Chapter Five #2
Michael motioned to the closet. He had plenty of clothes. If she wanted to, she could borrow.
“What?”
He repeated the gesture.
“I don’t understand,” she was confused.
He stood and went to the closet. He pulled out a tee and held it up against her. It was too big for her but maybe to sleep in? Kind of like a nightgown.
“I can borrow it?” she asked.
He nodded. It was one of his Harvard shirts. He had the feeling she would look amazing in it. Then again, he thought she looked beautiful in everything.
She took the shirt. “Thank you.”
He nodded then endured her nearly tucking him in. Really, she was fussing too much, he thought tiredly.
∞
She checked on him three times that night that he was aware of.
It was ridiculous. There was no way Ann was going to get any sleep when she kept tiptoeing over to his room to see if he was still alive.
He was not going to get any sleep either, waiting for her to come back each time.
On the third time, Michael reached out and tugged on the shirt he had leant her.
She had a pair of shorts on with it and while he had never seen her look so casual, he liked it.
“Michael, you are supposed to be sleeping,” she admonished. He had probably scared her, touching the hem of her shirt in the dark.. However, there was no sleeping when she was sneaking around.
He steadily tugged on her shirt until she was sitting on the bed.
“Okay, what would you like? Can I get you something? A glass of water?”
She could get him a full night is rest. He moved over then patted the bed. It was king sized. There was plenty of room for both of them.
“Michael, I am not going to sleep in here,” said Ann.
He sighed. Then neither of them were going to sleep. He patted the bed again then took her hand so that she could not leave.
“Well, maybe just until you go back to sleep,” Ann got comfortable.
Michael smiled and closed his eyes.
When he opened them in the morning, it was a beautiful sunrise. The rays of the sun were cascading across the room. But the most beautiful sight was in bed with him, cuddled up to him. He gently stroked her silky hair for a few minutes, watching her.
He could hear FenLei starting coffee downstairs. Regretfully, he disengaged himself from Ann. He got changed into clean sweats and grabbed the hat on his way quietly out of the room. He came down to the kitchen got himself a cup of coffee.
FenLei stared at him. “What? You think you some gangster? Start rap club?”
He smiled despite himself. He supposed he looked like a bum with the hat and beard. He should shave. He gave the little Vietnamese woman a one-armed hug.
She pushed him away. “Go away. Drink coffee. I start clean kitchen, must finish. Make breakfast after. Shoo!”
Michael followed her suggestion, settling himself in a deck chair, watching the waves and the sun.
Life was good.
∞
Ann yawned. It must be nearly eight in the morning.
She had slept in, and Michael was already up.
She blamed the stress of everything that had happened since Michael’s surgery.
Grabbing Michael’s robe from the bathroom, she padded her way to the kitchen but was surprised to see a small woman humming and scrubbing the counters.
“Hello?”
The tiny woman stopped. She must be just under five feet in height. She was dark in color and of an undeterminable age. She stared at Ann. “My goodness! He finally bring woman home. I beginning to worry he always be bachelor.”
Ann blinked.
“You pretty. Come closer, I make coffee. You want some?” She peeled off her rubber gloves and grabbed a cup out of the cupboard. She used a step stool to reach the bottom shelf. Ann wondered what she did when she wanted something off the top shelves.
“Um, yes please,” Ann sat down on a stool at the breakfast bar. “My name is Ann. You are?”
“FenLei. I cook, clean, run errand. Take care house and Mr. Michael when he here,” she put down a cup of coffee in front of Ann. “Cream? Sugar?”
“Please,” Ann watched as the efficient little woman grabbed the requested items. “How long have you worked for Michael?”
“Ten year,” FenLei gave Ann the sugar and cream. She leaned forward conspiratorially. “Tell me, Mr. Michael good in bed?”
Ann stared at her in shock and blushed furiously.
“Oooh! Blushy, blushy,” FenLei wiggled a finger. “I thought so.”
“We didn’t… We aren’t romantically involved,” said Ann, flustered by the housekeeper is insinuation.
“What? No sex?” FenLei gave her an unbelieving look. “He big man. You pretty lady.”
“No,” Ann said firmly. “Michael had an operation. I am here to help take care of him.”
FenLei harrumphed. “What sort operation? Take appendix?”
“No. He had a couple of tumors removed from his brain.”
“He okay?” the little lady turned serious.
“He is okay. He is just…” Ann sighed and then explained about the speech aphasia.
“So, he no talk no more?” questioned FenLei.
Ann nodded. “Not much, no.”
“He no gonna call me bossy no more?” FenLei looked upset.
