Chapter 5
chapter
five
Oliver
I wait until she disappears down the hallway—bare feet, damp hair, towel, attitude—before I drop onto my grandparents’ couch and press both palms against my eyes hard enough to see stars.
Cora.
Her name is Cora and she lives in my grandparents’ house. Surely I am losing my mind.
I pull out my phone. My hands are not as steady as I’d like. I open the sibling group chat, stare at it for ten full seconds, then close it.
I open Henry’s name instead.
Because Henry is the oldest. Henry is measured. Henry will not immediately combust.
Me: I need to talk to you about something and I need you to be calm about it.
Henry: That’s never a great opening, but go ahead
Me: Did you know Mimz and Pops hired a live-in health aide?
Three dots appear. Disappear. Reappear.
Henry: A what?
Me: A live-in health aide. As in someone who lives in their house. Full-time. Taking care of them.
Henry: No. Since when?
Me: I don’t know. Long enough for her to be comfortable walking around in a towel.
Me: I just found out because I stopped by with a truckload of my belongings after my oldest brother kicked me out of his house on account of his surprise wife.
Henry:
Henry: So a woman lives there with them?
Me: Her name is Cora. She says she’s their live-in aide. She has a license.
Henry: Okay, hold on. Why do they need a live-in aide?
Henry: Mimz just sent me a picture of herself doing the limbo on a cruise ship two days ago
Me: Exactly.
Henry: So why do they have one?
Me: That’s what I’m trying to figure out.
Henry: Have you asked them?
Me: They’re on a boat in the Caribbean, Henry. In international waters. Doing the limbo.
Henry: Fair point
Henry: Is this woman legit?
I wonder, in that moment, if I should tell my brother that this woman is one and the same as my truck girl. That’s what we’ve been calling her for shorthand. I shouldn’t have ever even told him. I don’t normally disclose such details, but he’d caught me in a weak moment and I’d spilled everything.
Henry: Have you asked mom and dad?
I’m typing a response when my phone buzzes three times in rapid succession.
I look at the screen.
Henry added Kelsie to the conversation.
Henry added Addison to the conversation.
Henry added Payton to the conversation.
I close my eyes.
Me: Henry. Why?
Henry: This is a family matter.
Kelsie: What did I miss? Why is Oliver texting during daylight hours? Is someone dead
Payton: ^^^ also hi, what’s happening?
Addison: I’m in the middle of something; this better be good.
Henry: Oliver discovered that Mimz and Pops have a live-in health aide
Kelsie: They have a WHAT?
Payton: Like a nurse??
Henry: Oliver said she was wearing a towel, so I don’t think she’s a nurse.
Me: Don’t be gross, Henry.
Me: She’s someone who lives in their house and supposedly takes care of them.
Addison: Since when do they need someone to take care of them? Pops rebuilt the back porch railing last month. With his hands. For fun.
Me: I’m aware.
Kelsie: Wait… are they sick? Is someone sick and they didn’t tell us??
Payton: Oh God. Is it Mimz?
Me: No one is sick. They’re on a cruise. They’re doing limbo.
Kelsie: Then WHY do they have a live-in aide??
Addison: Better question: who is this person and how did she get access to our grandparents?
Me: Her name is Cora. She says she’s licensed. She’s living in the guest room off the kitchen.
Payton: The good guest room?? With the bathroom??
Me: Yes.
Henry: Isn’t that where you were planning to stay?
Payton: Mimz wouldn’t give that room to just anyone. Once, I asked for that room for Christmas, and she said it was “for company.“
Kelsie: Payton, focus.
Payton: I’m just saying! That room has the rain showerhead!
Henry: Can we stay on topic?
Addison: I don’t like this. Two elderly people hiring a stranger to live in their home without telling any of their five grandchildren? That doesn’t sit right with me.
Kelsie: Agreed. That’s not like them.
Henry: Unless they didn’t want us to worry.
Me: Or unless they didn’t think it was our business.
Kelsie: It is absolutely our business. They are our grandparents. What if this woman is taking advantage of them?
Payton: Kels, we don’t know that. No reason to assume towel girl is a villain.
Kelsie: We don’t know ANYTHING. That’s the problem.
Addison: Oliver. What’s your read on her?
I stare at the message.
My read on her.
My read on her is that she stood in front of me in a bath towel with wet hair and no makeup and still managed to be the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.
My read on her is that she looked me dead in the eye and didn’t flinch.
