“Trudie. Trudie, are you awake?”
“No,” Trudie grumbled and pulled the blankets up under her chin.
“I need you to roll over so I can give you a shot, okay?”
Trudie didn’t respond.
“Roll over, Trudie,” Annie said again.
Trudie didn’t roll over, but Lucy did. Annie laughed, wondering if Lucy were trying to show Trudie how it was done.
“Trudie!” Annie called louder. “Roll over.”
Trudie opened her eyes and frowned. “You don’t have to yell, for Pete’s sake.”
“I’m sorry, but I need to give you an injection in your butt, so I need you to roll over.”
“Will you still respect me in the morning?” Trudie quipped, as she rolled over.
Annie pulled the bathrobe back and her pajama bottoms down. Looking at the pink, perfectly round, perfectly sized cheek, Annie rubbed the swab over a large section of soft skin and replied, “Oh, yes, even more so now.”
As Trudie laughed, Annie jabbed the needle into her buttocks and pushed the plunger in until all the liquid was injected.
“Ouch! That hurt.”
“I’m sorry,” Annie sympathized, rubbing the spot slowly with her gloved hand. Oh man… move on! She pulled the bottoms back up and smoothed the robe down. “Okay, now for your antibiotic and cough syrup.” Annie went back to the kitchen counter and looked through the drawers until she found a spoon. Then she gathered up the medicines and walked back over to Trudie. “Which do you want first, the pill or the cough syrup?”
“The pill, please,” Trudie said as she sat forward, grimacing at her sore behind.
Annie handed her the capsule and the bottle of water that still sat on the coffee table. “Put the pill toward the back of your throat and then fill your mouth with water before you try to swallow. That way the pill will float right on past your uvula without choking you.”
Trudie looked at her skeptically, but did as instructed, and the pill slid down with no complications.
“Now for the cough syrup. This stuff has codeine in it, so it’s going to make you sleepy.”
“You want me to sleep in front of you, too?”
“You just were, and I’m still here,” Annie joked.
Trudie chuckled. Yes, you are.
Annie measured out a spoonful of the cough syrup and demonstrated for Trudie by opening her mouth, her tongue resting on her bottom lip.
Oh, God, she is just too cute. Trudie opened her mouth, and Annie slid the spoon inside.
“Do you want to stay out here or go back to your bed?”
“Right here is just fine,” Trudie replied, leaning back against the pillows. That way, when I wake up, you’ll be the first thing I see.
Annie tucked the blankets back under Trudie’s chin, and asked jokingly, “Got any good books to read?”
“No, but your books are in my office. I, um, signed them for you.”
“That was so nice of you, thank you.”
“My pleasure,” Trudie said through her yawn. All my pleasure. “Now that you’ve seen my butt, why don’t you make yourself at home? There’s food in the fridge, help yourself. I’m just going to close my eyes for a little bit.”
Annie dimmed the lights as Trudie drifted off to sleep again. Damn, you are so beautiful.
Chapter Seven
“To Annie Nichols, a woman of honor, of substance, of grace. And if you sell this book on eBay, I’ll kick your ass. Trudie Youngblood, Wordsmith.”
Annie guffawed so loudly that she had to clap her hands over her mouth to keep from waking Trudie up. Bruno jumped up in Annie’s lap and made herself comfortable, as Annie settled back in the chair and began reading. It wasn’t long before she was so engrossed in the book that she didn’t see Lucy take point at the door. But as soon as Lucy growled, Annie jumped up, dumping the cat on the floor. Bruno indignantly sauntered off down the hallway. Annie looked at the security monitor and saw it was the same delivery boy from before.
“Thanks,” she said, taking the box from his hands and setting it inside the door. She pulled her billfold from her back pocket and pulled out a ten.
“Who’s paying for that stuff?” he asked, snatching the ten out of Annie’s hand and pointing at the box.
“Put it on Trudie’s account, okay? Someone just took my last ten dollars.”
“Ha. Will do.”
Annie closed the door and locked it, and Lucy went back to her spot in front of the couch. Annie figured that the dog knew Trudie was sick and just wanted to be near her. Dogs were sensitive that way.
