Page 28

I t had already been a long day, with three houses cleaned, two call-offs, and her phone reminding her it was time to check in on Mrs. Keller. Not to mention Max had been out on the road, and every time he took the ice and got the start over the Condor’s backup goalie, Remi felt her stomach drop with nerves for him. She knew he could still play, and still win at this point, but that didn’t stop her from holding her breath each time the other team skated the puck up the ice and took the shot.

He had lost a few games and won a few.

He had even warmed the bench a few times as well.

Knowing what she knew now, about his vision, she couldn’t seem to watch him play without thinking about his future with the NHL. Worst-case scenarios of what that would look like for him emotionally, mentally, and physically constantly played on a loop in her head. Max had a long road ahead of him, and Remi was ready to put all the miles on her body walking that road beside him, hand in hand, no matter what happened.

“You’re here early,” Mrs. Keller said, opening the door for Remi to enter with her cleaning cart. The smell of something putrid hit Remi’s nose the second she crossed the threshold into the small, stuffy apartment, and while she had cleaned the apartment many times before, something about being there today brought on an overwhelming feeling of dread.

She was probably just tired. On top of everything, she missed Max, and knowing he got back into town today only made this job seem harder. She couldn’t wait to be home and showered, but most of all, she couldn’t wait for the beautiful crash that came when she fell into Max's arms to sleep.

“I don’t think so, Mrs. Keller. In fact, I’m late,” she said with a forced smile as she took in the state of the apartment. It had only been two weeks since she last cleaned, and it was absolutely trashed.

“No, no. You’re early. It’s seven. You never come this early. You’re lucky I’m awake,” Mrs. Keller argued, and at first, Remi thought she was referring to going to bed for the night, but then, Remi really looked at Mrs. Keller, and it was obvious the woman was not okay.

“Mrs. Keller, its 7 p.m . It’s evening,” she said slowly and kindly, as if talking to a fragile child.

Mrs. Keller paced the small square of carpet that wasn’t covered with trash, laundry, and debris. Remi pushed boxes aside with her foot and very gently placed a hand on Mrs. Keller’s arm, still managing to startle the old woman. “Mrs. Keller, are you feeling okay?”

“Oh, I was just going to watch my program on the TV, but you’re more than welcome to stay and watch it with me,” the old woman said through glazed eyes. Her lips looked parched and cracked in the corners.

“Mrs. Keller, it’s Remi, your housekeeper.”

The older woman ignored her, looking right through her as she sat down on the only livable space left on the small sofa. “Just set it on the table and go,” the confused old woman said, making no sense.

Remi felt panic flood her. Something was wrong. She looked around the small apartment for anything amiss, aside from the normal chaos. It was a mess, but it was always a mess. It wasn’t any worse than Remi had seen it in the past.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see Max calling.

“Hey,” she said in a panic, answering the phone quickly.

“Hey, is everything okay?” he asked, taking notice of the worry in her tone.

“No, it’s Susan—Mrs. Keller,” she corrected, she never called her by her first name.

“What’s wrong? Do you need me to come there?” he asked.

“Yes… no… I don’t know. Max, she’s like, gone ,” Remi whispered, instantly regretting her word choice.

“Oh shit, she’s dead?” Max asked.

“No, she’s like,” Remi said as she stepped into the kitchen, never taking her eyes off Mrs. Keller, “it’s as if she’s lost her mind? I don’t know. She’s not aware of what’s going on. It’s scary. I’m worried about her, and I don’t know what to do, Max.”

“Does she have any emergency contacts?” he asked, and Remi wanted to praise his sound and logical mind in her moment of panic.

“Yes, I have her son’s number, but he’s not the best.”

Mrs. Keller just sat there, watching TV, as if Remi weren’t in her apartment at all.

“Okay, call him first, give him an opportunity to come get her. If he can’t help, you’re going to have to call an ambulance.”

“Okay.”

“Send me the address, so I can come be with you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said.

“And Rem?”

“Yeah?”

“If you're in danger at all, I want you to leave and go wait in your car. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Okay,” she said absentmindedly.

“Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

Max hung up first and she sent the address right away.

“Mrs. Keller,” Remi said from the kitchen, receiving no response. “Mrs. Keller I’m going to call your son, okay?”

The older woman looked up at her this time, with complete peace on her oblivious face. “Yes, tell him dinner will be ready at five.”

