Sloan’s eyes flicked to Matty’s mouth as she spoke, then away again, as if she could pretend she hadn’t.
She’d climbed out of bed, gotten herself dressed and ready, then spent the last half hour running around after her mother. She’d barely glanced outside and hadn’t paid attention to the weather.
After picking up her skates, her eyes found Sloan’s again, not looking away as she set the coffee on the shelf. “Yes, the sun is shining, everyone is smiling, it’s a lovely day.”
“We’ll see if you still feel that way at the end of it,” Sloan retorted as she turned away. “I’ll be in meetings all day. If there’s an emergency—”
“There won’t be,” Matty insisted. She lifted Sloan’s jacket from where it hung over the banister and held it up for her. “You don’t need to worry.”
Sloan stepped in close and caught Matty’s scent—soap and coffee—and for half a second, she forgot to move. Matty’s smile softened, like she’d felt something too.
Sloan had hesitated. She wasn’t used to anyone doing anything for her. A simple task like holding her jacket up felt almost chivalrous. It took Matty shakingit to get Sloan into action, sliding one arm in, then the other, before shrugging it on.
“Thank you,” she said, adjusting the way it sat on her shoulders and buttoning it up.
The words came out quieter than she meant them to.Intimate.Sloan cleared her throat, as if she could erase the way being this close to Matty was making her feel.
She found Matty’s eyes still on her and couldn’t look away. “Right. I’ll see you tonight.”
Matty grinned and opened the door for her. “Yes, you will. Have a good day.” She reached past Sloan and lifted the coffee cup from the shelf, passing it to her. “Don’t forget your coffee.”
Sloan’s fingers brushed Matty’s as she took it. It was nothing. It was everything. And she didn’t let her face show anything.
Sloan opened her mouth to reply to Matty’s comment, then thought better of it, nodded, and instead just said, “Thanks.”
She walked away, each step determined until she was at the car and able to open the door, and not think about the fact that Matty was watching her.
Sloan slid into the seat and popped the coffee into the holder before she reached for the seatbelt and pulled it across herself. Matty still waited at the door like she belonged there, ready to wave her off.
There was something about Matty that was getting under Sloan’s skin. She could feel it, but she shook it off for the moment. The last thing she planned to do was get involved with someone she was employing to watch her mother and risk losing that assistance.
She started the engine, switched it into gear, and reversed out of the drive, her eyes flicking back and forth between the road and the woman on her doorstep waving at her.
***
Gloria stared up as Matty entered the lounge, something cold and steely settling in her eyes as they fixed on the woman next on her hit list.
She almost laughed. Had Sloan thought this girl was going to get the better of her?
To her, Matty was a whimsical hippie, with her hair tied up in a rag and dressed in clothes Gloria wouldn’t have put on a toddler. It was too easy. She almost felt sorry for her.
“I need the toilet,” Gloria said.
Matty moved closer. “Alright, we can manage that,” she said brightly as she moved the table out of the way.
“Gonna wipe my arse for me?” Gloria sneered. “I like it when they do that.”
Matty straightened and held Gloria’s gaze. “If that’s what you need help with, then yes, I’ll do that. But I get the impression, Gloria, that you’re quite capable of a lot of things.”
The comment threw Gloria for a moment. She’d been all ready with the next remark, waiting for the woman to baulk at the idea of wiping the shit off her arse. Carers were used to it. It was part of the job. But this one—she didn’t sound or look like she had much experience caring for anyone other than herself, and yet she’d already noticed something none of the others had bothered with.
“Yes, well...” Gloria muttered.
“A lady likes to keep her dignity, right, Mrs S?” Matty smiled. “Do you need a hand getting up?”
“Pass me my cane,” Gloria demanded, as though that were the obvious answer.This one was different,she thought. Asking—not telling.
Gloria wobbled as she wriggled to the edge of the seat, shifted all her weight to the good side of her body, and heaved herself upright.
