Sophie went straight to Madame Boyle's inn to catch up with her duty after her quick delivery stint. Obviously, she came in late. The old woman will definitely wring her neck because of her first-ever record of tardiness.
"Hello Madame Boyle!" She quickly greeted her and went straight to the rooms in the second and third floor. She didn't give her the chance to yell at her.
She took a deep breath and got on her feet.
She'll have to work double or even triple time. She rolled up the sleeves of her raglan shirt and tied a hanky over her face covering her nose down.
She immediately collected the trash from all rooms and disposed them properly at the back of the inn.
After she took care of the garbage, she headed back in the storage room and prepared her cleaning cart-her best ever and most reliable partner in her cleaning duties.
"All right! Let's do the cleaning!"
She gave a satisfying look at the mess she caught as she entered Room 201. The bed was a mess, the pillow cases were nowhere to be found, the blanket was a total wreck and somebody's puke from last night's pub gig was scattered in the floor.
There were wine stains all over the bed and the room was on its starting phase of turning into a mini dumpster. A couple of empty packs of potato chips and empty boxes of pizza were scattered around the place. Even the air circulating around the room was a total headache.
The bathroom was in a whole different level of garbage.
The room indeed needed a good cleaning.
She took a deep breath, grabbed her phone from her back pocket and pressed a button.
K7's 90's hit song started its funky intro.
"There! Let's lighten up the mood." She beamed a smile and ransacked the room. Well, in a good kind of ransack of course.
K7's song started filling the quiet smelly Room 201.
...Come baby come baby baby come come...
"Come baby come baby baby come come!" She sang and slightly kicked the pail of soapy water she got from the bathroom.
K7... When you gotta give me lovin' then you gotta give me some...
"You gotta give me lovin' and you gotta give me some!" She dipped the mop and wiped off someone's messy ejected dinner on the floor and mopped it away as she glided through the entire room.
K7...Come baby come baby baby come come...
"Come baby come baby baby come come!"
When you gotta give me lovin' then you gotta give me some...You gotta give me lovin' and you gotta give me some!" She hopped and hipped the bathroom door closed.
"Come down!" She sang in sync with the fast music.
She's amped. She discarded the soiled linens from the bed, swept off the mess on the floor, changed the bed linens and replenished the toiletries.
She held up her air-freshening can and sprayed it all over the room.
There.
She gave one last glimpse at the clean and fresh-smelling room before she headed out to the next room to clean.
"Next room here I come!"
In an hour, she was able to clean the entire second floor rooms and two rooms from the third floor.
She felt so strangely energized today despite starting the day quite strangely too.
"It was nice having all guests gone for an hour. At least, I can do my work undisturbed. Oh! I love this job!" She patted her shoulders and headed down to the kitchen when she heard Madame Boyle's yell from the lobby.
"Sophie, phone call!"
She turned off the music and glided to the main stairs.
"From whom?"
"Hospital. It's Mr. Finn."
She wiped her hands with the towel on her waist and rushed down to the lobby.
"I wonder why he's calling me in the middle of work."
"Madame Boyle handed her the cordless phone.
"Just take it. But don't take too long. I have new guests coming in an hour."
She winked at her lady boss. "I got you Madame B. Thanks!"
The old woman sneered and walked inside her office.
"Yes, Mr. Finn! You already missed me?"
The old man screamed at the top of his lungs.
Good thing she was fast enough to put away her ear from the phone.
Sophie quickly glanced at her wristwatch.
It was past 12 noon already.
He wasn't finished with his lunch yet?
Why is he still in a bad mood?
"You need to get back here. Right now!"
"Huh? Why? I thought you said you'll take care of the patient."
"I didn't say that, you brat! Come here quickly. The doctor's looking for you."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Why would the doctor look for me?"
"Your man is awake, idiot. Come here at once."
Then the line went dead.
She stared at the receiver on her hand for a few seconds.
"Your boyfriend's awake, huh?"
Madame Boyle's intriguing gaze greeted her as she raised her sight.
She was listening to their conversation!
"He's not my boyfriend!" she tried to correct her.
"But Mr. Finn said, 'your man'. Does he mean something else, then?"
"Madame Boyle!!!"
Her boss gave her a sly look.
Oh no! She needed to clear something before it turned to something worse.
Madame Boyle is the village's most notorious blabbermouth.
"Finish it off." She was referring to her cleaning duty. "I bet your boyfriend's very eager to see you now."
"He's not my boyfriend!" She climbed up the stairs. "Why would you even say that?"
"This town is small dear. The walls have ears."
She shook her head exaggeratedly.
"You are completely mistaken boss. I just saved the guy. I don't even know him."
Madame Boyle just gave her another weird expression.
She rolled her eyes in complete disbelief.
"What's wrong with you today Madame B?"
The old lady grinned at her.
"I'm just happy you finally got a boyfriend."
"What the heck is that?"
If there were something Madame Boyle is good at aside from managing her beloved inn, that is her extreme talent in gossiping and eavesdropping.
It was known that her little B & B is the center of rumors in their small village.
She started to have a bad feeling about her situation.
Oh geez!
…
Sophie ran through the lobby and saw Mr. Finn talking with the doctor outside the room of the unknown boulder man.
"Great! Finally, you are here."
She frowned when she saw her boss' awkward smiling face.
"Sophie Adams? You are the guardian of the patient, right?" The doctor turned to her. He was holding a clipboard chart in his one hand.
"Uhm, no." She said without batting her eyes.
She was never a guardian to anyone. She merely saved the guy, that was it!
"But it says here that you were the one who was with the patient during the accident."
"Yes. But –"
"What is his name then? Please complete this form and give it to the nurse's station once you're done." He handed her the clipboard chart he was holding and went back inside the room.
She took a peek and saw the man sleeping.
"I thought you said he's awake?" She pulled Mr. Finn's arm and brought him to a corner.
"He was. Then he slept again."
"And?"
"And he said doesn't know his name."
"He has amnesia?"
Mr. Finn shook his head. "We don't know. The doctor said they needed to run more tests and observe him for a couple of days first."
"So, what's this?" She waved the chart in front of her boss.
"Write on it."
"What am I gonna write? I don't even know his name!"
"You don't know him?" Mr. Finn's face was rather surprised.
I nodded. "I told you boss, I just found him in the forest, unconscious. As a generous and law-abiding citizen of this country, I helped him and brought him to the hospital. That's it. I have nothing to do with him after that." She grabbed her boss' hand and gave him the chart. "So, it would be wise if we'll just leave him here and let the police take care of him."
"Speaking of which." Mr. Finn greeted the two officers approaching them.
"Are you Ms. Sophie Adams?" The taller officer asked.
"Yes, that's me."