“He calls you bossy?” Ann asked, surprised.
“All the time. It okay. Mr. Michael don’t mind my bossy,” FenLei resumed wiping the countertop. “If he no like he would have fired me many years ago. You want breakfast?”
Ann struggled to keep up with the conversation. “Okay.”
“I make eggs and bacon. Brown toast. How you like egg?”
“Scrambled please,” Ann looked around. “Is Michael up already?”
“He take coffee and sit on deck. I make him breakfast too as soon as I finish kitchen. No car in driveway. I not know he here. Good thing I have grocery in car for me.”
“Are we eating your groceries? FenLei, you shouldn’t give us your groceries.”
“Why not? I buy more. I buy grocery for Mr. Michael all the time,” she put away the gloves and grabbed out a couple of pans. “Give ten minutes, breakfast ready.”
“Thank you, FenLei,” Ann said but the little woman waved her away.
Ann took her coffee and went to the deck to find Michael sitting in one of the deck chairs, sipping from a mug, the knit hat still camouflaging the bandage.
He smiled at her, and she could not help the tenderness that flowed through her. She sat next to him.
“Have you been up for long?”
He shrugged.
“I met your housekeeper.”
He looked at her expectantly.
“She says you call her bossy,” Ann lifted an eyebrow.
Michael gave a guilty but amused nod with a bit of a shrug.
“I like her,” Ann turned her attention to the water. It was very calming. She could sit out here every morning with a coffee in good weather. “Did she show up one day and refuse to go away? Kind of like I did?”
Michael had a small snort.
Ann turned to look at him. “She did, didn’t she?”
He smiled and nodded.
“What did she say? That she had eight children to feed and so you could not turn her away?”
He held up five fingers.
“Oh? Only five? I am disappointed,” Ann sipped her coffee. “I still like her. And since the house is sparkling, I suppose she earns whatever you pay her.”
He nodded.
“Any headache this morning?”
He indicated no.
“Dizziness?”
Again, no.
“Good,” Ann was relieved.
A moment later FenLei was at the door. “Ten minute up. Breakfast ready.”
She waved a spatula at Michael. “Now, Mr. Michael. Why you two share bed? I look. Guestroom not used. Missy Ann say no sex but I wonder.”
Ann felt her face turn red and even Michael got a little ruddy. He rolled his eyes at the little woman and shook his head.
“You have sex you marry her. I good Christian woman. No work for bad men,” she winked at Ann. “I make some coffee cake for you eat later.”
Ann sputtered. “FenLei!”
“What? No like cake?” she asked innocently.
“Yes, to the cake. No to the sex. I stayed to be sure he was okay. I will be moving to the guest room today,” Ann was embarrassed.
“Okay,” FenLei said doubtfully as she dished up breakfast and poured refills on the coffee. She then grabbed the vacuum and humming, went to vacuum downstairs.
Ann put her head in her hands.
Michael ate a piece of bacon and watched her. She composed herself and started eating breakfast.
“I think you are right. She is bossy and nosy,” decided Ann.
He smiled.
∞
Michael stared at the paper in frustration.
He wanted to throw the pen across the room.
Instead, he set it down carefully, like it was a poisonous thing, on the desk.
He had started by trying to script out the alphabet.
He had beautiful cursive but that did not matter when it didn’t loop as it should, when letters went backwards, sideways, and not in the right spot.
He tried small words. Dog, cat, bird. What stared back at him was gibberish.
He closed the journal, blocking the offending page. It all confirmed what he already knew. He rubbed his eyes. He now had a study that was entirely useless to him. Forty-two volumes of journals he had kept since he was eight sat on the shelves with all the other books, mocking him.
“Michael?” Ann came in with his medication and a glass of water. She set it down on the desk. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. As okay as he was going to be.
She gently took the book from under his hand and flipped through it. It came to rest on his latest endeavor. “Oh, Michael.”
He shrugged and took the medication. His head was beginning to hurt but he suspected that was from the stress of not being able to put his thoughts to paper, not from anything more serious.
She flipped through the book and paused, reading. “Is this poetry?”
He stood and gently took the book from her. The last thing he wanted was for her to read his many, many odes to her. They were boyish ridiculousness. He placed the book on the shelf with the others.
“You must have forty books here. Did you write them all?” Ann asked, trailing a hand over them.
Michael nodded. Forty-two. There would be no forty-three.
“Is it all poetry?”
He shook his head no. He was tired. He didn’t want to even look at them ever again. They only reminded him of what he had lost. Michael turned and left the room. His head did hurt. He was going to take a nap.