“Yes. I’ve been trying to keep up with everything, but you know I’m not very good at it.”
I patted her hand and shook my head. “You are a treasure, Mrs. Gentry. Please don’t worry yourself. That’s why I’m here.”
She tutted and fluffed her bob. Mr. Gentry insisted on hiring someone to clean the house when Mrs. Gentry fell off a stepladder. In the year since, I’d been the one to clean their house every other week. They were in their eighties, and Mrs. Gentry always had a spotless home, but it was good for them to have someone who handled the high and low things. I cleaned the entire house, but she always insisted she could handle the basics. I still did it.
I carried my mop and vacuum inside with the bucket of cleaning cloths I used. My bosses were adamant about using non-toxic products and as few chemicals as possible.
Mrs. Gentry went to the living room, where Mr. Gentry was in his chair, reclining and watching TV. “Casey is here.”
“Hello, Casey!” Mr. Gentry called, waving to me from his seat.
“Hi, Mr. Gentry. How are you today?”
His face pinched. “Feeling a little slower this week. We had a lot going on last week, didn’t we, Love?”
I was enamored with the way he called his wife Love. More than sixty years of marriage and he still talked to her as if she was the most precious thing in his world. “What did you have going on?”
“The kids are all doing something these days,” Mrs. Gentry said. “Between sports and events and even just the activities, it gets busy.”
“And you’re not the kind of grandparents, or great-grandparents, to not be around and involved,” I said with a smile. They’d shared with me that their three kids had all stayed in MacKellar Cove and gotten married and had kids who also stayed in town. Of the five grandkids, four of them were married with kids, and the fifth was finishing medical school and looking to come back to the area within the next year.
Mrs. Gentry laughed. “We want to soak it all in as long as we can. My fall was a reminder that I’m not invincible.”
“None of us are. And being healthy means you can do all the things you enjoy. Even if it exhausts you.”
“Oh, I can do that,” Mrs. Gentry said, moving toward me as I grabbed plates in the sink to load into the dishwasher.
I waved her off. “I know you can. And you do when I’m not here. But when I am, it’s part of what I do.”
She smiled, her dark-brown cheeks lifting with her grin. “You are too good to us.”
“I am happy to do whatever I can. And you know you can call me if you need anything else. I know you have a lot of family around, too, but I’m not far from here.”
Mrs. Gentry nodded. “Thank you, dear.”
“You are very welcome.” I loved cleaning their house. They told me stories about their lives and what the town was like over the years. Mrs. Gentry always tried to tell me she could do something I was paid to do, and I gently reminded her it was part of my job.
If I were ever going to miss being married, it would be when I was spending time with them. Most of the time, I didn’t think twice about not having a partner. Kyle was mostly only good for one thing, and in the end, even that wasn’t always that good. An accidental pregnancy after a few months of dating tied us together for far longer than either of us wanted.
He stayed with me, though. He was never a great husband, but I wasn’t a great wife either. I resented him for getting me pregnant, for taking away my dreams. He felt the same. We tried, for years we tried, but divorce was inevitable.
Kyle was the one who finally said it. He wasn’t happy and hadn’t been for a long time. He needed a change and decided that change was in another woman’s bed. Not while we were married, but he didn’t waste any time finding someone else’s sheets to fall into.
It left me more than a little jaded. I wasn’t looking for another husband. But there were times I missed the physical connection of sex. It was the only time Kyle and I were happy. The only time I felt like we were okay.
And that was why I still hadn’t reached out to DirtyLife again. He wanted a family. A relationship. A connection.
I should have expected it. Why else would someone be on a dating app? It wasn’t why I was on it, but I had to assume that, with all the options for dating apps, the one that didn’t allow pictures wouldn’t be the one people would go looking for a hookup.
I let my mind wander as I cleaned the house, talking to Mr. and Mrs. Gentry as I worked. At their age, I didn’t think there was a lot of sex happening. Not that I wanted to picture it, but when she broke her hip, sex was not an option. Other things held them together. Things I’d never experienced.
Things I wasn’t sure I ever would experience.
When I was done cleaning, Mrs. Gentry asked about my dating life, and I knew it was time to go. I made my excuses for getting out of there, even though I was going to be really early to meet the bus, and told them I’d see them in two weeks.
I didn’t waste any time backing out of their driveway, ready to escape the inquisition.
I decided to take the long way home. I didn’t live far from the Gentrys, but since I had time, I drove to the edge of town for a few minutes of peace.
