by SUE FINEMAN
He picked up the kitchen phone. “She’s here. Do you want to come and get her now or wait until morning?”
“As long as she’s all right, it’s out of my hands. She hasn’t done anything illegal.”
“Of course she has. She broke into my home.”
“Then file a complaint with the sheriff’s office and call her family. It’s out of our jurisdiction.”
He wasn’t about to call Jenna at two in the morning. He’d call Gerry after the sun came up and let him take care of it.
Al hung up and found a blanket to put over Mattie. And then he went back to bed. What in the hell was he supposed to do with the old woman?
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First thing in the morning, Al went downstairs and made coffee and enough scrambled eggs and toast for two people. The kitchen table was gone, so he set the dining room table and called Mattie. “Breakfast is ready, Mattie.”
“Where’s my kitchen table,” she muttered on the way to the dining room.
“In the garage. So is some of the living room furniture.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s my inn, and I can do anything I want with it. What are you doing here?”
“You said I could live here as long as I could take care of myself. My arm is healed, so I came home. Where’s Jenna?”
“She moved out.” Jenna didn’t need this kind of stress, especially now.
Without so much as a thank you, Mattie ate her breakfast and sipped her coffee. “I always did prefer tea to coffee.”
“I didn’t buy any tea.” He was sure there was some around here somewhere, but he wasn’t about to look for it.
After she ate, Mattie went upstairs and returned with a set of sheets. Al washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, took care of the cats, and then walked upstairs to make a phone call. “Gerry, the police called me last night. Mattie snuck out of the nursing home.”
“Is she there?”
“Yeah. Can you contact Phillip? Her arm is healed and she’s feeding herself, so she probably doesn’t need a nursing home any longer, but I don’t want her living here. Nick won’t want her here either.”
“I know. My assistant is drawing up the purchase and sale agreement today. Al, did you talk with Jenna?”
Al knew that Gerry wasn’t just talking about the problem with Mattie, he was also talking about the cancelled check he’d found. “I haven’t called her this morning, but she said she found out where her parents’ money went. It’s gone, Gerry. Jenna’s mother had another kid when she was in college, and the kid developed cancer. The money didn’t go into the inn. It paid for the kid’s medical treatments.”
“Check or no check, Jenna has no legal claim on the inn.”
“That’s what I figured.” She would have fought him for it when she first found out Mattie had sold it, but not now, not after they’d grown so close. He’d been a fool for not realizing that and for not accepting her as the grown woman instead of the girl she’d been in high school.
“I’ll call Mattie’s attorney right now.”
Al went outside and walked around the inn, looking for another way in. A door to what he thought was a storage room stood slightly open. He propped it all the way open and found a staircase covered in dust. Fighting his way through the spider webs, he walked upstairs and pushed open the door at the top. He was in the upstairs hallway. “I’ll be damned. Why didn’t she show me this?” He’d wondered why there wasn’t another way out of the old building. Nobody could operate an inn without a fire escape of some kind.
He made one more phone call, to his mother’s house.
“Jenna, I know what happened to your gate opener.”
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Mattie made her bed the best she could. Nothing was straight, and the pillows were all squished, but she couldn’t snap the sheet like she used to, and all this activity made her arm hurt. She could use some help, but she didn’t dare ask. She needed her chair and television, but it was still at the nursing home, along with her new clothes and her purse. If she was paying for those clothes, she wanted them back, all of them.
Where was Jenna? The least the girl could do was help her get her things back from the nursing home.
She sat in the living room and turned on the television Charlie used to watch, but the picture was so bad it wasn’t worth watching.
The young man came downstairs and sat on the sofa beside her chair. “Mattie, I have to talk with you about something.”
“As long as I don’t have to leave here again.”
“I’m afraid we both have to leave. I sold the inn.”
“But you said I could stay.” She set her jaw. “You can’t make me leave.” Tears filled her eyes, unwanted and unbidden. “I don’t want to live in the nursing home.”
