Page 61 of Maid For Each Other

“I see,” I said, disappointed that I’d never know more than that. There was something about the idea of her brain running wild on paper, creating stories, that I found mildly intoxicating. Made me want to sit at her feet and listen to her talk for hours.

Shit—what the hell is wrong with me?

Obviously it’d been a long weekend and I was losing perspective when thoughts likethatpopped into my head. It was good that we were wrapping up, and that in a few hours I’d be on my way to New York.

The sooner this weekend of pretend was over, the better for my brain.

“Are you almost ready to go?” I asked. “You look nice, by the way.”

“Thank you,” she said, standing and looking down at herself. “I’ve never really been a blazer sort of person, but I feel like Edward is good at knowing what sort of person Ishouldbe.”

“He’s the best,” I agreed. “But I wouldn’t second-guess the fact that you know better than anyone who you are.”

Her eyebrows crinkled together even harder at that, like shedidn’t understand my words, which was fair because I didn’t, either. It hadn’t even been forty-eight hours since we’d met, and now I was trying to convince her of her style or outlook on life.

I wasn’t sure what was going on with me.

Maybe I was coming down with something.

“I’m ready,” she said. “Let me just put this notebook in the bedroom.”

She walked into the other room, gesturing to my bag as she passed, saying, “Don’t you have a suitcase?”

It was strange to see her go into my bedroom like she belonged there. “No,” I said. “I live in New York, too, so I have everything I need in my apartment.”

“I can’t believe you have a place in New York,” she said—squealed, actually—as she came back in the room, a look of childlike wonder on her face. “I’ve always wanted to go there.”

Something about the excitement in her voice made me feel…guiltyagain.Or just hyperaware of how lucky I was. Because to me it was no big deal. It was just an apartment, and New York was just another busy city.

But to her, it was somewhere she’d always wanted to go but had never been.

Abi hadn’t been able to afford a weeklong stay at a hotel for a simple apartment building issue, yet I had multiple residences.

So, yes—here she is again, reminding me of my privilege.

“Do we have time to get coffee on the way?” she asked, grabbing her purse off the counter. “I know we’re going to a brunch where they’ll likely have some, but I am a person who thoroughly enjoys a Frappuccino for breakfast on the weekends every once in a while.”

“Only every once in a while?” I picked up my keys, not unaware of the way they’d been sitting beside her bag like we were an actual couple who lived there together. “You mean you’re not someone who gets it every weekend?”

“Are you kidding me?” she said, looking at me like I’d lost my mind. “It’s like seven bucks a drink. I am not on a Frapp-every-weekend budget, but thank you for thinking that I might be.”

She laughed and patted me on the shoulder as she walked past me, leaving a waft of something floral but vanilla that I was worried would be my new favorite scent.

21

Taking Off

Abi

It’s impossible to believe people actually live this way.

I looked around the luxury hangar and had a hard time believingthiswas in any way, shape, or form related to the airplane travel I remembered. While normal people stood in security lines with donut-shaped pillows strapped around their necks and sat in crowded terminals, the privileged hung outhere?

Unbelievable.

The Monk Aviation hangar was ridiculously cool. It had tall ceilings, shiny floors, and a wide-open warehouse feel that was the polar opposite of modern air travel spaces. The furnishings were all next level, sleek and modern and actually comfortable, and I swear to God there wasn’t a speck of dust or piece of trash anywhere in this place.

Tables had been brought in for the brunch—tables that werecoveredin food. A huge buffet was laid out, but not the kind of buffet I was familiar with in my life. There were no sneeze guardsdangling down in front of aluminum trays filled with precooked scrambled eggs and questionable bacon.

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