As she did with the medicine, Annie dumped the contents of the box on the counter. Setting the Tylenol bottle to the side she picked up the box containing the thermometer. Seeing that it was oral, Annie exhaled gratefully. Despite its implications, touching Trudie’s enticing butt cheeks again would be too much for her. There was only so much that Annie could do to distract herself from them. And if it weren’t for the fact that Trudie was sick, Annie, quite frankly, wouldn’t want to distract herself.
Next, she unpacked the humidifier and read the instructions. It was pretty much like the one her mother had used. She got a knife from the drawer and cut a hole in the bottom side of the box. She put the humidifier back in the box and pulled the cord out of the hole. Then she carried it back to Trudie’s bedroom. She knew from experience that humidifiers could ruin a carpet and wooden chairs, so she looked around for a larger box to set it on. She found something better in the pets’ room. Bruno had a single tier cat tree with a flat top that would be perfect to hold the humidifier off the floor.
Annie lifted the heavy tree and carried it into Trudie’s room, placing it as far away from the wall and furniture as she could. Next she needed an extension cord. Where would Trudie keep an extension cord? The utility closet, containing a stacked washer and dryer and some shelving, was between the pets’ room and the guest room. She opened the folding doors and stood there, surveying the small room. There were two of everything — laundry soap, fabric softener, cleaning gloves — everything except an extension cord. Annie went back into the kitchen and looked around, but didn’t find one. She could go down to maintenance and get one, but that would mean leaving the door unlocked. Even with Lucy standing guard, she knew that if Trudie woke up and found that the door wasn’t secured, she would be extremely upset.
Wait. I haven’t checked Lucy’s room yet. Annie went into the pets’ room and looked in the small closet. Bingo! Trudie used the closet to store pet supplies, of which she had two of everything, and an assortment of adhesive tape, gray, black, clear, plus two extension cords still wrapped. Annie wondered if Trudie was becoming a hoarder, or just bought everything in twos since she couldn’t run out to the corner store for supplies. Annie was pretty sure it was the latter.
She connected the humidifier and turned it on, then she went back to the living room. “Trudie?” When there was no response, Annie slid her hands underneath Trudie and lifted her up carefully. She grabbed a pillow with one hand and carried Trudie down the hall. Trudie wrapped her arms around Annie’s neck and laid her head on her shoulder. Annie held her tighter, closer. But the spell was broken when she felt the fever emanating through Trudie’s body. Trudie was just trying to get warm. That’s all right, baby. Take from me whatever you need.
Annie threw the pillow down first, and then laid Trudie on the bed. She covered her up, and turned to get the other blanket from the couch when she felt a tug on her sleeve.
“Please, don’t leave,” Trudie whispered, turning on her side and reaching out to Annie.
“I’m just going to get the other blanket so you’ll be warm enough,” Annie explained.
“Please, Leigh, don’t leave me,” Trudie pleaded, pulling on Annie’s arm.
Oh, God. The pain in Trudie’s voice brought tears to Annie’s eyes. She knew it was the codeine causing the dream, but still, Annie was afraid to leave and afraid to stay. Trudie was desperate to hold Leigh, and the only way to
make that happen was for Annie to crawl in bed with her. It would calm Trudie and help warm her chills. Surprisingly, Annie had to talk herself into it, but once she did, she pulled off her boots and crawled in behind Trudie, pulling her against her stomach and covering them both with the blanket. Annie rubbed her back until Trudie fell asleep again. Oh, God. I want this too much.
Thirty minutes later, Annie woke to the sound of the doorbell. Trudie was still asleep, so she quietly got off the bed and left the room. Lucy was in front of the door, wagging her tail. Annie looked at the monitor and frowned. I forgot about her. She unlocked the door and let Deidra in.
“What?” Deidra eyed her suspiciously. The fact that Annie wasn’t wearing her shoes made her even more suspicious. “Where’s Trudie? What have you done to her?”
“Whoa. Knock that shit off,” Annie demanded. “I haven’t done anything to her. She has pneumonia so I was helping her out.”
Deidra didn’t believe her. “Trudie!”
