Cleaning Up

Cleaning UpLEANNE LIEBERMANGroundwood BooksHouse of Anansi PressToronto / Berkeley Copyright © 2023 by Leanne LiebermanAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.Published in 2023 by Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Pressgroundwoodbooks.comWe gratefully acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing program the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Canada.Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in PublicationTitle: Cleaning up / Leanne Lieberman.Names: Lieberman, Leanne, author.Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220268843 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220268851 |ISBN 9781773068060 (softcover) | ISBN 9781773068077 (EPUB)Classification: LCC PS8623.I36 C54 2023 | DDC jC813/.6—dc23Jacket illustration by Charlotte DayDesign by Michael SolomonEbook developed by Nicole LambeChapter opening illustrations: pikisuperstar on FreepikGroundwood Books is a Global Certified Accessible™ (GCA by Benetech) publisher. An ebook version of this book that meets stringent accessibility standards is available to students and readers with print disabilities.Groundwood Books is committed to protecting our natural environment. This book is made of material from well-managed FSC®-certified forests, recycled materials and other controlled sources. For Makaio and Dassa Groundwood Books is grateful for the opportunity to share stories and make books on the Traditional Territory of many Nations, including the Anishinabeg, the Wendat and the Haudenosaunee. It is also the Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit. In partnership with Indigenous writers, illustrators, editors and translators, we commit to publishing stories that reflect the experiences of Indigenous Peoples. For more about our work and values, visit us at groundwoodbooks.com. 01THE HOUSE WAS bigger and shabbier than Jess had expected.She stood on the gravel drive looking up at the antique-looking gray stone house with its peaked roof and white gingerbread trim. A narrow porch with fancy lawn furniture ran across the front of the house, but the lawn needed mowing and the garden beds were a mess of weeds. If this was her garden, she would plant white hydrangeas with blue irises for contrast. Jess slowly walked her bike toward the house, propped it against the porch and took off her helmet. She tried to smooth her hair more neatly into her braids. Her mom’s rose-colored lipstick was in her knapsack, but maybe it would be too much for a job interview for cleaning. Jess smoothed on some lip gloss instead. Then she clicked the empty Shania Twain CD case in her knapsack open and closed a few times, feeling the plastic snap in and out of its grooves. She’d never set up her own job interview before or introduced herself to strangers.Jess had seen Liz Gupta’s notice for a cleaner on the Valu-mart corkboard in Westport last week. She had spoken with Liz on the phone and sent on her references, and now Liz wanted to meet her.Jess took a deep breath, clicked the CD case open and shut one more time and then walked across the front porch and knocked on the door. A petite blonde woman answered a moment later.“You must be Jess.” She smiled, showing off perfect white teeth. “Come in.” Liz Gupta had wide-set, pretty green eyes and a pointed chin. Her arms, exposed by a tailored tank top, were fit, as if she played tennis. Jess noticed her diamond stud earrings, her expensive-looking ring and an elegant navy jacket draped over a chair in the front hall that matched her suit skirt. Liz led Jess into a dining room with a wooden table so shiny it looked like glass. Chairs were neatly pushed in around it. “So, it’s a heritage house with lots of corners that trap dirt, and it’s pretty big,” Liz said. Jess resisted running a finger along the edge of a china cupboard. “Old,” she said. “Yes, from the 1850s,” Liz said. “We bought the house two years ago and remodeled the bathrooms and kitchen, but these are the original oak floors.” Jess looked down and nodded, as if she was interested in the wide slabs of wood. They were in a sunny kitchen now, done up with white cupboards, marble counters and a copper range hood. Liz pointed out a door to a powder room, led Jess past a breakfast nook and then down a hallway that opened on to a master bedroom and bath that Liz explained were an addition that included a basement, and then into a large living room. The house was dusty but uncluttered. Instead of the magazines and kids’ toys at the Chin and Mueller houses where Jess also cleaned, there were antique lamps and carefully curated knickknacks — the kind of vases and candlesticks that you couldn’t buy at Bed Bath & Beyond. Jess had been cleaning long enough to know the difference, even though her own apartment had none of those items, not even little signs that said things like “A Home Is Not a Home without Love.” Jess and her dad moved too often for extra things like decorations. In the living room Liz perched on one of the matching chairs in front of the fireplace. She gestured for Jess to sit on a deep couch facing her. At the back of the room by glass doors that led to a patio sat one of those big pianos with the top propped up. “We’ve been away for a few months and haven’t had a chance to have the house cleaned since we came back.” Liz tapped her manicured nails on a dusty side table. “I was hoping we’d find someone a little … well, a little older, but I called your references and Evelyn Chin couldn’t say more nice things about you: responsible, efficient, meticulous.” Jess smiled thinly. “Thank you.” “So we’re looking for someone to get the house in order, and then come once a week. Do you think you could do that?” Jess