The Replacement Wife by Tiffany L. Warren

a long time that you’d marry her. Maybe you don’t have the nerve to propose to her.”
    â€œNerve?” Quentin said with attitude. “You don’t think I have the nerve to propose to Chloe?”
    â€œTerminally ill people are pretty candid. Don’t take it personal.”
    â€œIt has nothing to do with nerve.”
    â€œThen why haven’t you asked her yet? You’re not getting any younger.”
    Quentin said, “Maybe I’m waiting on you to get better, so I can leave her and we can run away together.”
    â€œShoot, we can do that now. Where you wanna go?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Quentin said. “Barbados?”
    Alexis pressed the remote control next to her bed and the television came to life. She clicked through the channels—all with some peaceful scene—until she got to the channel with the white sand beach and waves crashing over the shore.
    There were about twenty channels for the residents to choose from as a form of pain management. It was all about meditation and relaxation. Alexis used the television more than the other ladies, but then she also used less morphine.
    â€œYou know, on a serious note,” Alexis said, “why don’t you get a couple dudes up in here? It gets pretty boring with all this cancer-ridden estrogen floating around.”
    â€œI’m not enough man for you?” Quentin asked, as he stood up from his chair. He kissed Alexis on the top of her head. It wasn’t something he did with all the residents, but he and Alex had become close. If he’d ever had a little sister, he imagined she’d be like Alex.
    â€œYou’re about to make me blush,” Alexis said. “Don’t go home smelling like me; your girlfriend might get mad.”
    Alexis burst into laughter at her own joke. She smelled like a mixture of menthol, oatmeal, and sickness. There was nothing appealing about the scent of decay.
    â€œI’ll be back to see you tomorrow. I’ve got to meet some new nanny my mother hired.”
    Alexis raised her sparse eyebrows. “I’ll be counting the seconds until you return. Except after I take my meds. Then I’ll be out like a light until your return.”
    â€œYes, you better take your medication, Alex.”
    â€œI will. I promise.”
    Quentin squeezed her hand. “Don’t suffer.”
    â€œYou either.”
    Quentin kissed Alexis’s head once more before he left the room. He couldn’t promise her he wouldn’t suffer, though. Quentin witnessed the pain of every resident at Transitions and felt an emotional drain every time one of them passed on.
    Sometimes Quentin asked himself how many times he would watch someone die before he stopped feeling guilty for being alive. And he couldn’t answer the question. He didn’t know when it would be enough, or if it would ever be enough. As long as his pain enveloped him like a woolen shawl, he’d continue to watch their transitions, while he stayed the same.

CHAPTER 7
    M ontana stood outside the Chambers mansion, feeling tiny in comparison to its grandeur. Although it was the biggest house she’d ever seen up close, the white brick and blue shutters gave it a welcoming feel.
    Montana lifted her hand to ring the bell, but the door swung open before she got the chance. Standing in front of her stood a sour-faced woman in all black, with her hair pulled back in a mean-looking bun.
    â€œOh, hello,” Montana said, unable to hide her surprise.
    The woman’s gaze swept over Montana from head to toe. “You’re late.”
    â€œI know, and I’m so, so sorry,” Montana gushed. “I just ran into horrible traffic on the way from church.”
    â€œCome in. Mrs. Chambers is expecting you. I am Ms. Levy. If you do get the job, you will report to me.”
    If she got the job? Montana thought their meeting was a formality. She didn’t know she was still being