The Love Hotel

I cannot simply go up to them and make them feel like they do not stand a chance against me, because at the end of the day I am the underdog. I need you to keep her existence and her presence here a complete and utter secret. This is up to you, of course. If you don’t want to do this, I will not blame you at all. I will pay you your salary for the rest of this month and we can part ways. I just want you to know that if you do this, you will help someone that truly needs your help. You will be doing something that will help someone that has been in a difficult situation for a very long period of time.

“I am so sorry that I have put you in this position, but I am desperate. You must be able to tell just how desperate I am if I were to do something like this. I wish that it was some other way, I wish that you could live the life that you wanted to without me coming in and giving you this terrible choice to make. But I have no choice either. I need to take care of her. I am the only one that can. And if you don’t want to do this, I will completely understand. I will do it all myself. I know I can do it. It will be difficult, but that is no reason to shy away from something like this. I just was hoping that I might get some help. But that is not your responsibility. If you choose to do this, you will help me out a lot, but if you don’t you will not be a bad person at all and I will not blame you for this in any way whatsoever.”

Rochelle thought for a moment. She didn’t really pay attention to the fact that Bradley needed her help in taking care of her mother. She did not think that she was going to have a problem doing that, especially if she was being paid so well. The thing that she was thinking about right now was how utterly alone Bradley was, and how brave he was to face all of this on his own. Had he ever vented to anyone like this? He had friends, but all of them thought of him as this invincible juggernaut. She wanted to talk to him, and hear him out. She wanted him to realize that he had a right to feel loved and understood.

“Can I talk to you?” asked Rochelle. “In private, I mean. Just for a moment, I won’t take all that long I promise and what I have to say isn’t all that intense. I just need to say it to you in private, do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Bradley, standing up immediately. He had a look of intense worry upon his face. He looked so old. Far older than his thirty years. He looked like Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked like somebody that had been fighting for so long that he no longer knew what it was like to no longer fight. He no longer knew what life was like for people that did not have to struggle with the forces of people that would do him harm on a day to day basis. And that made Rochelle sad.

They went into Bradley’s bedroom and sat down. Rochelle looked at him for a long moment and said, “Are you okay?”

Bradley looked confused. He looked like he had absolutely no idea whatsoever what Rochelle was on about. “Am I okay? Yes, I am okay. I mean… I don’t understand the question.”

Rochelle took his hand. “I think that’s the point. You have spent so long fighting for other people, so long dedicating your life to getting your mother out of a bad situation that you have completely and utterly forgotten what it is like to live life for yourself. You have forgotten what it is like to want anything that does not have anything to do with your mother. Do you understand?”

“I don’t,” said Bradley. “All I want is for my mother to be happy and safe. All I want is for her to get better. I have the best psychiatrist in the country who comes in here and helps her every week, I just need somebody to help me take care of her at all other times.”

Rochelle looked at him. “You are an amazing person,” she said. “You truly are one of the most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

Bradley opened and closed his mouth a few times. He looked like he had absolutely no idea whatsoever what to say in response to that. “I’m not,” said Bradley. “I’m just doing what’s right. It’s the only thing to do. I can’t do anything else apart from this, you know? What am I supposed to do, just leave my mother?”

“Of course not,” said Rochelle, “but just because you are doing what you are supposed to be doing does not make you any less brave for doing it. So many people would have taken the easy route. They would have simply ignored the fact that their own mother needed them and they would have preferred to live their lives pretending like nothing was wrong at all. You are not like that. You are a truly and genuinely good person and I am so glad that I know you. I’m so glad, Bradley, because your love and concern doesn’t just extend to your mother, it extends to every single person around you. You helped me when you did not have to. You have helped so many people that you did not have to help. You have helped pretty much every single one of your employees when they needed it, and pretty much every single time you have done it they have not known that it was you that was helping them. Money is nothing for you, you give it away like it does not matter. I know all of these things because Alice has told me. You have to tell her, of course, because it is through her that you manage to get all of these things done, you know? It is because of her that you manage to remain anonymous. But she has told me, and in telling me she made me realize what a wonderful person you are.”

Bradley had tears in his eyes. Rochelle held him and gently placed his head on her shoulder. He began to cry. He began to cry softly, the way someone that is not used to crying would cry. Rochelle had a feeling that he had needed to hear this. He had needed to hear somebody saying all of these wonderful things to him because he had gone so long thinking that he was just an average person when this was not the case at all. He was one of the most incredible people that Rochelle had ever had the pleasure of meeting, and she wanted him to know that. She wanted him to know just how special he was, because she was sure of one thing more than anything else in the entire world: she loved him. She truly, truly loved him, and she was glad that she had met him at this stage of her life because she was strong enough to love him the way he deserved to be loved.