“It is amazing what the Good Lord has given us to learn about and explore.” Zion’s smile was blinding and Pat looked away.
“Truly.” Clive agreed. “Our God is a masterful artist.”
Pat said nothing in response. While he could agree that the world around them was fascinating and marvelous, he didn’t think some higher power was responsible for it, and if there was a higher power then he must have been pretty sadistic. Pat’s mind felt more like a creation of Pablo Picasso where nothing was where you expected it to be and sometimes didn’t make sense.
CHAPTER TWENTY
HARMONY SHOWED UP to her job assignment on Monday morning and was unsurprised to see Rachel waiting for her.
“Harmony.” Rachel greeted warmly. “I’m so glad you’re here. We get to start right away.”
“Sounds good.” Harmony smiled.
Her job description was housekeeper/quality control officer. She knew what housekeeping was but she had no idea what quality control officers did. Even though she wanted to be with Arrow at the hospital, she was pleased to be doing meaningful work. After he had been rushed to the ER, Clive and Zion followed behind to check on the status of his health. Rachel, Harmony, and Pat were later updated that Arrow had alcohol poisoning and would need to stay in the hospital for a few more days to detox and take in nutrients. While she was relieved, it was hard to feel completely at peace when he wasn’t nearby. She realized she was torn between missing him and being completely disappointed in his behavior.
Thankfully, she started training in housekeeping first, which was the perfect job to distract her from her conflicting thoughts. Rachel brought her into the rooms that had been recently vacated and taught her how to clean them. The majority of the rooms were similar in layout, but there were a few that were unusual and not intuitive to clean.
When that was done, Rachel explained that quality control was simply choosing a few jobs, classes, or people to observe and make sure they were following the guidelines. While this was not something that Harmony enjoyed, she understood the necessity. Thankfully, she didn’t have to confront anybody unless they were being a danger to themselves or others. Rachel and Zion did all the follow-up if it was necessary to be confrontational. Also, she only had to do this with the women’s programs so she wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb in a room full of men.
Rachel explained that she wouldn’t need to do this part of the job during the first week because there was a lot of training involved, but for now, she would primarily do housekeeping. While residents were milling around the campus, Harmony would be doing some basic upkeep to the rooms that had occupants, but the hope was that no one would be in those rooms so she could get things done uninterrupted.
She learned her cleaning duties quickly so Rachel felt comfortable leaving Harmony on her own after lunch. She found that she enjoyed the work. It was satisfying because it was easy to do, but time-consuming so it didn’t give her much time to think. She only had run into a few women who were resting due to a headache or because of a break between scheduled things. These interactions weren’t as bad as she expected. The women were friendly and one of them talked about the progress she had made in her recovery. Harmony enjoyed celebrating with other women.
As she completed the women’s rooms, it was time to clean the men’s. She hoped she wouldn’t have to deal with any weirdos, but Rachel assured her that she shouldn’t have any issues.
By the time Thursday rolled around, Harmony was in a routine and felt confident in her abilities. While her anxiety wasn’t cured, she found herself enjoying the slower pace of life and the manual labor. It kept her busy and gave her less time to lose herself in her thoughts.
Once her morning was complete, she decided to take her break outside because it was a surprisingly sunny day for the fall. She grabbed a jacket and proceeded outside to the steadily dying gardens. The stone pathways weaving in and out of the gardening plots were so chilled by the cool in the air that she could feel it through the soles of her cheap shoes. She made her way past spindly sticks and browning grass, reading each of the labels to see what the plants used to be. Since everything was dying, you could easily see all the spaces that were meant to be shaded by foliage including a black bench designed to look like starched lace. She brushed off the leaves from the seat and sat down, startled by the chill from what turned out to be iron.
Her nose was pink and she shivered slightly as the breeze picked up. She pulled the jacket tighter and gazed across the wide expanse of lawn. The majority of the residents were inside now and it felt even lonelier than the inside. She imagined it was much more beautiful to be placed here in the spring or the summer.
“Mind if I sit?” Arrow walked up and the only thing announcing his presence was a couple of seconds of crunching leaves.
“Where did you come from?” Harmony asked, her eyebrows knit together in confusion.
Arrow pointed and she noticed the patio halfway behind the main house with chairs and a table. She hadn’t noticed that before. He looked tired, but his eyes were alert.
“I thought you were still at the hospital detoxing.” Her tone came out harsher than she had intended, but she realized right away that she was feeling angry at him and disappointed instead of excited as she expected.
For the first time, Arrow looked ashamed. “I just got back this morning. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
Her heart softened at the apology. She scooted over and patted the empty seat beside her.
“Thanks.” He sat down. There wasn’t much space on the bench, so they both looked straight ahead at the garden in silence for a moment. “I took what you said too personally.” Arrow said finally.
“Oh?” Harmony turned her face to him.
“Yeah, about me being better sober.”
“I didn’t think how it sounded before I said it.” Harmony admitted.
They were quiet again and Harmony glanced over at a robin pecking at the dirt nearby.
“I didn’t agree with you at first.” Arrow finally said. “But then the nurse said I almost died and I realized you were right.”
Harmony turned to see him looking right at her. She suddenly felt self-conscious as his eyes gazed into hers. “Oh.” Was all she could muster as she quickly glanced down at her knees. “Do you want to walk around? I’m getting cold staying still.”
Arrow nodded and joined her. They left the garden and began to explore the property.
“How are you doing without…booze?” Harmony asked, trying to sound light.
“It’s been awful. I want it all the time but Zion is helping me. I don’t want to disappoint him again. He worked so hard with me the first time.”
“I don’t think you could disappoint him. He seems very supportive.” Harmony said earnestly. “Are you going through A.A.?”
Arrow nodded and stopped in front of the fountain to watch the water splash. Harmony looked at him through the water on the opposite side of the basin. This allowed her to truly look at him without feeling the discomfort of knowing he could catch her making note of every scar and line that make his face uniquely his. He was somebody that was hard to imagine ever being a child. He seemed like he must have always been a man.
“Why did you stay with me on the boat after we ran?” Arrow asked.
“I just had to escape my life.” She said honestly.
“Why?” Arrow leaned onto his left leg so he could walk around to see her better.
“My job was boring, there’s a creep at my work, and I found out my microchip had been hacked.” Harmony’s tone was nonchalant, but an ironic smile graced her face to show that she realized how shocking this statement would be.
“I…” Arrow laughed in disbelief. “…girl. That should have been the first thing you told us.”
“I don’t like to lead with the heavy stuff when I meet people while running away from something out of a horror film.” Harmony laughed.
