Page 22 of Awaiting
“You can keep saying I’m a Princess, but it won’t stop the fact that I’m standing here wearing a tool belt, ready to help. I’ve been conscripted.”
“Conscripted? So, you’re not even here of your own volition? Alice, what did you do?”
“No, I mean… Conscripted was the wrong word. I’m here because I want to be. I want to–”
“Alex is thinking about taking what you do here and bringing it back to the UK.”
Bexley looked from Alice to Alex and said, “You are? You have great speech pathologists in the UK.”
“Right. We do. Not everywhere, though. I’ll be the Queen of the Commonwealth, too. The United Kingdom is large, and we have great programs in the cities mainly. I’d love to learn more about what you do here to see if we can use some of it there. Perhaps, you could even help me start something up if it works out.”
Bexley looked back and forth between them again, suspecting something was up but not knowing what.
“Consider my physical labor my fee for… auditing.”
“You’re going to audit?” Bexley asked. “So, you’re not just here to help me clean up?”
“No,” Alex replied. “But only if you’re okay with it. If you’re not, I can go home. I–”
“You really want to learn fromme?” Bexley asked.
“Dr.Woods, you’re one of the best speech pathologists in the world. Who better to learn from?” Alex sounded sincere.
“IfIcan’t call you by your title, you shouldn’t have to call me by mine.”
“Yours was earned,” Alex replied.
Bexley softened at that comment. It sounded so genuine coming from Alex that she almost didn’t know how to respond to it.
“Well,” Alice spoke. “I only came by to drop her off. I have a meeting in the city, and security doesn’t like me being up here without them, so I should go.”
“What about your security?” Bexley asked Alex.
“They’re mostly downstairs. I only have four with me.”
“That’s all?”
“Alice has, like, ten on me at all times whenever I’m here. She doesn’t want anything to happen to the heir of Great Britain in her country.”
“We’d never live it down,” Alice reasoned.
“There are a couple in the stairwell, a couple on the elevator, a few on the roof, some on the street, and a couple on the other rooftops. Plus, they wired this place for cameras last night, so they probably all saw you do that little dance you did earlier.”
“Cameras?” Bexley looked around frantically. “They saw me?”
Alex laughed a little and said, “I was joking. But now I know that youdiddo a little dance earlier.”
Alice laughed at that as well and said, “Okay. I have to go now. You two have fun. If you use power tools, remember to wear goggles and measure twice, cut once.”
“Is that what Nora always tells you?” Alex asked her.
“No, I grew up on a farm; I know how to use power tools. Haveyoueven used ahammer?” Alice teased.
“You’ve never used a hammer?” Bexley asked, wondering how Alex would be any help to her at all.
“I’ve used a hammer. I’m very good at hammering.” Alex pulled the hammer out of the belt and held it up handle first. “It’s this end, right?”
Alice laughed, pressed the elevator button, and shook her head.