I didn’t help him for this.
“I know,” I replied. That’s precisely why I want to help you.
Her mother’s operation was a success.
I thought after that Emily would just come back to her own life.
And for a while that was exactly what happened.
I helped her finish the accounting courses she had abandoned years ago. He found a new job and stopped working at my house.
The first day he didn’t come to work, the house felt strangely silent.
I repeated to myself that I had simply become accustomed to his presence.
But a week later, Emily called me.
My mother wants to see it. He says, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here today.
They came on Sunday.
The three of us sat on the terrace, had coffee and talked for hours.
The next week Emily came back.
Then he came back again.
I soon realized that we no longer needed a reason.
Sometimes he just called me after work.
Is there coffee on the terrace today?
I laughed.
“For you, always.
Nothing happened quickly between us.
For a long time I didn’t even allow myself to think of her that way.
The age difference between us was so great that it seemed absurd to me to imagine that Emily could see me as more than just an old friend.
But over the months we became best friends.
She knew when to talk about Mary, I was sad.
I knew when she was worried about her mother’s health.
He never treated me like a rich old man.
And I didn’t see her anymore as the housekeeper who had ever cleaned my house.
