“Alright Craig,” she replied, busying herself with the dishes.
Obviously she didn’t think it was possible. Perhaps it wasn’t. But he wanted to try, at least. He owed her that much.
“We could watch some movies tonight, then?” He suggested. “To get you on an overnight schedule?”
“No,” Kali replied quickly. “I’ve got a lot of things I need to catch up on.”
“Oh. Right.”
He continued clearing the table. Kali focused on washing the dishes and packing up the food. Craig took the hint. He picked up his containers of food, thanked her again, and headed down to the basement.
Once downstairs, he sat with his head in his hands. Kali was some sort of living angel. She took in stray animals and people, even when she personally suffered for it.
Why couldn’t he remember anything about his past life? Why was he such a drag on her? He decided it was time to get serious about finding out who he was. Plus, he needed to generate an income, so any investigation into Kali’s behavior would show that she simply allowed him to rent a room. Nothing more.
Nothing more at all.
Chapter 7
Despite Kali’s efforts to stay up that night, her sleep schedule was poorly adjusted for her shift on Sunday. Luckily, it was somewhat quiet in the ICU. Her patient was relatively stable and she drank a lot of coffee to get through. When 7 AM hit, she gave her bedside report to the morning nurse and headed home. As soon as she got in the door, she went upstairs and passed out.
She awoke later that day around four in the afternoon, groggy and disoriented. Her stomach was upset with her for changing schedules, so she decided to skip breakfast and try tea first. She went downstairs to boil some water.
After a few minutes, she heard a knock on the door. Craig.
“Come in,” she said.
“Morning sleepy head!” he replied, walking in excitedly. “I’ve been waiting all day for you to wake up.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, but made no response. His black eye looked rough – it was dark and fully formed. She had a fleeting feeling of sadness and gratitude towards him. As afraid as she was that she would end up on the news as a missing person after letting a strange man into her rental, he actually protected her when the time came. And he took an elbow to the eye. It somehow made him look rugged and even more handsome. She brushed the thought away.
“Oh?” she said.
“Have you checked your phone yet?” he continued.
“No, why?” Was there more from Betsy?
“Oh,” he said, voice falling slightly. “Nothing. I just – well, you’ll see.”
Slightly concerned what he could mean, Kali searched around for her phone. She opened the screen to see that she had five voicemails.
“Oh, I didn’t notice that yesterday. Are these all from you?”
“The messages?” He waved a hand, “Yeah. I had a pretty exciting day while looking for a job. So whenever I saw an unattended phone, I called you to leave an update.”
She felt her sternness starting to crack. “Unattended? Like payphones?”
“There aren’t many of those around, if you can believe it. No, I mean phones in stores and things.”
“I see,” she said.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I had some terrific oatmeal at Mac-Donalds yesterday, so I bought a pack at the corner market. I’ll make you some.”
Hm. That actually sounded pretty good. Better than what she had in mind for breakfast, which was nothing. Also, did he say Mac-Donalds?
“Okay,” she said.
He went downstairs to get the oatmeal. Why was he so excited to see her? It was kind of odd. Although, she was the only person he knew in the world. It sort of made sense.
She set down her tea and picked up her phone.
Message one. “Kali, it’s Craig. Just wanted to let you know that I’ve picked up applications for work at this little bar downtown called Pubs. I suppose they wanted to be clear it was a pub? I’m not sure. I think my heritage may help here. More later.”
Message two. “Hey, it’s Craig. Hope your day is going well. Wanted to make sure I remembered to ask you, do you think anyone will notice if I make up a social security number? Thanks.”
Kali shot him a look, but he was intently reading the directions on the package of the oatmeal. He’d located the microwave and apparently knew how to use it.
Message three. “It’s me. I have good news and bad news. The good news is I was able to leave a report at the police station. The bad news is that I had to leave your phone number for updates.”
“Craig!” she called out.
“What, too much water? Or would you prefer milk?”
“You left my phone number at the police station?”
“Oh, that,” he said, leaning against the counter. “Well, yes. I don’t have my own, do I?”
Kali glared at him. “Don’t go all flippant and British on me,” she said. “What if Betsy connects that and figures out that you’re staying here?”
“Does Betsy moonlight at the police station? Don’t worry about it!” he said, turning back to the microwave.
Kali sighed. It was a stretch, she knew. But she could take one tiny seed of irrational fear and let it grow into a monster that kept her awake all night. She was famous for it, in fact. Not that Craig would know that. Not that he needed to know.
Message four. “Kali honey, it’s your mom. Just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing! Dad and I are so proud of you taking on all this responsibility in your promotion. We miss you, please call when you have a chance and let us know how it’s going. Love you!”
Oops. Kali usually called her mom every other day or so, but with her new tenant, she’d slipped up on her schedule. What was she going to tell her parents about this man living in the basement? They might be a bit concerned – but she should tell them. In case she did end up on the news.
Message five. “You’ll never believe what I found!” She looked at her phone. That was the whole message: Craig whispering, “You’ll never believe what I found!”
