Mr.Cater's Maid

A Stranger's Concern

Cleaning the bathroom and bedroom took me close to 3 hours. I am sure Adam would not appreciate how long it took, but after the events in the bathroom, cleaning helped me think things through.

The same questions kept running through my head. How much of my conversation with Avi did he hear? Was he going to get me fired? Why was I the last person he wanted to see? Was I going to get fired on my first day? Was I taking too long to clean up?

I decided I was, so I quickly laid down the new sheets and warm comforter my mother had handed me halfway through my cleaning.

I was dusting the nightstand when my mother and Adam walked into the pool house.

"Why do you move so slow? I would have been done already if I was you." I heard my mother's voice from the living room.

I first removed Adam's jacket, neatly folded it, and placed it on the bed. Thankfully my shirt had dried during my detailed cleaning, I did not look inappropriate anymore. I took one last glance at my work and decided I was proud enough to show it off to my critics.

"I am done," I said, walking out to the living room to join them.

"Let me take a look." my mother said, clearly not believing in me. Though I could not blame her. I had never cleaned in our own house, so it made sense for her to be skeptical of my skills.

Her inspecting the room meant Adam and I were left alone. He was entirely content in ignoring me as he rapidly typed on his phone.

"Hey, so listen," I began in a whisper. "I don't know how much of my conversation you heard before, but I want you to know going forward, I will be completely professional." He didn't respond. "It was just Avi...you remember Avi?" Guess he didn't remember. "Well, anyway, she would come over after school sometimes with me. She just got married, and her first night with her husband didnt go as planned." Why was I telling him all this? "So I was calming her down and giving her some advice. Well, I don't even know if what I was saying was advice, to be honest." I had no off button at this point. "But I swear I won't take phone calls the next time I am here to clean." He still didn't say anything. In fact, his face moved closer to his phone. "It's just I don't want you to have the wrong opinion of me."

"I have no opinion of you." He nonchalantly said, his face still buried in his phone.

Now he was starting to piss me off. I get that I did not act professionally on my first day as his maid, but he was treating me like I had personally done something to him.

"Really, because it seems like you have too many opinions of me from the way you're treating me," I asked, holding back some of the venom I felt from spilling into my tone.

He must have sensed my agitation because he finally looked up and gave me a smile. Not a smile you give someone to be kind or the one you give after a joke. This smile was mean, lopsided, and dark. It went nicely with what he said next. "You're right. I have a very low opinion of you. You want to hear what it is?"

"No," I quietly said.

He again walked towards me, smile still intact. I wanted to move back, away from him, but my feet seemed to be glued onto the floor. Then, finally, he got close enough so I could see myself swimming in his blue eyes.

"You seem like the kind of girl I could have a lot of fun with. You seem easy, and it would be meaningless." He said, his voice low. Then he lifted his hands and placed them at the back of my neck, his grip tight.

"You will have to help him with his closet next time." I heard my mother's booming voice from the bedroom.

I shoved Adam's chest with both my hands, adding as much force as possible. It had no effect, but it seemed my mother's voice had slightly jolted him, and he began moving back on his own accord.