Enduring Mr McGregor

chapter 17

Robert had been suspiciously nice all week. He hadn't sent her on any errands, hadn't asked her to get his lunch. He hadn't even called her to fetch his tea in the morning like he always did, he fetched it himself. Shocking!

Perhaps he was still feeling guilty.

She met flowers and chocolates on her desk all through the week with the same old boring note. And like every other day, his flowers decorated the reception and Beth ate the chocolates.

No words had been exchanged between them except the usual greeting.

When Saturday came, Nia half expected him to wake her up with a call, yelling at her to be at his house with a cup of cappuccino.

He didn't.

It was nearly afternoon, and he still hadn't called.

What, no dishes to wash? No pool to clean? Willa hadn't dirtied her coat yet?

But then the time began inching towards 2pm. Feeling concerned that maybe he had died in his sleep, Nia got dressed and drove over to his place.

Several scenarios ran through her mind. One was that he was testing her to see if she would come without being called. And if she didn't, he would have the opportunity to yell at her and fire her.

The second was that he had a stroke and couldn't get to his phone to call her.

She took the elevator up to his penthouse and knocked on his door. When no one answered, she pushed the door. It was open.

"Hello?" She called out.

Willa didn't come running like she always did when the door opened. After checking around, it was confirmed that Robert wasn't home, neither was Willa.

She pursed her lips and looked around the living room. The throw pillows were scattered on the floor. So she picked them up and arranged them on the black sofas.

The dishes in his sink weren't much, so she decided to do them quickly.

•••

Squeezing out the water from the towel, Nia spread it out on a rung to dry. Then she turned back and looked around. There wasn't much to do.

But she felt energized, so she took a broom.

If someone had told her that one day she would be sweeping Roberts apartment, willingly, she would have smacked the shit out of the person. But there she was doing it when she could have been doing other productive things, and she wondered why.

Eh, I'm feeling good today.

Connecting her phone to his sound system, she put on her happy playlist and began shaking to the music as she worked.

The penthouse was quite clean. Perhaps Miriam had paid him a recent visit. Just then her favorite song began playing. Beggin by madcon. There was no way she could resist dancing and singing along to it.

Using the broomstick as a makeshift microphone, Nia jumped like a crazy person and shook her hair so hard you'd think she was a rockstar.

"... Beggin, beggin you, put your loving hand out baby... "

She was so busy jumping she didn't hear the door open. Whipping her hair back and forth, Nia displayed her dancing skills. There was no one to watch her after all.

She heard a small whine and whirled around.

Nia trailed off as she gaped at Gabriel and Robert staring at her silently. Even Willa stared with her tongue out.