Page 52 of When Stars Collide
“Don’t be. You opened up to me in the cab, I guess I should return the favor.” He put his hands in his pockets, leaning one hip against the side of the elevator car. “She couldn’t handle all the hours I put in at work. All the time alone. Honestly, I can’t say as I blame her.”
“Now I feel like a real asshole for all the grief I’ve been giving you.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. You were right. I needed to start getting out there again. Hell, even Clarence was starting to give me crap. If you hadn’t been there with me tonight, he most likely would have said something to me about coming home alone again.”
“He probably thinks you’re Pretty-Womaning me.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Have you seen the moviePretty Woman? It’s the one where Richard Gere basically buys Julia Roberts’s character for a week because, you know, she’s a hooker and all.”
“Is that even a thing?”
“Prostitution has always been a thing, Phin.”
“I know, but you don’t think …”
I gestured up and down my body, highlighting the dress that left little to the imagination, even with Phineas’s suit coat still draped around my shoulders. His eyes followed my hand down each curve, widening as though noticing for the first time how form-fitting the dress was.
“It would appear I may need to have a conversation with Clarence.”
With a screech, the door to the elevator slid open, and Phineas and I stepped out together.
“No worries. I’ll just make a sign that reads,Not A Prostituteand tape it to my boobs before I leave.”
A couple who had been waiting to board the elevator stopped mid-conversation to look me up and down, before their focus turned to Phineas.
“Hey, Mark. Hey, Lisa. Lovely evening, isn’t it?” he greeted them.
“Yes, it certainly is for fall,” Mark answered. A flummoxed Lisa concurred with a courteous nod.
“This is Mena. She works with me at my company.”
“Pleasure to meet you. Don’t worry, I’m definitely not a prostitute,” I greeted them, shaking first Mark’s hand, and thenLisa’s.
“And on that note, have a good night.” Phineas bade them farewell, wrapping his arm around me and steering me away from the elevator.
Bewildered, Mark and Lisa looked from one another back to Phineas and me as wewalked away, waving at them, laughing when the elevator door closed.
“Friends of yours?” I asked.
“God, no. I can’t stand those pretentious pricks. And after that exchange, perhaps they’ll quit knocking on my door to request donations to their various ridiculous charities, like Seeing Eye Dogs For Blind Penguins, for example.”
“I’ll have you know the plight of the blind penguin is quite the harrowing tale.”
“One of which I’ll never put a dime toward.”
“Heartless bastard.”My gaze drifted to his hand on my shoulder and back at him again.
“Oh. Sorry.” In the dim light available from the strands of fairy lights strung above us, I swore I saw his face flush just the slightest shade of crimson.
I stared in awe at the extravagance before me. In the middle of the rooftop paradise was a large pool, closed and covered for the season. Off to the side of the pool stood a bar, illuminated with blue and purple LED lights and still teeming with more people than I wanted to be around. Circling its perimeter, all-weather couches and furniture made to withstand the elements were arranged in clusters next to the frameless glass railing, designed to provide an unobstructed view of the city while keeping the rooftop’s visitors safely on the rooftop.
“Come on.” With a nod, Phineas motioned for me to follow him.
Despite the amount of people surrounding it, I was a little disappointed when he passed the bar in favor of a group of couches situated on the east side of the building, which remained relatively vacant, save for a few small groups of people here and there.In the middle of the seating area Phineas selected, a fire crackled in a glass fire pit, a welcome amenity. I held my hands over the pit, warming them. In spite of the unseasonably warm, early November weather, a slight chill had begun to take over with the arrival of nightfall. The chill wasn’t an uncomfortable one, just enough to cause a brief shiver to make its way up a person’s spine before their body could regulate itself.
“Mena,” Phineas called my name from where he stood in front of the glass railing.
