Chapter 7
As Joel drove Chelsea out to the farm, he asked, “How about you come out to the Haven with me for a day or two?”
“I have to go to work.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” he argued. “If anything, that is stress that you don’t need right now.”
“They won’t give me a pass on it,” she explained, as she rolled her eyes. “Certainly not with Gladys involved. She’s made my life miserable, and I don’t even know why. Just that my horrid mother is involved somehow.”
“That’s what we need to find out,” he noted. “If it has something to do with your mother, why now?”
She looked at him in surprise and then shrugged.
“I don’t know. I guess that’s a question I should have asked her,” she admitted grudgingly.
“Honestly, at the time, I was just trying to get away from her. I didn’t understand anything, but I’ve spent all day trying to get away from her.
This just seems like another instance when I needed to do exactly that. ”
“Of course,” he agreed, “and yet we also want whatever is going on to not permeate throughout the entire hospital.”
“Well, it seems to be just me that she’s got a thing about.”
“And again, why you? Why now?” he asked, staring at her. “You got any idea?”
“No, she’s never mentioned anything. It’s just been obvious that I’ve been singled out for her revenge.
Then, when I was late, she got pretty ugly about it and pounced on it like she finally had a way to get rid of me.
Then today, without her knowing, or presumably without her knowing, Scott, the administrator—who was there with the security guard—he offered me a job at the hospital. ”
He looked at her in delight, and she smiled.
“Yeah, and I did talk to him about Gladys and not being able to get a good reference, but he just smiled and told me that he had already spoken to several other nurses, and they all had good things to say about me. … So in one way that’s a huge relief.
Yet I still just don’t understand what Gladys’s problem is. ”
“It will come out now,” he noted, “because it’s not just your word against hers. She is apparently losing control through her actions and now is likely to lose her job.”
“It’s such a waste,” she muttered. “Instead of helping us all be better nurses, she’s made a lot of people’s lives hell. I’m all for tough standards that make us all better at our job, but she went too far. And, in my case, way over the top.”
“So, maybe she needs to lose her job then,” Joel suggested, “but we can leave that to them.”
“Can we though?” she asked, with a wry look. “I’m not sure how much can be left to anybody at this point.”
They were only a few minutes away from the farm, and, when he pulled in, Sterling stepped out of the house.
With a knowing look on his face, he said to Sterling, “Gee, why am I not surprised to see you?”
“Well, you might not be surprised to see me,” Joel replied, “but I think you’ll be surprised to hear what just happened.”
The smile fell off Sterling’s face immediately. When he saw her bloody knees showing through her pants, he asked, “Now what?” he cried out. She quickly explained what had happened. “Good God, and it’s on camera?”
“Yep, and the security guard actually saw it in real time and came running out because she was still there, getting in my face.”
He shook his head. “What possible reason could she have?”
“Apparently something to do with my mother.”
Sterling winced and then nodded. “I guess we have to be prepared for a bunch of people being fed up with her, and now that she’s been picked up, they may come looking for something themselves.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know what that might look like,” he admitted, “but attacking you from behind doesn’t make sense.”
“No, but then again,” she pointed out, “Gladys is older, heavyset, and can’t compete when it comes to strength or agility with somebody my age and in good shape. Thus it might have been the only way that she could do it.”
“And yet why do it at all?”
“I don’t know. She wasn’t talking much, though she did shout something at Scott about being replaced by some young upstart like me.
But then when the subject of her potential involvement with the recent murder came up—which I think is pretty far-fetched—she kind of panicked and then clammed up because I was there. ”
Sterling stared at her. “I really didn’t expect this level of problems when I came to town.”
She grimaced. “I didn’t expect any problems at all. I was just trying to get my training, so I could get out of here.”
“And this will just encourage you to leave even more,” Sterling muttered gloomily.
“Except,” Joel interjected, smiling at her, “she was offered a job today.”
Sterling stared at her in surprise. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Yeah, and that was before I got clobbered. Scott, the administrator, pulled me aside and asked about trouble with Gladys because apparently my coworkers have been complaining about the way she’s been treating me.”
“You don’t think this will change his opinion, do you?”
