"Never. But I did talk to the maid a little bit that used to be the one picking up the flowers. How much do you know about Alfred?"
"How do you know his name?" I asked.
"Besides the fact that me and the maid hit it off? Alfred Lowell owns and operates one of the largest luxury hotel chains in the world."
"He does?" I asked.
"He does. So when you told me he probably has a decent job, that's an understatement. He's the owner and CEO of TreeTop Hotels."
I felt my eyebrows rise to my hairline as my jaw dropped open.
"He's what?" I asked.
"Make it a habit, Amanda. If I can teach you one thing, it's to Google your clientele. Big or small. Private or public. Whether you work as an in-home nurse for the elite or plug yourself into a hospital. Google is the best resource you have of finding out stuff regarding the people you're going to be helping."
"Alfred Lowell owns TreeTop Hotels."
"His great-grandfather started the company, yes. Passed it on down through the generations, and now Alfred has control of it," she said. "But that's not why I brought this up."
"I'm really going to have to Google him," I said.
"That's fine. It's wise, actually. But the reason I'm telling you to be careful with him is because their lawsuit is all over the news right now."
"Lawsuit?" I asked.
I pulled out my phone and started typing his name into the search bar.
"It's pretty typical for families to sue drivers who hit pedestrians. But they aren't just suing the driver. They're also suing the city, claiming that the traffic lights and the pedestrian walk signs were out-of-sync. They're gunning for blood."
I flipped through a couple of the articles as my eyes scanned the material.
Natalie was right. The Lowell family wasn't simply suing the driver, but the city as well. Mounting a massive defense and claiming millions of dollars worth of damages because of Alfred's inability to run the company to his fullest extent. Something about an abandoned construction in Jamaica or something and investors getting their money back.
I didn't understand half of what the articles were talking about, but I saw why Natalie was concerned.
In the heat of their anger, the Lowells were volatile.
"I don't want you caught up in some insane lawsuit that'll drain you for all you have if you do something wrong," she said.
"I get it now," I said as I turned off my phone. "And I promise you, I will be extremely careful."
"That's all I'm asking. You want to help him and that's your beautiful spirit talking. But I want to make sure you're going to be okay in all of this."
"And it's one of the many reasons why I love you," I said.
I reached over and took Natalie's hand. I was going to miss this woman. She'd given me my first credible job and single-handedly saved my sanity through nursing school. Me graduating with honors and keeping on track was all thanks to her. To her perseverance and encouragement and late-night talks when I was up studying and couldn't keep focus.
"You're going to call at least three times a week to let me know how you're doing," Natalie said.
"I promise."
"And if he still wants flowers delivered to wherever he is now, you'll call me so I can deliver them. That way I can see you face-to-face."
"I'm not going off to war, Natalie," I said with a giggle.
"No, but you're stepping into a new world. And that can be daunting. I want you to know that I'm still here for you. Just because your schooling is done doesn't mean I am."
I rose up out of my seat and pulled Natalie into a giant hug.
"I love you," I said breathlessly.
"I love you too, Amanda."
Alfred POV
"Yep, that goes too. Into storage. And be careful with it. That table cost me ten thousand dollars."
"Yes, sir."
"Move the couches against the wall. We'll reposition the television as well," I said. "And my room will have to be rearranged as well."
"Yes, sir. Anything else?"
"Yeah. The kitchen chair at the end of the table can be put in a corner somewhere. I won't be needing it for a little while. In fact, put the extra chair in the second room on the right down the hallway. My new nurse can use it for whatever she wants."
"The room next to yours?"
"That's the one," I said.
"Will we need to do anything upstairs, sir?"
"Nope. Won't be going up there for a while."
There were movers waiting for my new nurse to show up and men rearranging the furniture in my home. My two-story penthouse apartment was hardly the best place to recuperate, which meant I had to hire people to do the fucking work for me. It was embarrassing, to say the least. Telling men to fucking push couches around. I should be able to do that shit. I should be able to stand up from this damn wheelchair and take control of my environment.
But I couldn't.
So, I was having them rearrange and remove everything that could possible impede me from being able to live on my own. My new nurse— Amanda, I think her name was— had agreed to move in and live with me on an around-the-clock basis. The original agreement was for her to commute. Here by six, out by eight. But my mother and sister weren't having it. They insisted she move into one of my three guest bedrooms, and if she didn't then she could move into my mother's house and we'd stay there.
And that shit wasn't going to happen.
Amanda had been my ticket out of that damned place. Out from underneath the bickering of my sister and my mother. Fuck, I had gotten tired of hearing them bitch. And I was equally tired of my mother always having to help me out of my damn clothes and into the fucking shower. Having my sister do it was weird, but having my mother do it made me feel like I was a damn toddler.
In some ways, I felt like one.
So, I agreed to pay for her time from six in the morning until eight at night. If my sister and mother wanted her around-the-clock care, they could foot the rest of the damn bill. I figured that would shut them up about it, but instead they ended up doing just that. Which meant that with the money I was paying her and the money they were going to be shelling out for her, my nurse could live on her own after all this shit was done. For three fucking years.