“Are you crazy?” Annie moved close and clapped her hand over Deidra’s mouth. “Be quiet. She’s sleeping in her bedroom, for shit’s sake.” Annie let her go, and Deidra ran down the hall to the bedroom. She flung the door open and walked up to the bed. The light from the hallway gave off a foggy glow from the humidifier, and for an instant, Deidra thought Trudie had died and was ascending to heaven. Then she tripped over Annie’s boots and landed beside the bed. She put her hand on Trudie’s forehead. “You poor thing,” she whispered, running her fingers through Trudie’s hair. She didn’t see Annie watching her from the hallway.
Annie was disturbed by what she saw and turned to leave, but then she thought she heard voices coming from the office. She opened the door and saw that the monitor was still on. Then suddenly Noella came into the picture.
“What the hell are you doing there? Where’s Trudie? If you’ve done something to her, I’ll—”
Frustrated, Annie barked, “What the shit is wrong with you people?”
“Noella, she’s been here all day,” Deidra said heatedly, as she walked into the room. “And she doesn’t have her shoes on. They’re by Trudie’s bed.”
“Oh, my God. Did you rape her?” Noella asked accusingly.
Annie held up her hands in protest. “What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I didn’t. If everyone would just settle down a minute, I can explain.”
“No, let me explain,” Trudie said from the doorway. But before she could say anything, she had a bad coughing episode.
“Trudie, I can handle this. Go back to bed, okay?” Annie requested.
Trudie became suddenly dizzy and grabbed at the doorframe. Annie was instantly by her side and scooped her up in her arms.
“Set me down,” Trudie demanded.
Annie sat her in the chair in front of the monitor and stepped back.
“Noella. Deidra. I’m all right. Annie has been nothing short of a Godsend, so play nice.” Trudie stopped to blow her nose. “I seem to have developed pneumonia, and she volunteered to be my nurse. Get your minds out of the gutter so I can go back to bed, all right?”
“Okay, sorry about that, Annie,” Deidra said.
“Yeah, no problem,” Annie replied halfheartedly.
“Um. I’ll go walk Lucy now,” Deidra announced, and made a quick exit.
“Trudie, do you need anything, honey?” Noella asked. “I can catch the red eye and be there in a few hours.”
“Thank you, but there’s no need for you to fly back here just to watch me blow my nose. I promise, Annie really is a great nurse. Even my doctor thinks so. So stay and have fun, okay?”
“Okay, but you’ll call if you need anything, right?”
“Of course. I’m going back to bed now,” Trudie stated, and swayed her way back to her room.
“Annie, if anything happens to her, I’ll hold you responsible,” Noella threatened.
Annie closed the door so Trudie wouldn’t overhear her. Then she sat down and leaned forward. “I don’t know why you’re such a bitch toward me. The only thing I can think of is that you’re jealous, so I’ll let you off the hook. There’s nothing going on between Trudie and me other than a budding friendship. I would never take advantage of her while she’s sick, so you can rest easy. However...” Annie leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. “Once she’s back to one hundred percent again, then there’s no holds barred, and may the best woman win.”
Before Noella could protest, Annie hit the escape button and ended the call. “Bitch.”
*
Annie checked on Trudie every half-hour, sometimes more often than that, especially that first hour after being accused of raping her. It boggled her mind to wonder what brought that idea into Noella’s head. Had she given any tell-tale signs that would make Deidra and Noella think that? It’s bullshit, plain and simple.
When Deidra brought Lucy back, she wouldn’t speak to Annie. As soon as Annie opened the door, Deidra was already pushing the button on the elevator. That bothered Annie. If she was going to be Trudie’s friend, she wanted to be friends with Trudie’s friends. But it felt like they were in a secret club that wouldn’t allow for new members. She knew one thing for sure. She wasn’t going to put up with their shit.
Three hours later, Annie quietly opened the door to Trudie’s bedroom and tiptoed in. She set the medicine down on the nightstand and put the inside of her wrist on Trudie’s forehead to see if the fever had gone down. A little better, but still needs to come down more.
“Trudie, it’s time for your medicine.”