Craig came over and proudly set the oatmeal in front of her. “Here you are, it’s not quite as good as what I had at Mac-Donalds, but I find the brown sugar to be quite good.”
“Thanks,” she replied, lifting the spoon. “And don’t worry about competing with McDonalds. You can’t beat them. They’re too good.”
He watched her expectantly. “What do you think?”
She took a bite. It was a bowl of slightly watery maple brown sugar oatmeal. Not exactly a revelation. “It’s good, thank you.”
“Good,” he replied, satisfied.
“What was this last voicemail about? You found something?”
“Oh, right. It’s a surprise. Downstairs. Let me get it.”
Oh boy. What was this going to be? She tried to take another bite of the oatmeal but her stomach rumbled in protest.
Craig ascended the stairs slowly, then walked into the kitchen backwards. “Are you ready?” he asked, looking back at her.
She nodded. She was too tired to actually be ready for anything – she was so tired that it felt like her eyes were shrinking into her head.
He turned around, revealing a small gray and white kitten sitting in his hands. “Ta-da!”
“Oh my gosh!” Kali exclaimed, standing up instinctively to take the little guy into her arms. She delicately picked him up and he let out one small meow.
“I heard him meowing when I was walking around town,” Craig said. “I found him under a car, I think he was trying to stay warm.”
Kali turned the kitten to look into his round, clear eyes. “Did you find any other kittens nearby?”
“No,” Craig said, crossing his arms. “Unfortunately not. I stuck him in my jacket to keep him warm and looked around for a good half hour, but there was nothing. I have no idea where he came from.”
“Well don’t you have the cutest little white toes!” Kali gushed, taking one
white-tipped paw into the palm of her hand. She heard a laugh escape from Craig, which brought her back to reality. She was a little delirious and forgot herself.
She cleared her throat before saying, “I’ll take him to the shelter to see if he has a microchip or if he belongs to someone. And to get a check up.”
“Alright. Could they run the micro-chipper machine over me as well? To see if I belong to someone?”
Kali laughed and pulled the kitten in closer. “You can come if you want, but they’re not going to scan you.”
“What should we call him?”
“Oh, it’s probably best not to get too attached.” Kali adored her foster cats, but felt like it was irresponsible to have a cat of her own – she worried they’d get too lonely when she was working all those hours.
Craig was unfazed. “What was the name of the beast in Beauty and the Beast? Was it Gaston?”
Kali scowled at him. “He’s not a beast! And no, Gaston was the name of the arrogant guy.”
Craig reached for one of the kitten’s white paws. “No, that doesn’t suit him. I guess we’ll have to stick with Beast then.”
“He’s too tiny to be called Beast!” Kali protested. “He’s much more like…Chip. The little tea cup.”
Craig smiled. “Chip it is then.”
They headed out towards Kali’s car, which was covered in two inches of snow. Kali asked Craig to hold onto the kitten so she could dust off the car, but he insisted that he would do it.
“No, really, it’s fine,” she said, trying to keep the snow brush out of his reach.
“I’m much more suited to the job,” he replied, pulling the kitten from his jacket with one hand and reaching for the brush with the other. “I’m taller, I have longer arms, and I haven’t done any work today so I have plenty of energy.”
Normally she wouldn’t give up that easily, but the first overnight left her extraordinarily tired. She released the brush and took the kitten into her own jacket.
“I’m going to sit in the car and make a call then,” she said.
“Perfect!”
She settled into the driver’s seat, turning the key in the ignition. It would take some time to warm up, but at least it wasn’t windy inside the car. She pulled out her phone and dialed her mom’s number.
“Hi honey!” her mom said brightly.
“Hi mom.”
“How are you? What’s new? Hows the ICU treating you?”
“Oh, it’s pretty good,” Kali said with a sigh. “Sorry I haven’t been in touch, I got pulled into some surprise overnights for the next few days.”
“Well that’s a bummer,” her mom said. “What time do you have to go into work today?”
“Seven, but right now I’m headed to the animal shelter.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, I found a new kitten so I’m taking him to be checked out.”
At that moment, Craig swiped the snow off of the windshield before attempting to scrape a smiley face in the ice beneath. Kali put her hand over her phone to muffle the noise.
“What’s that sound?” her mom asked.
“Oh, it’s someone scraping off a car.” Technically true.
“Oh, gotcha.”
They chatted for another few minutes before Craig finished his work and came back to sit down in the car. Kali pressed her finger to her lips to signal that he needed to be quiet. She hoped she’d have a chance to tell her mom about the strange man living in her basement apartment, but she didn’t find the right moment. It’d have to wait until Craig wasn’t around.
“Alright mom,” she said, “I’m going to head out now, my car is all warmed up.”
“Alright sweetie! Oh, one more thing. Did you hear that Steven had to fire two of his employees?”
“No, what happened?” Steven was her best friend Ashley’s husband; he had his own business as a contractor. She hadn’t had much time to catch up with Ashley since starting in the ICU either; they used to get lunch together because Ashley worked on the orthopedic floor as a nurse, but recently their schedules didn’t align.
“Oh, they just weren’t showing up to work. He’s in a terrible bind. Can’t find anyone to help him and he’s got big jobs lined up!”
