Page 56 of A Certain Appeal
“Absolutely!” I say, excited by both the dress and having something to distract me from the all-consuming trifecta of Jane, Meryton, and Darcy. “Friday will be perfect. The rest of the staff is going to be out for team-building, so it’ll just be you and me. I’ll make you a fancy coffee.”
“Ooh la la!”
“Same menu as last time?” I ask.
“If it ain’t broke...” She twinkles her fingers and descends to her train.
A few hours later, I’m at the intersection closest to my building, grandma cart loaded with my haul from Associated Supermarkets. A flash of red hair across the street catches my eye. Beside the door to the apartment lobby stand Ginn, Tonic, and Wickham. As I wait for the walk signal, I watch the trio, the girls’ heads in close as Wickham says something.
Ginn spots me when I reach the curb. “Hey, Kitten!” she hollers. Tonic and Wickham start. Wickham recovers with a rakish grin. Tonic chews at her thumbnail.
“Hey.” I push the cart their way. “What are you doing in this neck of the woods?”
“We wanted to see how Jane is.” Ginn pushes her glossy lower lip forward in sympathy. Word got out about the breakup last weekend, when Esteban asked Jane if “Thor” was going to be in attendance. “Maybe take him out. I guess he’s not in?”
The thoughtful gesture tugs at my chest a bit. “No, he had lessons all afternoon, but he should be back in the next twenty or so.”
Ginn looks to Wickham, who shrugs, making his puffer vest crinkle. Tonic picks at her fingernails. No one says anything. And they’re still in front of the door.
I raise an eyebrow. “Do you want to come up and wait?”
“Sure!” Ginn steps closer to the door.
Wickham and Tonic move my way. “Can I help with that?” Wickham reaches for my cart. I hand it over gratefully. Park Slope is aptly named, and the incline from the grocery store is killer on the days I’m prepping to cook for Ming.
“Thanks.” I remove a bag to lighten the load, and Tonic takes it off my hands. I unlock the outside door, and we cram into the vestibule, through the interior door, and into the lobby. Wickham balks at the stairs, glancing at the cart.
“I’ll get the wheel end if you don’t mind walking backward,” I offer. He gives me a thumbs-up, then guides the cart to the bottom stair. I get ahold of the base, and we start the trek, finding a groove after a few precarious steps.
Wickham nods at the cart. “This is a lot of food for two people.”
“Closer to three. I have an exchange with Ming.”
“An exchange?”
“For services rendered.” I shift my grip, my recent return to climbing making my forearms complain under the weight of the cart. “The Twins do it, too. Ming’s our go-to seamstress, and I pay her back by cleaning or doing meal prep. But when I cook for her, I get in portions for Jane and me, too.”
“What’s on the menu?”
“All stuff that can be frozen. Mostly mains and proteins. Getting Ming to eat her vegetables is an exercise in futility—she’s like a four-year-old.”
“Any way I can get in on this meal planning?” he asks, and wiggles his eyebrows.
I stop myself before I make a joke about whatever “services” he thinks he can provide in exchange. “So are things going well with that venture you mentioned? And the family thing?”
“I have a few irons in the fire.”
I think of Darcy’s warning, the question about my boss and Wickham. “You helping expand Toby’s empire?”
“Toby has enough going on for now,” he says, managing a shrug he probably regrets when it throws off his balance with the cart. “Work It is already coast-to-coast, though if I’d reached out sooner, I might have been able to offer Toby some guidance.”
While I’m glad to hear he’s not involving himself with anything Work It related, I bristle that Wickham thinks he could have swept in and done better than my boss did. Toby might be a goob, but he knows what he’s doing.
Wickham hauls the cart onto the final landing. “I’ve had some inspiration lately. If I can get it together by the end of the month, I’ll be money.”
“Big month for a lot of people,” I say, thinking of the Meryton sale and whatever it might mean for me. “Best of luck. And thanks for the assist.”
Ginn and Tonic are at the door, Ginn leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, Tonic beside her, the grocery bag at her feet. She’s picking at her nails again. I unlock the door and push it open, and Wickham reaches in over my head to hold it as I tug the cart in.
