Page 5 of Lone Star Longing
So her last job of the day was going to send her home in a bad mood.
The positive side was that she wasn't having morning sickness this time of the day.
She needed all her defenses for Mrs. Conover.
The house was dark. Even though the sun was still up, the Conover house stood in the shadow of a hill that blocked the western sun, so Mrs. Conover usually had the lights on by now. But today the house was dark and silent.
Lacey mounted the porch steps with dread building in her belly. One of her fears, being a home health care provider, was that one day she’d walk up to a house and find her patient had passed. So far she’d avoided that experience, but some of her coworkers had told her of how horrible the experience could be, especially if the person had been alone for a while.
She knocked first, and when there was no answer, she pulled the key out of the pocket of her scrub top and unlocked the door.
“Why do you drive that little car out here? You should have a truck on these roads.” The woman’s scratchy voice came from the doorway to the kitchen.
Lacey jumped so hard that she peed a little. “Mrs. Conover! Why are you standing there in the dark?”
“I was waiting to see how long you’d wait before you used my key.”
“Did I wait the right amount of time?” Lacey asked, her heart still thundering as she flipped the light switch, illuminating the small crowded room.
“I could have been dead in here,” the woman grumbled, lurching toward her favorite wing backed chair that could use new upholstery.
“The thought did cross my mind.” Lacey resisted the urge to slap her hand over her own mouth at her impertinence, especially when Mrs. Conover shot her a sharp look.
But the older woman apparently decided not to take issue with it. She rolled up her sleeve for the blood pressure cuff. “You really need to get a truck instead of that little car.”
“When you find someone selling a truck for less than the price of a house, you let me know,” Lacey countered as she wrapped the cuff around Mrs. Conover’s arm, and again winced at her tone. What was wrong with her?
But the older woman didn't seem to be paying attention. “Damn, girl, I thought you had started using the bigger cuff.” The woman lifted her hand toward the blood pressure cuff.
Anticipating the move, Lacey pressed the woman’s hand back down to her lap. “This is the bigger cuff.”
“Didn’t hurt so much last time,” Mrs. Conover grumbled.
After Lacey made note of the higher blood pressure and the higher blood sugar after pricking the woman’s finger, she headed into the kitchen to make the woman’s dinner. Part of her job was making sure the older woman was eating well, so Lacey made her dinner and a few other meals ahead of time.
But when she opened the refrigerator, she didn't see a lot of options for meals.
“Mrs. Conover, when’s the last time you had grocery delivery?”
Mrs. Conover staggered into the room behind her, losing her balance a bit on a weak part of the floor. The older woman grunted and steadied herself against the wall. “That place they call a grocery store in town charges an arm and a leg, and doesn’t have any selection.”
“More selection than you have.”
“When did you get so cheeky?”
“So what?” Lacey leaned into the refrigerator and pulled out a package of corn tortillas and a bag of potatoes starting to wrinkle.
“You know, saucy. Speaking your mind.”
“I’m sorry. I must be tired. I didn't mean to be disrespectful.”
Those eyes narrowed again, and she grunted, looking at the food on the table. “What are you doing with that?” she asked suspiciously.
“Going to figure out how to make you dinner for tonight and tomorrow, with lunch, too.” Lacey opened the freezer door, saw it contained even fewer items, before she crossed to the pantry. Her heart dropped. This woman didn't have enough food to last until Lacey returned in two days.
She turned to the older woman with a sigh. “Give me a grocery list.” She wasn't even sure the grocery store would be open when she arrived, since she never went shopping this late, and the small town of Broken Wheel always rolled up the sidewalks early.
“A grocery list? Whatever for?”