The idea hit Kali almost instantly. Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of this before? “I actually might have someone who could help him.”
“That would be lovely!” she said. “Alright, well I don’t want you on the phone when you’re driving, so you get going.”
“Alright mom, love you.”
“Love you too!”
She disconnected the call and pulled Chip out of her jacket to transfer to Craig.
“Now what is this I hear about you helping yet another person?” Craig asked, unzipping his jacket to accept the kitten.
“Not me,” she said with a smile. “You.”
Chapter 8
Two days later, Craig was well into his first shift as a laborer when he decided that he was not impressed with the job. The first issue was that Steven put him on bathroom duty, despite Craig’s suggestion that he could be handy with a paintbrush in the other room.
“No,” Steven said. “You’ll start with the toilet. Drain the water and get it out of the floor.”
“Right,” Craig said. “Out of the floor. Coming right up.”
Craig had no idea how to do that. He hoped that some of this handy work knowledge would come to him easily, like setting the table did. No such luck. He stared at the toilet for a few minutes. It seemed entirely connected to the floor, as if the floor and the toilet were one. Perhaps they’d always been one. Whoever built the house put up walls, windows, and this toilet. Worst of all, it was filthy. He certainly didn’t want to stick his hands in there to get the water out. In fact, it needed a good scrubbing before he would even consider getting near it.
Steven came back ten minutes later to find Craig on his hands and knees, scrubbing the toilet with gloved hands.
“Uh, how’s it going?”
Craig turned around, surprised. “Oh, hey Steven.”
“You want to tell me what you’re doing?”
“Well,” Craig said, raising himself up, “this toilet was filthy.”
“Okay?”
“And before I got my hands in there, I wanted to make sure it was sanitary. Also, if the water spilled…” Craig shuddered.
Steven stared at him for a moment before responding. “Why didn’t you just lift the lid of the tank?”
“Oh,” Craig turned to look at the toilet. “Where is that?”
“Right here,” Steven said, pointing. He lifted the lid to reveal the water inside.
“Well, that’s brilliant. That would make a lot of sense. So we dump the water from there first, or…?”
“No. You can flush most of it, and the rest take out with this.” Steven handed him a large, yellow sponge.
“Ah. Right. Sorry Steven, I don’t know that I’ve ever done this before. And if I have, I don’t remember.”
“It’s alright. I guess I should’ve thought of that. And use this to undo the bolts, then you can lift it right out of the floor.”
Craig accepted another tool. “Oh, that’s – okay, lovely.”
Once he had the instructions, it didn’t take long for Craig to accomplish the task. He still found the toilet to be gross. He thought throwing it out and starting over may be the best option for these people. Even grosser was the large, dark pipe that lived under the toilet, now exposed for everyone to see. Craig thought the pipe could use some bleach, perhaps a gallon or so, but he didn’t have the chance to do that.
Once Steven saw Craig carry the toilet out of the bathroom, he handed him a mallet and a wedge sort of thing. He said he needed to use it to pull up the tiles.
“As in – break them? And totally remove them?”
“Yes. Totally demo it.”
“Demo, right.”
The bathroom was rather large and unfortunately, so were the tiles. It took him an
hour and a half of kneeling to break up and rip them out of the floor. His knees and his back were killing him by the end. Each time he finished a task, Steven would appear and assign him an even more unpleasant one. Pull up the subfloor. Put down new subfloor. Bend over to do everything.
Of those first six hours, Craig spent most of them hunched over. If Kali weren’t at work, he’d call her and ask her to come pick him up. He could cite creative differences with Steven.
Steven seemed to think that everything needed to be done at once, one thing after the other. Craig thought there should be ample time for breaks. Perhaps even naps. Unfortunately, Craig wasn’t in charge, so he kept working. The only breaks Craig took were to eat. First, he had the ever-so-sweetly packed lunch that Kali made him.
“I’m making my own, so I’ll just throw one together for you, too,” she’d told him that morning. “Nothing special. I hope you like sad, single people food like hard boiled eggs and yogurt.”
“My favorite,” he’d replied with a smile.
It seemed like she always needed to make it clear to him that she wasn’t being nice to him on purpose, but instead it was just convenient for her. But Craig saw through it. Kali was the kind of person who couldn’t stand not helping others. She gave her whole heart to the world around her. No wonder she was such a terrific nurse. And a terrific person in general.
Craig tried to refocus his thoughts as he slowly chewed the turkey sandwich she made him, but he found it impossible. Of all the people he knew in the world right now, and admittedly he didn’t know many, Kali was his absolute favorite. What a wonder it would be to make her list of top 10, or even top 20 people.
Even the lunch she packed was full of love. Craig didn’t flatter himself that she had any feelings for him, but it was interesting that it was almost as though she didn’t know any other way to treat people. His heavy lunch bag contained three hard boiled eggs, a turkey sandwich, a container of yogurt, a bag of pretzels, plus a banana and an apple.
“You’re a – large man,” she’d said. “I imagine you need to eat a lot.”
Nurse's Date with a Billionaire Page 5