He put his hand over hers. “Maybe you won’t have to. We’ll see if we can find a nice apartment in a retirement home. With the money I paid you for the inn, you can afford it.”
“No.” The word came out in a whisper. She wanted to stay here.
The young man handed her a box of tissues and walked away.
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Jenna left Katie with Sophia and drove out to the inn. Alessandro met her at the door. “Did you tell her?”
“I told her I sold the inn and we both have to move out. Why didn’t you tell me about the back staircase?”
She shrugged. “I thought you knew.”
“Jenna, is that you?” Aunt Mattie called.
“Yes, it is.”
“I need you to fix my bed for me.”
Jenna remade the bed and put fresh towels and soap in the bathroom, and then she made Mattie a cup of tea. Mattie had always loved her tea.
Alessandro stood by and watched until the phone rang. He disappeared into the kitchen to answer it.
“He tells me I have to move out,” said Mattie. “Don’t send me back to that place.”
“Now that your arm is healed, maybe you don’t need a nursing home, but you need to be somewhere there are people around when you need help, like with your bed and your tea.”
“Then you help me.”
“I can’t. I have a full-time job, and I don’t live here anymore.”
“I took care of you and you can darn well take care of me.” Mattie’s voice had risen and she was working up a good mad when the doorbell rang.
Gerry Merlino and Phillip Collier came in to see Mattie. Jenna excused herself to make phone calls. Surely there was a retirement home somewhere in the area that had an empty apartment.
Jenna sat at the kitchen island flipping through the telephone book. Calling each of the listings, she learned that some facilities were listed as retirement homes, but they were actually nursing homes. If she was going to send Aunt Mattie to a nursing home, she might as well send her back to the one she’d been in. The retirement homes in Gig Harbor all had waiting lists, so Jenna expanded her calls to Tacoma. She found three possibilities and made appointments to see all three that afternoon. Cara had given her the day off, and this had to be taken care of right away before Mattie settled in for good. Once she did, they’d never get her out.
Gerry slid onto the stool by her side. “Jenna, Phillip wants to give Mattie a week to find another place to live, but only if you agree to stay at the inn and help her find a place. Cara knows the situation and she’ll give you the time off. Nick wants this resolved as soon as possible, and Al doesn’t want to throw her out if there’s another way.”
“You want me to take care of Mattie for a whole week?”
He nodded. “She doesn’t really need a nursing home any longer, but she can’t stay here for more than a few days.”
She sighed deeply. “Okay, fine, I’ll move back to the inn.” It was only for a week. She could handle Mattie for one week, couldn’t she? “But if that surly old woman gives me any grief, I’ll hogtie her and drag her back to the nursing home myself.”
She must be out of her mind to agree to this.
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Aunt Mattie refused to
go see apartments in Tacoma, so Jenna went alone. They were all nice, and if she were in Mattie’s shoes, she’d be happy taking any one of the three. The facilities were all clean and well-maintained, they all furnished meals, there were activities like cards and bingo, and they were all associated with nursing homes, so if someone got sick or injured, they could easily make the transition.
Mattie wanted to stay at the inn, but the inn was coming down. Jenna hated to see it torn down, but the land was valuable water view property, and someone would no doubt pay a whole lot of money to live in a new home at Dead Man’s Point.
The money Mattie had gotten for the inn would keep her a long time, and the way she was going, she’d probably live another ten years, give or take. If she’d accept the move to another home, those years could be happy ones.
Jenna returned to the inn and told Mattie what she’d seen. “They’re all beautiful apartments, much nicer than the nursing home. One has a bedroom, a comfortable sitting room, microwave and refrigerator, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom with those grab bars on the tub, so you don’t slip getting in and out of the tub.”
“No kitchen?”
“Not a full kitchen, no. They have a kitchen and dining room in the building, and they have three choices at every meal, like a restaurant, so you can pick what you want to eat.”