“No. Want to sleep,” Trudie grumbled.
“I know, baby. But you have to take your medicine if you want to get better. Here, sit up now.”
Trudie sat up, her tangled hair falling around her face. Annie combed it back and examined Trudie’s face, which was still flushed. She gave her the capsule first, and a bottle of water. Trudie choked it down, beating her chest to help the pill along, which caused her to cough. Then Annie gave her a tablespoon of cough syrup, which Trudie also choked on. Finally, Annie showed Trudie the thermometer and explained that it went under her tongue. Trudie slipped it under her tongue, too groggy to argue that she knew where to put it. With a congested nose, it was very hard for her to keep the thermometer in her mouth, and finally she took it out and gasped.
Annie looked at the numbers and then at Trudie. “You have a fever of 101, Trudie. Let’s see if we can’t get that down some.” Annie was worried. Her temperature should have broken by now. She shook out two Tylenol from the bottle and handed them to Trudie. “Swallow these and I’ll bring you some nice chicken noodle soup.”
Trudie grimaced. “I’m not hungry.”
“And I’m sorry that you’re not, but you still need to eat. Now take the Tylenol, like a good girl.”
Trudie knew she should be indignant, but Annie was just so damn cute. She swallowed the two tablets and handed the water bottle back to Annie. “Do I have to stay in this dark bedroom? I want to move back to the couch.”
“Just for a while longer, okay? The humidifier helps break up that stuff in your lungs.”
Trudie hadn’t realized that there was one in the room. “When did I buy that?”
“This afternoon. I hope you don’t mind, but I had the pharmacy charge it to your bill.”
Trudie yawned and laid back. “I’m glad you did, Annie.”
“I’m glad, too,” Annie said, as she tucked her in again. Then she went to the kitchen to check on the soup, which was bubbling. She set it off the burner and stirred it as she turned off the stove. She looked in the cabinets for a soup cup, and then poured the steaming liquid into it. Grabbing a soupspoon from the drawer, she carried it back to the bedroom. Trudie was asleep again. Damn, I hate to do this, but you have to eat.
“Okay, sit up, Trudie. Time for supper.” Annie put the cup on the nightstand and pulled Trudie up into a sitting position.
“You hate me, don’t you?” Trudie grumbled.
“No, I don’t hat
e you, silly.” In fact, it’s becoming quite the opposite. “You need food to keep your strength up.” Annie sat at the head of the bed and supported Trudie’s body with her own.
Trudie leaned into her. “Oh, you’re so warm.”
Smiling, Annie asked, “Can you feed yourself?” She picked up the cup, and stirred the noodles to help cool them.
“Yes, of course. I’m not a child, damn it,” Trudie replied caustically.
Annie ignored her outburst, knowing how uncomfortable she must be. “Here you go. It’s hot, so blow on it first.”
Trudie knew it wasn’t Annie’s fault. She was only trying to help. “All right. I will, if you’ll tell me another story.”
“Uh. Okay,” Annie hedged. “What do you want to hear?”
Trudie lifted a spoonful of the broth to her lips and blew across it. “Tell me about your first time.”
“My first time? Do you mean like my first time?” Annie asked, as she set her watch timer again for four hours.
“Yes. How old were you? Where were you? That kind of thing,” Trudie said, swallowing the soup. “Oh, that feels so good on my throat.” She scooped up another spoonful.
“All right, but turnabout’s fair play.”
Trudie stopped in mid-blow and looked around at Annie. “I can take it if you can.”
Trudie was sitting up by herself eating, so Annie moved to the chair in the corner.
“I can’t see you over there in the dark,” Trudie complained.
It wasn’t that dark in the room, but Annie pulled the chair next to the bed anyway. “Okay, so, once upon a time, a young ragamuffin, no more than thirteen cycles of life, was walking to the schoolhouse one day, when a beautiful princess crossed her path. The princess tilted her nose in the air and flipped her hair. This both excited and disappointed the young urchin. She was excited that any girl would look her way, especially now that the waif had become a woman.”
“How did she do that?” Trudie asked.
Annie pointed at the soup, and Trudie dutifully scooped up another spoonful.
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