Page 78 of I Love to Hate You
“Damn,” I whisper to myself. After the prompt, the phone chimes and I start my message. “Hey, it’s me. I was just wondering if everything is okay. It’s almost nine and …”
Before I can complete my sentence, the elevator doors open again and out steps Maya. She’s dressed in a gorgeous black, white, and gray geometric print skirt that hugs her lower half and makes my eyes get stuck in a trance. Her top is black and form-fitting as well, and her hair is styled beautifully. Everything about her is dazzling, but the look on her face is as cold as ice. Her facial expression can only be described as blank, and she walks toward us with her eyes on the floor, clearly in thought as she approaches. When she reaches us, I lean in to hug her, and she barely responds, only slightly inching toward me before pulling away.
“Hey, you okay?” I ask.
When she looks at me, it’s like she’s a different person—someone far less interested in me than the Maya I knew before this moment.
“I’m fine,” she says, and even her voice is disinterested.
“You look exquisite,” Erica compliments.
Maya’s smile is forced and barely noticeable. “Thanks,” she says before turning to me. “You ready? We should get going.”
“Yeah, of course,” I answer.
“Bye, guys,” Maya says to the group as she quickly turns on her heel and starts down the hall.
The interns all look to me for answers. Their eyes bulge in my direction as palms turn upward and they silently ask me what’s going on, but I’m just as in the dark as they are, so I shrug and speed walk to catch up to Maya, who’s halfway down the hall already.
“Hey,” I say when I reach her. “You sure you're okay? You're flying right now, speed demon.”
“Well, I don't want to make us late,” she says without even looking at me. So much for our banter.
She keeps her eyes glued to the space directly in front of her feet as we walk down the hall and make a turn into an office with a handful of computers along the back wall, and a large conference table in the center. There are cubicles scattered about the room as well, with people typing their lives away on computers. Seated at the head of the conference table is a short woman with jet black hair cut into a bob, wearing a red and gray sweater. She cheerlessly stands to meet us when we enter.
“Maya Valentina and Kendrick Kennedy?” she asks with a tone that suggests she hopes we’re not the people she’s expecting.
“That’s us,” I answer.
I’m pretty sure I hear a barely audible groan in the back of her throat before she speaks again.
“Fantastic,” she says sarcastically. “My name is Rose. I’m the head of HR, and I’ll be in charge of your onboarding today. Believe it or not, we’ll be spending the entire day swimming in paperwork of all sorts, so please grab a seat and make yourselves comfortable. We’ll get started shortly.”
I let out a nervous chuckle as Rose leads us to the table and gestures toward the chairs. Maya and I sit down, and Rose walks toward an office in the back corner while we wait. Instead of the giddiness I expected Maya to have today, she’s downtrodden and dejected, completely devoid of her usual flair that I love so much. This version of Maya feels like I’m sitting next to her evil twin, and I’m unsure of how to communicate with her.
I look at her, but her eyes are fixated on a knot in the wooden table. She traces circles around it with her pinkie, clearly lost in her own world of thoughts.
“So, how was your night? Did everything go okay with your dad?” I ask.
I should probably tread more lightly, but I’m honestly not sure how. She doesn’t answer right away, and I think I may have crossed the line by asking about her father, because I know that’s the most sensitive subject for her, but it’s too late to take it back, so I wait for her to signal that she’s going to respond.
She finally lets out a huff, but her eyes don’t leave the knot. “It was fine. Same old, same old with him.”
I nod slowly, my eyes moving all over the place in search of something else to say. “Cool, cool. Are you nervous about getting started today?”
“No, Kendrick,” she snips. Her gaze cuts up to me for a brief second, but it’s long enough for me to know not to push much harder because she’s clearly not in the mood. “I just want to get this done and move on to tomorrow. Today isn’t a good day.”
I pinch my lips together, doing my best to absorb the blow she just dealt with her acerbity. At the same time, I realize that today may be a significant day for Maya, which might be the cause of her stress. The question now is, how do I ask her about it without forcing her to talk about something she doesn’t want to discuss?
I’ve known for a little while that Maya’s mother died over nine years ago, and I knew the ten-year anniversary of her death was approaching, but she never said what the actual day was. The only information I’ve been given is that the day was looming, and that she and her father had a very hard time on the anniversary each year. I didn't know what to do with that info, but I always understood the need to be sensitive about it, and planned to tread lightly and approach with caution when the day finally did arrive.
“Umm, is there something specific about today that makes it bad?” I ask, then I hold my breath and hope the world doesn’t implode.
Maya stares at the knot without blinking, her eyes filling with tears that she manages to blink away before they can fall. She takes a deep breath, and just as she’s about to give me an answer, Rose returns with a handful of papers.
“Okie dokie. As I stated earlier,” she begins, taking her seat next to me. “We’re going to be together all day today, but if we focus, we can knock it all out and won’t have to worry about coming back tomorrow. We’ll start with all of the financial documents first. Are we ready to go?”
I glance at Maya but she only looks at Rose as she nods. “Ready.”