“No, I don’t think so, at least I would hope not,” she muttered. “Still, I have no way of knowing. Besides, who knows what else is happening that we know nothing about.”
“We’re not going there,” Sterling muttered. “We’ve all got enough on our plates.”
“Anyway, Scott’s supposed to get me the details in the form of a contract.” She shrugged. “So, if he does, then we’ll know that it’s for real.”
Joel smiled. “I suspect it’ll be for real anyway, and he obviously wasn’t put off by anything Gladys said at the scene of her attack.”
“I need to go clean up, check out my scrapes.” She hobbled up the stairs, refusing anybody’s help.
The two men were concerned about her, but they couldn’t have this conversation in front of Chelsea.
She returned all too soon, with clean pants and bandages on her hands and elbow.
The knees weren’t bleeding through right now.
She then sat on the stairs, looking at both of them.
“I just don’t know when all this madness will stop,” she wailed, throwing up her hands.
“If I’ve put up with all this crap from Gladys because of my mother, that just makes it seem like I could have unending trouble dealing with other people who are equally upset with Penny. ”
Sterling frowned. “I can’t promise that there won’t be more people out there like Gladys, but the sooner that your mother goes to trial, and the facts come out—like her recorded confession in front of Richard—and that case is effectively closed, it will be a whole lot easier on all of us,” he stated.
“But they are trying Penny for murder as well, so, even with her confession, justice may plod along a bit.”
Chelsea didn’t say anything, just closed her eyes and nodded.
Joel looked over at Sterling. “I don’t want to be in your way,” he began, “but I don’t think she should be alone for the next couple days while she heals.” He knew Chelsea could hear this conversation, but it didn’t matter. It needed to be said. They all needed to have this discussion.
“You’re always welcome to stay here,” he stated, “but I expect that she’ll say that she has to go to work.”
“Oh, she already told me exactly that on the whole way home,” Joel confirmed, with a nod.
“The trouble is, we still have a possible murderer who saw her, and that’s a whole different story.
If that guy from the red truck did see her and does have some idea of who she is, I don’t want to take that chance. ”
“No, of course not,” Sterling agreed. “You talk it out with her and see what she wants to do. I’m fine any which way you want to go. I just want to keep her safe.”
Joel nodded in agreement. “Me too.”
Chelsea opened her eyes and stared at them. “Thank you both for that.”
Sterling added, “Hey, we have a lot of history between us now, and I really don’t want to have to break in another family member.”
She looked at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. “You got that right,” she muttered. “I can’t imagine.”
“Me neither, so let’s just make sure it doesn’t happen. If you stay close and stay safe, I won’t have to seek out more of our family.”
She shook her head, still laughing. “I didn’t think there would be any laughter today.”
“Ah, but that’s because you don’t know me that well yet,” Sterling declared smugly. “I can find something to laugh at no matter what.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” She heaved herself up off the stairs and walked into the kitchen. “I was going to cook today.”
“Oh, feel free,” her cousin replied, with a laugh.
“I’m still working out in the training barn, interacting with the new puppies,” he shared, watching Chelsea’s face light up.
“Chels, when you are in better shape, you gotta see these balls of fluff. But right now, if you two are okay in here, I’ll head back over there. ”
“Do you want some help?” Joel asked.
“Sure, but …” Then he turned to Chelsea.
“I’m fine,” she muttered, with a groan. “You guys know that I’m almost a full-fledged nurse, right? Do not even think about mollycoddling me.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t think of it,” Sterling said, with an eye roll. “I just need to know that you’ll either take a nap or rest or do something sensible.”
“Of course I’ll do something sensible,” she replied, “but right about now I’m seriously exhausted.”
“So, no cooking?”
Such a note of disappointment filled his tone that she laughed. “I will come up with something for dinner. I promise. Yet it’ll be something quick and easy.”
“Sounds good.” He smiled at her, then turned to Joel. “You’re more than welcome to stay.”
“It depends if she’s going to cook enough for me too,” he teased, “because otherwise I’m going home to Toby, who I know will cook for me.”
“Oh, I see how you are. So, it’s all about whether I cook for you or not,” she quipped.
“I’ll take anything I can get,” he shared, “but right about now it seems to me that maybe I should do the cooking and you should lie down, get off your legs.”