Accidental Love

by BL Miller

  "Fine. I'll see to it that her things are moved out of here immediately. I assume you own the hundred year old stove and fridge?"

  "God damn right I own them. I own that bed she sleeps in too. She was supposed to buy it from me for fifty bucks but I haven't seen it yet."

  "Well, now you won't. You can keep it." She tucked her wallet and checkbook back into her case. "Is there anything else or do you feel the need to continue to assault me with your stinking breath?"

  "I don't give a fuck who you are, you can't come in my house and talk to me that way," he snarled. "Just make sure the place is in the same condition as when she moved in or she doesn't get her security back."

  "I doubt you'd give it back anyway," Veronica countered. "After all, you are the epitome of a slum lord."

  "You'd better take that damn cat with you when you leave or I'll wring its fucking neck and throw it out in the snowbank." He flung the door open, letting the cold air mix with the cool air already inside the apartment. "And make sure she forwards her fucking mail," he growled as he slammed the door.

  Veronica turned and rubbed her forehead. "Meow?"

  "Well, I guess I have company for a few days, huh?" She said, sitting down on the bare floor next to the cat. "Wish I knew your name. It'd be much easier than calling you 'cat' all the time."

  "Mrrow," the kitty replied, climbing onto the raven haired woman's lap. Veronica allowed the purring feline to remain for a few minutes while she tried to think through what just happened. She had only meant to find out who to contact to let them know that Rose was hurt and ended up getting the young woman evicted. Not that it was much of a loss, considering the conditions she was living in. No matter, she decided. Her cousin Danielle, ran Cartwright Properties, surely there was an affordable apartment available that they could put Rose into. "Something with real walls," she muttered, looking at a dinner plate sized hole in the opposite wall. "Okay cat, time to move." The kitty objected vocally but finally acquiesced when the tall human stood up. "Let's get your momma's things together and get you out of here and into someplace warmer."

  Moving Rose's belongings was easy, especially when Veronica decided that the only things that had to leave the decrepit apartment were the library books and the checkbook she found in the kitchen drawer. The worn out clothes, the useless furniture…she decided that for four hundred fifty bucks Cecil could clean them out himself. Tucking the checkbook into her attaché, the library books under her arm, and the cat inside her jacket, Veronica left the apartment, not bothering to lock the door.

  *********

  Rose opened her eyes and looked around, groaning at both the pain and the realization of where she was. A young blonde nurse looked up and smiled. "Good morning, Miss Grayson. My name is Mary." She pulled a digital thermometer out of her pocket, placed a protective sheath over the tip, and put it in Rose's mouth. "You've been in a very bad accident." She wrapped the blood pressure cuff around Rose's upper arm and pressed her stethoscope against the inside of the young woman's elbow. The thermometer beeped and Mary pulled it back to check the reading.

  "Fine."

  "Excuse me…" Rose inhaled sharply as the nurse made a note on her chart. She felt dopey but scared at the same time. "Wha...what happened?"

  "You were hit by a car last night. You're very lucky that your boss was driving by and saw you. She brought you to the hospital."

  "My boss? Kim found me?"

  "Oh, I don't know her name, deary. I wasn't here last night. I work the day shift." She carefully cleaned the skin around the neat row of stitches on Rose's cheek. "You were in surgery for quite a while and you're in the recovery room right now. We just need to make sure you're stabilized and then you'll be taken to your room."

  "My legs?" She tried to sit up but that only served to increase the intense pain she was feeling in her lower extremities.

  "Both your legs were broken. The surgeons worked for hours last night putting the bones back in place."

  "It hurts." Rose lifted her head to see the stark white of full leg casts.

  "They're giving you something for the pain in your IV," the nurse said. "I'll let the doctor know you're awake."

  The instant the nurse left the room, Rose broke down in tears. Her face and ribs hurt but it was nothing compared to the excruciating agony her legs were in. She didn't even want to think about the hospital bill, which no doubt was increasing with every hour that she spent there. She reached over to pour herself a cup of water from the plastic pitcher on the stand next to the bed but the movement caused so much pain that she was unable to complete her task. Whatever they were giving her for the pain was also making her limbs feel extremely heavy and it didn't take long for Rose to fall back into an uneasy sleep.

  *********

  Veronica pulled the Mazda into her driveway and parked it next to the garage. To her great annoyance, removing the key from the ignition did not shut the engine off. Instead the blue car continued to sputter and wheeze before for a minute before finally dying. "Well, Cat. I think it's safe to say that the next place this piece of shit will go is to the junkyard."

  "Mrrow?" The feline replied as she tried to climb onto the tall woman's lap.

  "No no no. This isn't petting time." She tucked the cat under her arm and opened the door.

  "Come on, let's see if Maria can find something in the kitchen for you to eat."

  As she exited the car with the cat in tow, Veronica glanced over at her three car garage. The middle door was unlocked and through the half-moon window she saw her Porsche. She silently thanked her cousin Frank for helping her out. The cat squirmed in her grip. "Oh no you don't. I'm not running all over the neighborhood looking for you."

