London Harmony: Flotilla Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked up and grinned, “Felling better?” I blushed and nodded. Natalie ran screaming from her mother's room to the kid's room with Wil hot on her heels making monster growls. How could you not smile?
    I looked back to see Paya sitting on the couch working on some paperwork. Steph said, “Tabby's right, that woman can't slow down and stop working for even a moment.”
    I cocked my head at that and asked her quietly, “How many workers does she have under her? I know she's the director or some such.”
    Steph lowered her voice to something conspiratorial. “Besides the captain of the barges and the maintenance crew, the silly bird runs it all herself. Tabby helps out from time to time between gigs.” Then she added, “Of course Tabby's lawyers and accountants handle the money and the contracts end of it all.”
    I thought about all the barges I saw and figured six residents or families per boat, and all the people she has placed through Slingshot. Multiplied year over year, there had to be hundreds that she had placed, and she did it alone? That was insane.
    I looked over at the woman as her brow furrowed as she filled out some sort of forms. I had a new appreciation for her. I whispered, “Why does she do it alone?”
    Steph rolled her eyes like it was obvious and she smiled cutely at me, her face ticking as she said, “Because... she loves it, and loves the people. She is one of the most selfless people I have ever had the privileged to know. I've watched her cry every time she places someone in a flat of their own. She doesn't think anyone sees, and acts all aloof, but in the short few months I have known her, I have witnessed it over and over. This job is her passion.”
    Then she squeaked in triumph as she pulled a stack of napkins and paper plates out of the box she was rummaging in. I had to bite back a chuckle. You'd think she had just won the lottery or defeated a Mongol hoard single-handedly. It just made her all the cuter in my eyes.
    She set them on the little kitchen table, and we both turned to a buzzing at the door. She blinked and walked over, I noted a little bit of a limp or twitch or something in her left leg as she walked to the door. She presses the button on the intercom panel mounted at the door. That modern adornment looking as out of place in the old flat as the high-tech door locks. “Yes?”
    A man's voice came through the speaker. “Yes, right, I was looking for Paya Doshi?”
    She replied as she looked at the panel, “Come right up... umm... hang on a second while I figure this contraption out.” She stabbed another button, and we heard a buzzing sound over the intercom, and she grinned in triumph again and stepped past Paya to my side again.
    She called out, “Children, lunch is here, go get cleaned up.”
    They came squealing out of their room. I realized they had been pretty quiet in there, that was always a sign of little ones getting into mischief. They darted into the washroom, and I said to Steph, “There's no hand towels in there.”
    She cringed and then held a finger up and reached into the open box again and came out with a dish towel and made her way to supervise the little ones who could barely get their hands up into the sink. They most likely had a little step stool packed away in one of the boxes.
    I tilted my head to watch her as she held each one up to the running water in turn. She was so good with them, she really made a great mum.
    Paya cleared her throat, knocking me out of my admiration. I turned, and she said, with humor restrained in her voice, “She lives for those children. There isn't anything she wouldn't do for them.”
    I nodded and sat absently on one of the little kitchen chairs. The doorbell rang, and Steph called out, “Paya?”
    The dark haired woman popped up from the couch like she was on springs, calling out, “On it.”
    She stepped to the door and opened it with a grin. A tallish bloke was standing there holding two pizza boxes in his hands