“How are you feeling today? You look better. I can see your eyes.”
He touched his face and could feel that all the swelling had gone down. He hated to admit any kind of fear or weakness, but yesterday had scared him. “Thank you for helping me,” he said softly.
She shook her head vigorously and took a step forward. “No, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about the washing powder and I was just trying to get the stain out. If I had known, I would never have—”
He smiled. “Really? If you had known you wouldn’t have intentionally tried to poison me?”
“Well,” she smiled back at him. “Maybe. But if I had tried to poison you, I can guarantee you would be dead by now.”
“Really?” He heard himself laugh. “And what would you have used to poison me?”
“Mmmm . . .” She looked over the sea, as if she was really thinking about it. “Belladonna. It comes from the plant deadly nightshade. Almost untraceable in the blood.” She flashed him a huge smile. It seemed to brighten up everything around her, including the grey light of the overcast day.
“I can see you’ve thought about this.”
“Maybe once or twice.” She turned away from him now and looked out over the sea. “You have such an amazing view. You must never want to spend time inside.”
He walked over to her. Truthfully, he hadn’t been out here in ages. He hardly ever came outside. Most of his time was spent in his study, which was the one room that didn’t actually have a view.
“If I lived here, I would come outside to drink my morning coffee no matter what the weather was. Oh . . .” She quickly turned. “You don’t mind, I made coffee this morning. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Where did you sleep?” he asked.
“I kind of sat up all night watching TV, and you.”
“You watched me?”
“Well, you were so out of it I was worried that you might stop breathing or something,” she said.
A strange feeling shot through him. No one had cared that much about him in a while. “Thanks,” he mumbled under his breath, not sure if he even wanted her to hear that. His pocket beeped and he jumped. He pulled his phone out and looked at it. It was a bank notification; it was the 25th of the month and his salary had been paid into his account. And then he noticed the time.
“It’s already ten a.m.” He looked up at Doris in shock. He hadn’t slept until ten in, well, in forever maybe.
She shrugged. “I figured you needed the sleep.”
“It was pay day yesterday,” he said.
“I know.” She nodded. “It’s pay day drinks tonight.”
“What’s that?”
“Juniper and Ayanda and a few others always go out for drinks every pay day, it’s a thing they do every month.”
“They do that?” He couldn’t imagine it. That his staff actually did things together, after working hours, was a strange concept—something that had never crossed his mind before.
“I’m planning on going with them too,” she said quickly, a small smile gracing her lips.
“Oh, that sounds . . .” He stopped and couldn’t think of the words. “Nice,” he added, although he wasn’t quite sure that was the word he would use.
“You could come with me, I guess,” she said and then suddenly burst out laughing. Her face did something truly unique and special when she laughed. Her eyes sparkled, her cheeks dimpled and her nose crinkled up.
It was contagious and he laughed too. “No. I don’t think they would want me there,” he said.
“Probably not,” she admitted playfully. “But they are really nice people, maybe you should get to know them better. They’re not just people who work for you. They’re more than that.”
“Mmmm,” he muttered. “That’s not really how I conduct business. I don’t like to mix my personal life with my professional life.”
At that, she smiled. Broad, bright and full. “Well, I am at your house on a Saturday morning.” She waved her arms around. “I’m even drinking coffee out of your mug.” She held it up and looked at him over it.