  Ronnie opened the sliding glass door and entered into the kitchen. Once inside she set the orange and white kitty on the floor. "Maria? Maria are you here?" The keys to the blue car were tossed on the counter.

  "I'm here," a voice from the living room called.

  "We've got company," Veronica responded.

  Maria was an older woman working on her thirtieth year with the Cartwright family and was near and dear to Veronica's heart. Jet black hair had long ago given way to a salt and pepper combination and her middle age spread made her lap perfect for whenever the young children came over. Maria walked into the kitchen. "It's not good for you to be out all night, Ronnie," she chastised. "If your mother knew…"

  "I wasn't out whoring around, Maria," she responded, pleased with the shocked reaction on the older woman's face. She unzipped her jacket and tossed it over one of the stools next to the cook's island. "Do we have anything here to feed-"

  "Mrrow?"

  "-a cat?" She finished.

  Maria looked down at Veronica's feet to see the orange and white feline rubbing against her. "Oh my. You brought home a cat?"

  "It's not a permanent arrangement. He's only going to be here for a few days while his owner is in the hospital."

  The housekeeper bent down and picked up the now purring feline. "I hate to tell you, Ronnie, but he is a she. What's her name?"

  "I don't know. Call it Cat for now."

  "Hi sweetie, what a pretty kitty you are," Maria cooed, holding the happy pet to her ample chest.

  "Would you like some tuna?" She carried the cat over to the pantry and pulled out a can. "Hmm, doesn't that sound nice?"

  "I don't think he, I mean she's ever had tuna before. I think she's only had dry food."

  "Oh…well then." Maria put the can on the counter and set the cat gently on the floor. "It's not good to take her from dry right to canned. It'll be too rich for her. I can mix them together."

  "I didn't bring any. I guess we'll have to get her some food."

  "Well, I've already been shopping this week but if you want I'll run out now. I can start lunch when I get back." She wiped her hands on her apron and reached for the ties.

  "No, that's fine. I'll go out and pick up some food for her. I guess we need a litter box too."

  "You took a
cat without even getting a litter box? Ronnie, what am I going to do with you?"

  "Well, her box was dirty and I wasn't about to touch it." Veronica protested. "Look, just make me a cup of coffee while I go take a shower and change. I'll run out and pick up the things the cat will need."

  "I'll make you a list. Knowing you, you'll get the box and forget the litter."

  "Funny," came the sarcastic reply, although in fact she didn't think about getting stuff to put in the litter box. "I'll be back down in a little bit. Try and keep fuzzball off the couch and away from the antiques, okay?"

  *********

  The mall was busy for a Wednesday afternoon and Veronica ended up parking at the far end of a row. A quick press of the button on her keychain and the bright blue Jeep Cherokee's doors locked and a warning light on the dash indicated that the alarm system was armed.

  It took her fifteen minutes to navigate her way around the mall until she found the pet store. Once inside, she walked down the isles until she found the cat supplies. Racks and shelves of everything from fake mice and scratching posts to catnip and collars vied for her wallet. Veronica hated shopping and when the teenage clerk offered to help her pick out things for her new pet, the raven haired woman readily agreed. The result was seventy-five dollars worth of litter, toys, food, catnip, and various other items that the young girl insisted were necessary for a happy and healthy cat.

  After finishing her shopping, Veronica went to the hospital to check on Rose. She wasn't at all prepared for what she saw. The sheet covering the young woman's legs outlined the full length casts. A nasty looking row of stitches surrounded by an equally nasty looking bruise covered one cheek and dried tear streaks prominently showed on her face. An IV with several bags hung from one side, giving the injured woman the fluids and pain medications she needed. A catheter disappeared under the blanket. Veronica's heart ached for the pain that Rose was in as well as the pain that she would go through as she recovered, knowing deep inside that her recklessness behind the wheel was the only reason the young woman was here. As if sensing her presence, the reddish-blonde head turned and green eyes focused on her. "Hello." she said politely, her voice a bit raspy.

  "Hello Rose. How are you feeling?"

  "Lucky to be alive I guess," she croaked, her eyes trailing over toward the water pitcher. Veronica immediately walked over and poured some into the yellow plastic cup.

  "Here." She handed the cup over but then quickly reclaimed her grip on it when she saw the young woman's hand shake. "Let me help." Together they got half the cup down Rose's throat before Veronica returned it to the small stand. "Do you remember anything about the accident?"

  "No, not really. I was running…some men were chasing me…I got out of the park and ran out into the street…that's all I remember before waking up here."

  "You don't remember anything about the car that hit you?" Veronica prodded. "The color, the type of car, the driver, anything?"

  "No, nothing. I'm sorry. Are you with the police?"

  "No." Inwardly Veronica breathed a sigh of relief. Rose couldn't remember what happened. With a little luck she might just be able to pull this off.

