A Second Chance

1

I tried to focus on what the lady was telling me. I nodded as I listened as best as I could.

For someone that needs a job, I couldn't focus through this interview.

"Are you alright, Miss Turner?" The lady asked me. I didn't bother correcting her.

"Yes." I answered. "I'm sorry, it's been a while since I've had to do a job interview. I'm slightly nervous." I gave her a small smile.

The lady before me smiled. Ashlyn. That was her name. "That's alright. We all get there." She looked down at my resume on the desk.

"So you can cook?"

I nodded. I've cooked nearly every single night for eight years, I am no chef but I can cook.

"The hours are not much. Six hour days. 2pm till 8pm."

"That is fine." Not really, but it will do. Any job is better than no job.

Ashton smiled again. "Great. Can you start tomorrow?"

I gave her a wide smile. Her long black hair was pulled back off her face and she looked like she was kind but also important.

"Of course." I grinned at her. I'm gonna have to move my whole schedule around. We both stood up and Ashlyn showed me around.

I got the job as a cook for an elderly widow. I will be making her dinner now.

Ashlyn showed me the kitchen, what the lady would like and what she doesn't eat.

"I'll introduce you." Ashlyn stated to me as we went up the stairs. "I must warn you though, Eliza is my great Aunt, she is, eccentric you could say for an old woman."

Eccentric?

We went up the stairs and I followed Ashlyn to a double door as she pushed it open, looking inside. "Aunt Liz?" She whispered.

"I'm here." I heard a lady as Ashlyn stood up right.

Ashlyn signalled me to come in and I saw the lady straight away. She was sitting on a recliner, in this large and lavish bedroom. It held what a bedroom for an elderly lady would want plus a living room set up, sofas, a television, fancy end tables with doily's and lamps and fancy antiques.

The lady looked at us entering and I noticed a younger lady sitting on the other sofa, reading a magazine.

"Aunt Liz, this is Harper. She is your new cook." Ashlyn introduced us.

I smiled at Eliza. "Hi."

"Hello, young one." Eliza smiled widely and her eyes sparkled.

"Don't let her fool you. If she doesn't like you, she will tell you." Ashlyn whispered.

I nodded to Ashlyn. Great. "How do you do?" I asked her.

Eliza laughed then went back to her television show.

"Aunt Liz doesn't speak much." Ashlyn said softly. "Harper, this is Olivia, Aunt Liz's nurse."

Nurse? Then I saw the medical equipment next to Eliza's chair and one by the bed.

"Hi, Harper." Olivia smiled. She wore a crisp blue shirt with a little white dove by the right breast and black pants. "I also keep Liz company."

"Hi Olivia."

We left the room and Ashlyn sighed. "Right, Liz likes dinner at five, Olivia tends to finish at six. So once dinner is over, all you have left is clean up, and stocktake everyday. Make sure everything possible is available." We stepped back down the stairs. "But have a couple sandwiches for around seven, if she requests it. If not, just wrap them up and they will be eaten the next day. Liz doesn't need guidance on eating, and Olivia will have her hooked up to her oxygen. Liz is very mobile but she doesn't tend to wonder."