Chapter 3

Sure enough, the next day, I spotted Helen waiting for me at the entrance of my office as I arrived for work.

I asked her to hang out in the lounge and told her I'd take her to my apartment after my meeting.

When I finally finished my two-hour meeting and came out, I saw that Helen had left the lounge spotless.

She gave me a nervous smile when she saw me. "I had nothing else to do, so I just tidied up a bit."

I didn't say anything, just led her to my apartment and pulled out a contract.

"Strictly speaking, you're here because of Ryan, but between us, this is a job. I'm your boss, so I need to lay out the rules," I said.

Helen fidgeted with her clothes, nodding quickly. "Of course, of course."

I patiently went over everything with her, and when I mentioned the pay—two thousand and five hundred a month—her jaw dropped so wide you could fit an egg in it.

"T-Two thousand and five hundred?" Helen finally snapped out of it.

I nodded seriously. "Yeah. That's just for the first month. If you do well and get the hang of things, I'll bump it up to three thousand. And I'll have Amanda Miller upstairs show you the ropes when it comes to grocery shopping."

Amanda worked for my best friend, who lived upstairs.

"No, no, no, I can't take your money," Helen said, shaking her head like a bobblehead.

I said, my tone getting a little firmer, "Mrs. Chapman, any work deserves to be paid for. I'm just paying you the going rate. If I didn't pay you, that'd be against the law."

She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

"If that's all good with you, let's sign the contract," I said.

Helen finally signed her name on the contract.

It turned out that she could actually write her own name.

I learned her real name was Helen Chambers.

"Your name is really pretty. From now on, I'll call you Ms. Chambers," I said.

She blushed. It was a shy, happy blush.

I told Helen that if she had any questions, she could just ask Amanda.

While Amanda was showing Helen the ropes around my place, I went to find my best friend, Amy Stewart.

Amy was totally absorbed in her design work, not even looking up as she asked, "You really into Ryan?"

I lounged comfortably on the couch she spent half a year getting shipped here and said, "Nope, I'm actually into his mom."

"Wow." She finally glanced up. "Looks like Ryan's about to lose both his girl and his mom."

I just smiled and didn't say a word.

Amy knew me better than anyone—I had never been one to play nice.

Ryan knew that, too—he knew my mom and I were always at each other's throats.

Back when I was seventeen, my parents split. Mom took me, Dad took my brother.

My mom wanted to leave with just me and nothing else, but my dad wasn't having it—he made sure I got everything I was supposed to.

After that, my mom's favorite hobby became swiping my stuff and handing it over to my brother.

When my brother turned eighteen, I finally pushed her over the edge. I took him with me and personally checked her into a mental hospital.

So I honestly have no idea why Ryan would ever say his mom couldn't compare to mine.

Helen picked things up super fast—within a week, my apartment was spotless and running like clockwork.

I was not exactly the poster child for self-discipline or a regular sleep schedule.

When work went crazy, I could pull all-nighters, and on weekends, I could sleep the whole day away without even waking up.

Helen never gave me grief about it. She'd time her chores around me—if I was sleeping or buried in work, she'd never clanged around or made a racket.

She never gave me a hard time about how unhealthy my schedule was. Instead, she'd ask Amanda for advice and cook up some health-boosting dishes tailored to my taste.

I was pleasantly surprised.