“What about the others?”
“One was a studio apartment, which is one big room instead of a bedroom and separate sitting room. If I was alone, I could be comfortable there. You spend most of your time in your bedroom anyway, and there are three nice sitting rooms downstairs.
“The other one I saw was a two-bedroom apartment. I didn’t think you’d be interested in that one. It was more expensive, and you don’t need the second bedroom.”
“Will they take my kitties?”
“No. None of them allow animals.”
Aunt Mattie’s chin came up. “Then I’m not going to live there. I don’t want to live in Tacoma anyway.”
All that time and effort wasted, but Jenna knew that when she went looking. Mattie would find something wrong with every place she looked, so Jenna threw out one last thought for her to mull over. “If we can’t find you a retirement home within the next six days, you’re going back to the nursing home.”
“I most certainly am not.”
“Oh, yes you are. There’s nothing available in Gig Harbor but nursing homes.”
“I don’t care. This is my home, and I’m not leaving it.”
Chapter Sixteen
Al was glad to have Jenna back in the inn, but he hated the reason for it. Mattie was determined to live out the rest of her life in this place, and it wasn’t going to happen. The old woman couldn’t take care of herself any better than a two-year-old. She could feed herself, but he wouldn’t trust her in the kitchen. That meant someone had to fix her meals and clean up after her. She couldn’t make her own bed, she couldn’t clean out the litter box, but she could bitch if the litter box smelled. And it always did.
As he washed up after breakfast the next morning, he had a feeling that Mattie would end up back in the nursing home, because although her arm had healed, her mind was steadily slipping. Most people mellowed as they aged, but this woman was going in the opposite direction. And Jenna ended up taking the brunt of her temper.
He worked on a house plan for a few hours, until Mattie’s voice drifted up to him, complaining about something, as usual. She wanted her chair and her television and her clothes from the nursing home. Jenna had already called the nursing home and asked them to hold the room for a few days, even if they had to pay the daily room charges. The search for another place for Mattie to live was not going well.
Fed up with Mattie’s constant complaining, he decided to give her something to complain about. He retrieved a crowbar and other tools from the trunk of his car and went to work in the living room, tearing off the beautiful old mantel. It was a work of art, and he wanted to keep it for his new house.
“What are you doing?” Mattie screamed.
“Tearing apart my inn. I’m putting the mantel in another house.”
“Oh, no, you’re not,” she said, and she came at him with an ugly ceramic horse that had been on the coffee table.
He grabbed the horse from her hand before she could hit him with it. Enraged, Al said, “If you hit me or anyone else, I’ll call the police. I paid good money for this inn, and I’ll do whatever I damn well please with it.”
Jenna stood on the other side of the room, her eyes sparkling. Mattie sat in the living room muttering to herself.
Al took the matches that were on the mantel into the kitchen, where Katie couldn’t get at them, and winked at Jenna. Her shoulders shook with silent laughter. She didn’t look angry with him now. He leaned down close and whispered, “I want to kiss you.”
“That’s not a good idea, Alessandro.”
“Then I’ll wait until you think it is a good idea.”
Al pulled the fireplace surround off and carried it out to the porch.
While Alessandro worked at removing the door to Charlie’s bedroom, Jenna made a few more phone calls. She found an apartment in an assisted living facility in Port Orchard, about twenty minutes north of Gig Harbor, and made an appointment to see it. This time Mattie was going with her whether she wanted to go or not.
While Katie took her nap and Alessandro worked at his computer that afternoon, Jenna drove Mattie to see the apartment. Mattie refused to get out of the car. “It looks like a nursing home.”
“It’s an assisted living facility. They don’t help you bathe or eat or help you to the bathroom, but they have a nurse on duty in case you need help. They do your laundry and they furnish your meals, but you can make your own snacks and tea whenever you want.”
