Golden H.S.

14. Thursday

They don't elaborate, so I continue. "Mi dispiace, I will get out of your way" I get up and begin collecting my things.

I hear one of the women stutter a bit as she begins, "uhh you stay here with signor Harry?"

"Yes, I'm in a room upstairs," I pointed in the direction as if that were to explain it.

She nods and then says something in Italian to the other woman who also nods.

"I will get out of your way, don't worry about my room, I don't need it to be cleaned" I say as all three of us move into the house, my arms full of my things and they have cleaning items. As I walk into the open space I can see they brought a vacuum and a mop, and a bucket of cleaning supplies. I hate they had to carry that up all the stairs. On the kitchen counter I see several covered dishes like the ones in the fridge and it dawns on me they are the ones bringing the food.

I turn to them excitedly and say, "You also cook?" I gesture to the food.

Donna smiles at me and nods her head, "Si"

"È molto delizioso" I say excitedly.

She just beamed at me and nodded her head, "Ho imparato nella cucina di mia nonna"

"Grazie, grazie" I say and excitedly hug her and Anita. They just smile at each other and look at me. I've exhausted my usable Italian so I use my phone to translate and tell them, "I don't want to be in the way, I'm heading out." I also ask if they need anything from me, and they say no. I thank them again and head upstairs to get my things.

As I'm gathering my belongings for the day I marvel at how lucky I am. I want to check out the beach but I also need to get Harry a thank you gift for letting me stay. I know it's the production paying for everything but I'm still grateful. I decided to look for a gift first. There are some artisan shops not far from here I haven't been to yet.

As I head out the door, I stop to thank Donna and Anita again. One is vacuuming the floor and another is spraying and wiping down the countertops. I hand them both money as a tip and they just stand there staring at me. I didn't mean to be awkward about it so I clumsily say, "Grazie" and gestured around the house and kitchen.

Donna asks, "Do we need to clean all the rooms upstairs?"

"Don't worry about mine it doesn't need it." I'm unsure of Harry's preferences but I can't imagine it needs much either since they were here yesterday. From what I've seen the hall closet is full of clean towels and supplies and they clearly keep the kitchen well stocked.

"Actually, I don't think upstairs needs anything so you don't have to worry about that and everything looks great down here too. So really you could call this one all good."

"What about the other rooms?"

"No one is in them so they don't need anything."

They continue to stare at me. I'm at a loss on what to say.

"We will need to unload the dishwasher when it finishes so we will be around and make sure everything is in order."

"I can take care of that. You all are so fast. But really we are all set here so take off early. Enjoy the day."

At that they look at each other I can tell they aren't convinced.

"I won't say anything, the place is spotless, it's silly to wait around for the dishwasher, take off early."

"Are you sure signora?"

"Of course. I can even help you carry your stuff."

I can tell they are giddy at the idea of leaving work early. I carry a vacuum and a mop down the stairs and tell them "Ciao" as we part ways.