  "Oh, then I suppose you're here to talk to me about the bill?" Rose asked, deciding that the beautiful, well dressed woman had to be a hospital administrator, despite wearing a jacket. Perhaps she had just on duty, Rose reasoned.

  "Actually, I do need to talk to you about that but-"

  "I have no money," she interrupted. "I don't have kids, I don't qualify for any programs." She gave a defeated sigh. "I'll give you whatever I can each week but I'm afraid it won't be more than five dollars or so." She resigned herself to giving up her bus fare to help pay for the impossible bill.

  "You don't need to do that," Veronica said, amazed that someone with obviously little or no money was so quick to take financial responsibility for the hospital bill. "Perhaps you'd better let me explain." Rose nodded. "My name is Veronica Cartwright. I own Cartwright Corporation. I um…I found you after the accident and brought you here. When I realized that you didn't have insurance, I told them that you worked for me. Cartwright has an excellent benefits package including medical coverage. You won't have to pay a cent for your care, I promise."

  "You? But they told me that my boss…" Realization set in. "You told them you were my boss?"

  "Yes."

  "Oh." Rose seemed to ponder the information. "So instead of owing the hospital, I'll owe you?"

  "No no no. By the end of the day your name will be added to the insurance rolls. I'll have it backdated to before the accident and you'll be covered."

  "But isn't that fraud?"

  "Only if you didn't work for me." Damn, why did she have to be so difficult? Couldn't she just accept that the bill would be covered? Veronica couldn't understand why someone who had nothing was questioning a good thing when it was being offered to her. Maybe she miscalculated just how poor the young woman was. She needed more information. "Tell me, where do you work now?"

  "I…" Rose looked down, clearly embarrassed. "I work part-time as a cashier at Money Slasher. I should say I worked part-time. I'm sure they won't hold the job for me until I can walk again."

  "Do you have any skills? I mean, can you type or take dictation or anything like that?" The crestfallen look on the young woman's face answered the question. "Well then, I guess you're a clerk. It's an entry level job but it's better than bagging groceries."

  "But I can't work." She looked down at the casts covering her legs. "I can't even walk."

  "The job will be there when you're ready. Until then, you just concentrate on recovering." It was so simple, why was she making it difficult? Veronica didn't plan on this.

  "Mrs. Cartwright?"

  "It's Miss, but please call me Veronica."

  "Why are you doing this? I mean, you don't know me." After a lifetime of being handed the short end of the stick, an act of such great generosity was too much for her to believe. There had to be something more to it. Everything had a price attached.

  The raven haired woman thought quickly, running through the stories she had made up in her mind on the way over, discarding all of them as being lame. "I guess I just wanted to help. I saw you lying there on the street and I reacted. The only way to keep you here at the Med Center was to tell them you had insurance and the only way to give you insurance was to make you an employee. I run a large corporation that operates several smaller ones. Adding you to the rolls isn't a big deal. I'm sorry, I don't have a better explanation." The only other explanation would involve the truth and Veronica couldn't afford that. "Don't worry about why I'm helping. Just let me. Now, is there someone I should contact to let them know you're in the hospital?"

  "Um…I guess Kim should know so she can hire someone else for my slot." Rose said quietly, mourning the loss of the job she had worked so hard to get. It was too much for her to believe that she was being offered a job with a company as large as Cartwright Corp. "She's the night manager at Money Slasher on Central. I have to turn in my smock in order to get my last paycheck."

  "Would that be the grey thing you were wearing under your jacket?" Rose nodded. "I'm afraid the doctor in the emergency room cut that to pieces when they were treating you."

  "Oh." Another crestfallen look. "They charge eight dollars for ruined smocks."

  "Don't worry about it," Veronica said, not fully understanding how important the small sum of money was to the young woman. To Rose, that was her weekly allotment for groceries, almost half of which went to cat food. Through her drug filled haze, a thought came to her.

  "Tabitha!" She exclaimed. "Oh my god, someone has to take care of Tabitha."

  "Would that be your cat?"

  "Yes, how did you know?"

  "I found your key in your wallet and went to your apartment hoping to find a name or number of someone to contact for you."

  "Did you feed her?" Her concern that someone was in her run down apartment was overshadowed by her worry over the on
e thing that brought some kind of joy to her life.

  "Yes I did," Veronica replied as Rose turned away, letting a long silence form between them. A lone tear made its way down the young woman's cheek. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you in pain?

  Do you need me to call the nurse?" Veronica's hand was already reaching for the call button.

  "No," the young woman sniffed, wiping away the errant tear. "It's just that…" She sniffled again,

  "…if I'm not there to take care of Tabitha, they're going to take her away."

  "No no no. No one's going to take Tabitha away from you. I promise. In fact, she's at my house right now. She can stay with me until you're all settled." Veronica's heart lurched with the thought of how easily she had destroyed Rose's life. In one move she had cost the young woman her job, her home, and far more pain than anyone deserved to have. Now she was sitting there, lying to her in order to protect herself. "I swear no one will take Tabitha away."