My read on her is that my grandparents clearly adore her, because Mimz’s kitchen smells like the lavender soap she keeps on every counter, and there’s a mug in the drying rack that says WORLD’S OKAYEST EMPLOYEE, and I know that’s not Pops’.
Me: She seems legit. She knows the house. Knows their routines. She’s comfortable here.
Addison: “Comfortable” isn’t the same as “trustworthy.“
Henry: Addison has a point. But so does Oliver. If Mimz and Pops hired her and left her in the house while they traveled, they clearly trust her.
Kelsie: Mimz also trusts the psychic at the flea market who told her she was Cleopatra in a past life.
Payton: To be fair, Mimz does have Cleopatra energy.
Me: Can we focus?
Kelsie: I AM focused. I’m focused on the fact that a stranger is living with our grandparents, and none of us knew about it. How did she even find them? Where did she come from?
Me: She said she moved here a few months ago. She’s from a small town north of here. She moved around a lot growing up.
I realize, as I type it, that I know more about this woman than my siblings think I should. I edit before sending.
Me: That’s what she told me. I didn’t interrogate her.
Addison: Maybe you should have.
Payton: Or maybe we should just call Mimz and Pops and ask?
Henry: They’re in the middle of the ocean.
Payton: They have wifi. Mimz posted a selfie with the captain yesterday.
Kelsie: She WHAT?
Payton: On Facebook. Keep up.
Me: I’m not calling them on their vacation to ask why they hired someone to help around the house. They’re allowed to make their own decisions.
Addison: Are they though?
Henry: Addison.
Addison: What? Pops is 78. Mimz is 76. They’re sharp now, but that doesn’t mean someone can’t take advantage of that. We’ve all read the articles. Elder financial abuse. Companionship scams. These things happen.
Kelsie: She’s not wrong.
Me: She’s not a scammer.
Kelsie: How do you know?
I pause. How do I know? Why am I even defending her?
Because she looked me in the eyes three months ago in a bar and told me the truth about growing up in foster care without flinching.
Because the crooked star tattoo on her wrist is the most honest thing I’ve ever seen on another person.
Because my grandparents don’t let people in easily, and if they let her in, there’s a reason.
Me: Because Mimz and Pops aren’t stupid.
Addison: No one said they were stupid.
Me: Then trust them.
There’s a pause. A long one.
Henry: Oliver’s right. We don’t have enough information to panic. But we also shouldn’t ignore it. Oliver, you’re there. Can you just… keep an eye on things?
Kelsie: Yes. Observe. Report back. Don’t let her know you’re suspicious.
Payton: This is not a stakeout, Kelsie.
Kelsie: It’s a little bit of a stakeout.
Me: It’s not a stakeout.
Addison: It’s due diligence.
Henry: Just get to know her. See what the arrangement is. We’ll talk to Mimz and Pops when they get back.
Me: Fine.
Payton: Mom and Dad say she’s legit. They hired her about a month ago. Says all of her paperwork and whatnot are in order.
Payton: And Mom says, “She’s a darling girl.”
I think about the way she’d planted her hand on her hip in that towel and told me to stop acting like the villain in a soap opera.
Henry: So what say you, Oliver? Is she a darling girl?
Me: She’s… something.
Kelsie: That’s not an answer.
Payton: Is she pretty?
Me: Irrelevant.
Payton: So that’s a yes.
Kelsie: PAYTON
Payton: What?? I’m gathering intel!
Addison: I still think we should call them.
Henry: We’ll wait. Three days. They dock on Thursday. We’ll call then.
Addison: Fine. But if anything feels off before then, Oliver calls us immediately.
Me: Understood.
Kelsie: And Oliver?
Me: What?
Kelsie: Don’t be weird about it.
Payton: He’s already being weird about it.
Payton: I can tell.
Me: I’m not being weird.
Henry: You’re being a little weird.
Me: Goodbye.
I set the phone facedown on the couch cushion. From down the hall, I hear the faint sound of a door closing. Water running. She’s probably getting dressed.
Cora.
My mystery girl. My Mischief.
No. She’s not my anything.
She’s in my grandparents’ house. She’s been sleeping in the good guest room with the rain showerhead. She’s been eating breakfast in Mimz’s kitchen and listening to nineties country and learning which floorboard creaks.
She’s been making herself at home in a life I didn’t know she was anywhere near.
And my siblings want me to keep an eye on her.
Keep an eye on the woman I haven’t been able to stop thinking about for three months.
Sure. No problem.