Page 49 of Purchase Power
“You have a sister named Lacey?” Noah asked.
Lucy had a piece of juicy, medium-rare steak in her mouth when he asked her that. All eyes were on her as she struggled to chew and swallow before too much time passed.Knowing me, I’ll be the most embarrassing person here because I can’t time my chewing right.“I know, it’s weird, right?” She washed down her bite with the last of her wine. “My sister and I joke that my mother liked my name so much, she did the next best thing and named her youngest Lacey. Lucy. Lacey. You bet your ass she mixed us up all the time.”
David shook his head, one cheek sucked in and his tongue ready to pop out of his mouth. “How about that, huh? Her sister’s name is almost exactly like your…”
“How’s the salmon, Dave?”
The look exchanged between them confused Lucy at first. Why was Noah interrupting him? What was David about to say? Similar towhat?
“I like your names,” Kelsey said from her isolated perch. “Lucy and Lacey are adorable names for a pair of sisters. It sounds like your mom didn’t know which one she liked better.”
“Right?” Lucy said with a big smile. “I think she flipped a coin for me. Then she had a leftover name for my sister. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had a brother.”
“Rudy,” David said. “She would have named him Rudy, so she could have a Lucy and a Rudy.”
Noah took a generous bite of his dinner. “It’s a small world,” was all he said.
“Anyway…” Lucy could have had more of her own food, but she had been in the middle of her story when Noah interrupted her. “I like to think of myself as an extrovert, but maybe I’m your run-of-the-mill introvert who enjoys the company of others once a week. Now, Lacey, she’s the one who has to be out every few hours getting her socializing on, going out on dates, having God knows who over to our place… Huh. Maybe that’s the problem. Sharing a place with your sister. Can’t really invite your own people over when she’s there.”
David’s eyes flitted between her and Noah. “Would you invite Noah over to spend the night in your cozy Manhattan apartment?”
“Manhattan?” Lucy dropped her fork, laughing. “Yeah, right! More like Brooklyn.”
“Brooklyn’s a fine place,” David continued. “I’ve had more than one girl in Brooklyn.”
Kelsey lowered her head and picked at her food. What a fine time for Lucy to remember the real reason they were there.
“I’d let Mr. Gabriel come over,” Lucy said, distracting the conversation away from David again, “but I don’t think my tiny two bedroom would be up to his standards. For one thing, I have a crappy wrought-iron bed that smacks up against the single-pane window overlooking the alley. Smells like pee, too. The alley, that is. Absolutely rank in the summer.” She sniffed. “Oh, speaking of pee! I’ve gotta go!”
Both men stopped halfway to putting food in their mouths. Lucy was out of her seat before her words dropped on their heads. The only person to not completely gape at her was Kelsey, who continued to keep to herself in her seat and with her food. Lucy dared to say that Kelsey had consumed more of her food than anyone else yet.
“I really don’t like going to the bathroom alone.” She put a hand on the back of Kelsey’s chair. “Would you mind coming with me to the ladies’ room?”
Kelsey lowered her fork from her mouth. “Huh?”
“So, Noah!” David took his cue to loudly talk in his friend’s direction. “How are those hemorrhoids, old boy?”
“What are you…” Noah was about to snap at David when Kelsey launched out of her seat and followed Lucy out of their private dining room. A server happened to pass the door the moment the two women emerged, and he was more than happy to point them in the right direction. Lucy made sure Kelsey was following her before she went inside.
“Holy shit.” She gawked at the fountain in the middle of the rest area. No, it wasn’t the size of the room, but the sounds of running water definitely made her have togofor real. Yet she held it in, directing Kelsey to one of the couches in front of a low mirror where female guests could reapply their makeup. “You ever seen such a fancy bathroom like this before?”
Kelsey sat on the cushion closest to the wall. She pulled out a tube of lipstick from her purse and stared at her own reflection. “Of course,” she said. “My mother used to say that a bathroom without substance was of no use to our functions.”
Huh… okay.“Well, I’ve never seen anything like it. I guess that’s why Noah brought me to a place like this. I’ve had lots of culture from around the world in my life, but nothing like this. Nothing like the large life right here in the middle of a city I’ve never visited before. Are you from around here?”
Kelsey lowered her tube of lipstick. “No. I’m from Manhattan.”
“Oh. Well… did you know you would be coming here when you…” God. She didn’t know how to bring it up, after all. Howdidone simply talk about selling one’s self to the highest bidder? Whether because they needed money or whatever! This wasn’t exactly on Lucy’s list of girl gossip, but it could make for excellent fodder in an article. “When you met Mr. Hayes?”
“I didn’t meet him until long after the event was over.” Kelsey kept her eye locked on her lipstick tube.
“You mean not at all?”
“Well… he came into my room.” Her blush was so strong that it almost knocked Lucy off her seat. “He was so roaring drunk that he basically passed out right in front of me. Security had to discreetly show him out. I didn’t even know what I would be doing or where I would be going until late the next day.”
The same had been true for Lucy, but at least Noah hadn’t been drunk.And he made his intentions for me pretty clear, even if I didn’t know where I would be staying…Having David stumble into her parlor with alcohol on his breath and a lurch in his step would have set a very amusing tone for Lucy, but for Kelsey, it was terrifying.Based on what I’ve heard, anyway.
“I don’t want to give you the wrong impression of Mr. Hayes,” she said. “He’s really a kind and sensitive man. I suppose. I don’t know him that well, but he’s been nothing but considerate. Especially when you consider…”
