Indiscretion: Callie Douglas - Book Four

Chapter Sixteen

Gabe saw me to my apartment door, giving me a kiss and telling me that he shouldn't be too long. I walked into the apartment to see a mess. I think every dish I had was food encrusted and sitting on the counter, the table or the coffee table. Books and magazines were spread haphazardly throughout the apartment, and the TV was blaring. "Michael?" I called out. I didn't get a response. I walked through to the TV and turned it off. The sudden silence was deafening. "Michael!" I called.

"Baby, you came back!" Michael said with joy, walking through from the bedroom.

"What have you done to my place?" I asked, absolutely furious.

"Nothing."

"That's right. You've done nothing. No dishes, no cleaning and, judging by the state of your clothes, no laundry. What – are you hoping I'll move back in with you so I can look after you?"

"I'm sick, baby. I need someone to look after me."

"No, you don't. You aren't in the hospital. All you have to do is look after yourself and buy groceries right now. The rest of the time you can rest and sleep. This means that you can easily sleep twenty-two hours of the day, if not more. You can take the two hours per day to look after yourself and the apartment."

"But you've given me a deadline for getting better and getting a job."

"No, I have given you a deadline of when you should move in with Blake. I'm not expecting you to have a job by then. I know you still don't feel well enough to work full time. In the meantime, I have lent you my apartment, rent-free, until you move in with Blake. The least you could do would be to look after it. I'm not asking much."

"I'll clean all this up before I leave."

"Damn skippy, you will. I'm not a maid. I clean up after myself and I expect you to do the same."

"If I had known you were coming, I would've cleaned up."

"You shouldn't have to know when I'm coming. This is my apartment. I get to come in it any time I damn well please. And my place should be clean already. That's just part and parcel of staying in someone else's place. I didn't leave a mess for you, and I expect you not to leave a mess for me."

Michael looked around, considering. "I guess it is pretty bad. You know I'm not very good with housekeeping, baby. I need you to come home and look after me."

"It's not happening. If I wanted children, I would have had them. However, I'm not ready to have kids and I'm not ready to take on an oversized child either. Little Callie is better at looking after herself than you are."

"But I feel so terrible."

"I know that. Were you like this in Cameroon? Because if you were, it's no wonder they let you go home early."

"I wasn't like this. I was sicker."

"But were you this needy?"

"I'm not needy. I'm sick. So sue me if I need help."

"You don't need help. That's the thing. You forget – you're talking to another doctor right now. You're fine. There may be some lingering fatigue from your illness, but the little bit you have to do to look after yourself will not tax you too much. I'll go now, but the next time I come I expect that you'll have cleaned up the apartment."

"When are you coming next? I'll make sure it's clean for you."

"I'm not letting you know when I'm coming, so that you're forced to keep the apartment clean at all times. If I come and the apartment isn't clean, I'll throw you out on the street and I won't care if you're living in a cardboard box because I'll know that I gave you a second chance and that's more than I want to do right now. Don't screw it up."