***

It was the first time Max had really felt the weight of his condition affect him negatively outside of hockey, past a minor inconvenience here or there. Driving slow at night wasn’t bad, until you were trying to get somewhere fast. His head spun with worst-case scenarios. He hated the thought that Remi was alone in a scary situation, and he couldn’t drive past 35 fucking miles-per-hour to get to her. Sweat gathered on his upper lip, and his heart hammered in his chest, anxiety flooding his body from head to toe. He kept driving, slowly, steadily, and blinking repeatedly. It was like a nightmare where the bad guy is chasing you and you can’t run because your legs feel like they weigh a million pounds, only this was real life. This was his reality.

When he finally pulled into the small apartment complex, he spotted Remi’s car immediately, but she wasn’t inside, to his relief. He opened the text she sent with the apartment number and bolted up the stairs to the woman’s apartment. The door was propped open, and the smell of hot trash hit his nose before he knocked on the door frame, not wanting to barge in.

Remi appeared from a room off the narrow hallway, her hair tied up on her head, wearing rubber gloves that came up to her elbows. Max hated the look on her face, it reminded him of the night she found him drunk. It reminded him of the way she looked when she returned from the beach. He hated that he had made her feel like this before.

“Tell me how I can help you?” he asked, taking a step into the trash-covered apartment, no sign of Mrs. Keller to be seen.

Remi stood before him, her hip popped out and her body obviously exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes as she looked around. And then, without a word, she pulled out a trash bag and a spare pair of rubber gloves from her cleaning cart and handed them to him. Max knew what she was asking without saying anything at all. He pulled on the gloves—a tight fit for his massive hands—and then he got to work. Anything that looked like trash, he added to the bag, as Remi wiped down countertops and scrubbed burnt food and a melted bowl from the metal coils of the stove.

Max moved on to sweep, and sweeping led to the mop, and then the vacuum. With each space freed of its litter, he felt hope swell in his chest and the anxiety of his drive melt away. He watched his girlfriend come back to life as the small apartment became livable again, breathable again, and safe.

Very few words were shared, and yet they both completely understood what needed to be done.

Max was never good with words, and Remi had already carried the conversation for them both so many times since he’d met her. But now, in their silence, he was grateful they felt safe enough to not say anything when the words were too heavy for them both to carry.

He loaded her cleaning cart into the back of her Subaru as she locked up Mrs. Keller’s apartment behind her.

“Thank you for showing up to help,” she said, leaning her body against the driver’s side door.

“You’re welcome.”

“They took her away in an ambulance. She was so scared, Max.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sorry you had to be the one to find her in that state,” he said, guilt from the other night flooding him, knowing she had also just found him in a scary situation.

“I just want to forget about it for a while, is that awful of me?” she asked.

“No. If you need to protect yourself right now, I say sweep it under the rug and come back to it later.”

This made Remi smile. “Do I sense cleaning lady humor embedded in that last statement?” she asked.

“I’ve been known to have a pun or two up my sleeve,” he said, offering her the most welcoming smile he had.

“I want to hug you so bad right meow,” she said, a tired smile on her face and a speck of dirt above her eyebrow.

Max smiled and her cat joke, which had become a secret language of sorts between them. It was their own way of saying, I’m yours , and I’m safe with you . Max moved toward her without a second thought, pulling her into his arms. She tried to push away, but he just held her closer, his physical strength winning this round.

“Max, I’m so filthy,” she protested.

“So am I,” he said quietly.

She looked up at him and smiled. “This is the most disgusting hug of my life.”

“The absolute worst,” he teased.

“You stink,” she said.

“So do you.”

They both began to laugh and Max, despite the smudge across her forehead, leaned in and kissed her there.

“My place or yours?” he asked.

“Mine? I need to feed Bozo.”

“Okay, your place it is. Let me grab my bag from the jeep.”

Remi’s eyebrows quirked up in question.

“I don’t think I should drive at night anymore, Rem,” he admitted, his smile faltering at the admission. It was the first thing he knew he officially had to give up.

She fell into his arms. “Oh, Max, I’m so sorry. Was the drive here bad?”

“Pretty bad. I don’t want to risk it anymore. I kinda knew it was coming to this.”

She pushed up on tiptoe and kissed his lips with affection and care. “I can bring you to get your Jeep tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Now, let’s get home so we can shower away this awful day.”

And it had been an awful day. The Condors had lost in Colorado with Max in front of the net, and Remi had walked into a nightmare at work. While her shower was so small he wasn’t sure how the two of them would fit, they would make it work because there was no way in hell he was going to let her wash away the sins of her day alone.