quiet woman they’d found in crisis survived?
Now they knew she had. More than survived, by the looks of things. It had brought them surprising relief. But what were the chances that the relief would come in the form of a woman with the power to upend Maddox’s entire world?
Maddox’s phone started ringing then, making them jump. They frowned as they fumbled to retrieve it from their nightstand. When they spotted Gran’s name on the phone, their heart gave a jolt. Why was she calling in the middle of the night?
“Gran, what’s wrong?” Maddox asked, willing their pulse to slow so they could focus.
“Maddie, are you okay? You didn’t call today.”
Maddox blew out a breath. “I’m fine, Gran. But we talked after dinner tonight, like always.”
“We did?” Gran’s voice rose in surprise. “Tonight? Are you sure? It seemed like ages ago.”
“Well, it is pretty late, Gran,” Maddox pointed out.
They couldn’t help chuckling to themself.
Some days, they tried not to think too deeply about Gran’s memory issues.
It was just something they dealt with, one step at a time.
On other days, it made them gut-wrenchingly sad.
And then sometimes they saw some humor in the situation.
“Oh my goodness! It’s after midnight, isn’t it? Did I wake you up?”
“Nope. I was still up. Just doing some thinking.” Honestly, it was a comfort to hear Gran’s voice at the moment.
Their thoughts drifted back to the time when they’d started the job at the hotel in Oklahoma, right before they’d had their encounter with Ms. Farrington.
Not long afterwards, they’d left Oklahoma and moved to Arkansas to live with Gran the way she’d been asking them to since their parents had died.
Maddox ached for the days when Gran would know what to say to them to ease their confusion and grief. But that season in their relationship had passed now, and all Maddox knew to do was to take comfort in the fact they could now be here for Gran the way she’d once been there for them.