“What I want is to stay—”
“I know, but we’re running out of time. Everyone has to leave the inn in five days, when the new owner takes over.”
“Oh, all right, I’ll look, but I won’t like it.”
Of course she wouldn’t. “If you don’t like it, we’ll find another place, or you can go back to the nursing home.”
As they walked inside, Mattie snapped at an old man sitting near the front door. “What are you looking at?”
The manager showed them through the facility and then took them upstairs in an elevator to the second floor. Mattie stepped into the apartment and looked around, and Jenna held her breath. It wasn’t as nice as the one-bedroom in Tacoma, but it was nicer than the nursing home.
“Where’s the kitchen?”
There was a little alcove with a microwave, an apartment size refrigerator, and a single cabinet. “This is it, Aunt Mattie. It’s big enough for snacks, and they serve hot meals downstairs in the dining room. With the elevator you wouldn’t have to walk down the stairs.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I’m sure it’ll take some getting used to.”
“Then you live here. I’m going home.”
Mattie had ended the tour as if she’d slammed a door, and Jenna had just about had enough. She rode the elevator down with Mattie, who looked quite pleased with herself, and strapped her into the car. After Jenna started the engine, she said, “I thought you’d like this better than the nursing home, but I was wrong. We don’t need to look any more.”
“No, we most certainly don’t, because I’m staying home at the inn. You get my clothes and my chair and television back.”
“Get it yourself. Take care of yourself. Live in a tent if you want after the police throw you out of the inn. I no longer care what happens to you.”
“You ungrateful bastard. I took care of you.”
“I earned my keep. I worked every day I lived at the inn, and you got Social Security payments for me every month.” Jenna drove down the highway toward Gig Harbor. She tried to hold her tongue, but she was upset, and she couldn’t keep quiet when she was upset. “I was wrong about my parents buying a half-interest in the inn. They wrote
the check, but Uncle Charlie used it for something else.”
“Whatever for?”
“To take care of his other bastard.”
Mattie gasped. It was a cruel thing for Jenna to say, but at that moment she didn’t care. “His name was Tom. He was older than me, and he had cancer. Uncle Charlie sent him all the money my parents had saved and invested. It all went to the boy’s mother or to the hospital for his cancer treatments.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Oh yes she did. She was just surprised because she didn’t figure it out for herself. Jenna pulled into the drive at the inn. “I wonder how many more brothers and sisters I have out there somewhere. Maybe you could go live with one of them.”
“Don’t you dare make up stories.”
“I wouldn’t think of it.”
Katie ran out to the car to meet them. She had something purple dripped down her shirt and her lips were the same color. Jenna smiled. “Hi, Katie Bug.”
“Mommy, ’Sandro gave me a popsicle.”
“Was it good?”
“Yeah.”
Jenna opened the door for Mattie and released her seatbelt. And then she walked inside with Katie. Mattie could help herself from now on.
Mattie followed them inside. “Jenna, get me a cup of tea.”
Jenna ignored her, so Mattie grabbed a handful of hair. Jenna cried out and Alessandro came on the run. He pried Mattie’s fingers out of Jenna’s hair. “That’s it, Mattie,” he said. “Your week is up. You’re going back to the nursing home. If you want a better place to live, your attorney will have to take care of it, because Jenna is finished helping you.”
Jenna went upstairs rubbing her head and blinking back tears. Mattie nearly tore the hair out of her head. Alessandro followed with Katie while Mattie raged downstairs.
“We have to get her out of here,” Alessandro said. “I don’t care if I have to call the police. I don’t want her here any longer. The woman has lost her mind.”
Jenna touched a sore spot on her head and came away with a spot of blood where Mattie’s fingernail had dug in.
Al did his best to calm Katie, who was crying, and Jenna, who was still smarting from the unprovoked attack. And then he called Gerry. “I want Mattie gone today. She attacked Jenna again, and I’m not putting up with it any longer.”