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“Greta, how is she today?” Avery slung her messenger bag over her shoulder and left the hotel room, heading towards the bank of elevators. She was glad Greta was the one who answered, since she was her mom’s main nurse and Avery wouldn’t be stuck waiting forever while they paged her out.
“Avery, darling. Her string of good days is continuing. As you know, it took a few tries to get her meds right, and the trend is still looking positive. However, she refused to eat breakfast. I’m sure we can get a snack in her, and they’re serving lasagna for lunch, which as you know is her favorite.” As Greta gave the rundown on how her mom was doing, Avery could hear clacking in the background and a slight murmur of the cooking channel playing in the lobby of her mom's long-term care facility.
Leaning against the elevator wall, Avery watched the numbers descend. “I plan on coming in to visit, but I need to make a stop first. Do you have time for a meeting later this afternoon? Something has come up that I need to discuss with you and possibly Tom.” Tom was the social worker on her mom’s team. While it wasn’t strictly necessary they were all there, it would probably be helpful.
Avery dropped off the room key with a wave to the front desk receptionist, who looked much too perky for this early in the morning. Stepping outside, Avery squinted, although it was unwarranted since the fog hadn’t cleared. It was fitting the weather matched her mood.
“Tom has something at three, but if you’re here before that, we can squeeze you in.” The clicking of Greta’s mouse buzzed in Avery’s ear as she glanced around, gathering her bearings.
It was quite the walk to her apartment, but she found a street marker she recognized and started on her way, moving the phone from one ear to the other when she pushed the walk button at the end of the block. “I’ll be there before three, so that works for me. Thanks, Greta.”
“Anything for our favorite resident’s daughter. See you soon.”
Avery tucked her phone away and huffed up the hill toward her apartment. It took an hour to finally reach the front door of her apartment building. The paint was peeling, and the steps looked like they were about to crumble underfoot, but it was fairly affordable with a lovely view overlooking the side of a concrete building.
She tried to catch her breath after walking up the four flights of stairs. Pulling out her keys, she opened the door and flinched when rheumy eyes stared back at her. “Mr. Terry. What are you doing in my apartment?”
The older man looked down at his slippered feet before giving her a toothy smile. “Don’t you remember, Avery? You gave me a set of your keys to water your plants.” He straightened his patented bowtie and hooked his thumbs in his purple suspenders.
“Right, that doesn’t start for another month, and I haven’t given you a copy of my keys yet.” Avery scratched her nose before quickly putting her hands behind her. She really needed a shower.
“Oh, I made a copy last time since I was afraid I would lose them. I could’ve sworn you said it started this week. I’d lose my head if it weren’t attached.” He mimed taking off his head and tucking it under his arm.
In a daze, Avery stood aside to let him out of her apartment. “I’ll contact you when the time gets closer, Mr. Terry. Thanks for being so willing to water my plants.”
“They are all tucked in and ready for bed.” Mr. Terry laughed, pulling his suspenders out in front of him to punctuate his joke. “See you around.” He shuffled over to his side of the hallway, opening the door across from hers.
Avery shook her head with a chuckle. She always enjoyed his company, even though he hadn’t heard of boundaries. His heart was in the right place, and after three years of living in the building, they had become unlikely friends. She never heard him have any visitors, but then again neither did she. They were two lonely souls, their lives brightening whenever they crossed paths.
Throwing her messenger bag on the hook at the front door, Avery toed off her shoes. She walked to the kitchen, tearing open the fridge. She sighed at the pathetic sight since only mustard and lunchmeat graced the shelves. Since she could eat mustard straight out of the container, she opted for the snack, helping ease some of the hunger she’d worked up after the walk.
From the kitchen, Avery stripped on the way to the shower. She lived in a studio apartment, so it wasn’t a long trail by any means. She’d only gotten down to her bra and underwear before entering the door to the bathroom.
Even with the fan at full blast, the ventilation was subpar in the small apartment. Avery avoided the mirror as she let the steam build up in the room. She did not want to see the reflection of failure peering back at her. She tried not to think of Stella moaning under the waves of the shared shower they had late into the night, but it was a lost cause as she washed all traces of her from her skin.
Almost an hour later, Avery waited while the door to the home her mom lived in slowly swung open. Her hands were full of smoothies she’d brought for her mom’s care team.
Low light and warm tones greeted her when she walked in. Greta’s gray bun could barely be seen over the large monitor before her. Warm blue eyes widened when they saw Avery’s hands.
“I’m not sure why no one’s snatched you right up, Avery.”
Wiggling out a smoothie from the paper holder, Avery slid the beverage across the counter to Greta, who reached for it gratefully. She also handed muffins over to Yvonne, a float nurse who was sitting at the front desk, to bring to the breakroom for the rest of the staff.
Avery tried not to feel disappointed that this month would be the last of free smoothies and muffins. She’d let one of her jobs know about the time off she’d needed, and they told her she was being taken off the schedule. It was the same for the part-time waitressing job. They put her on the schedule for the rest of the month but told her there wouldn’t be a job for her when she returned.
Plastering on a smile, Avery tried not to think of the destitution she might come home to after the show. If it didn’t work out, what would she do? Trying to shake off the brick that had landed on her chest, she realized she might have to put off finishing her bachelor’s degree in computer science…again. It had taken her nearly eight and a half years to get close to completing a four-year program. It didn’t help that she’d stopped and started, and changed fields of study—twice. Now that she had transferred to strictly online courses, she was finally nearing the finish line, but life was probably going to delay things again.
Thinking about everything stacked against her, she was almost excited for the mental break the show would provide, as long as she didn’t think of how screwed she would be if she didn’t win that money.
“…And poor Henry was up all night spewing from both ends. I woke up and thought there was a car in our bedroom. It was so loud.”
Avery caught the last bit of the story, glad to have missed most of it. Nodding, she took out her drink and wrapped her lips around the straw. The tart fruit tickled her tongue, bringing forward her memories of trying the New York Sour last night. Closing her eyes briefly to head off the memory, Avery tried to focus on what Greta was saying.
“…He forgot to put the car in park, and that’s how it ended in the ravine.” Greta blinked at her expectedly behind glasses that had slipped down her nose.
Widening her eyes, Avery exclaimed, “No way!” Now she was curious how they’d gotten from spewing husbands to a car falling off a cliff, but she’d missed her chance because of her dang wandering mind.
“Anyway, since your mom is taking a nap and I’ve got Yvonne here as backup, let me grab Tom, and we’ll have that meeting.”
