Chương 16
The scratch had healed months ago.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Maya knew what she was looking for.
The evidence was gone.
Not the event.
Just the visible part.
Victoria folded a paper napkin into smaller and smaller squares.
“How’s the hotel?”
“Still standing.”
“Disappointing.”
“We replaced three elevators.”
“Finally.”
“You knew?”
“Everyone knew.”
Maya stared.
“Why didn’t anyone—”
Victoria laughed.
“There she is.”
Maya stopped.
“Fine.”
They both smiled.
Then the smile faded.
Victoria looked down.
“I’ve been working.”
“Where?”
“A nonprofit.”
Maya raised an eyebrow.
“Do not.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
“What do you do?”
“Fundraising administration.”
“Do they know who you are?”
“Yes.”
“Do they like you?”
Victoria considered.
“Not especially.”
Maya laughed.
Victoria did too.
Then she said, “It’s good for me.”
Maya believed her.
Victoria unfolded the napkin.
“I’m sorry.”
Maya stopped.
“No qualifiers.”
Victoria nodded.
“I hit you. I lied afterward. I treated you like you were beneath me before I knew anything about you. And even after I knew who you were, I was more upset about being embarrassed than about hurting you.”
Maya looked at the table.
Victoria’s voice stayed steady.
“I did similar things to other people because I believed being upset gave me permission to make the room pay for it.”
Maya looked up.
Victoria swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
There was no satisfying response.
Maya had imagined this moment in several versions without admitting it.
In none of them did the bakery smell like burnt espresso.
In none of them did a toddler at the next table repeatedly bang a spoon.
In none of them did Maya feel mostly tired.
“Thank you,” she said.
Victoria nodded.
They sat quietly.
After a while, Maya said, “I hated you.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“Past tense?”
“Don’t get excited.”
“Sorry.”
“I still might.”
“Fair.”
Maya drank her coffee.
Victoria looked toward the window.
“I hated you too.”
“I know.”
“No. I hated you after.”
“That makes more sense.”
Victoria rubbed her thumb across the napkin.
“You became the person everybody used to prove something about me.”
Maya waited.
“Online. My father. The board. My therapist.”
“Your therapist sounds annoying.”
“She’s awful.”
“Good.”
Victoria smiled.
“I kept thinking, if you had just walked away that night, none of this would’ve happened.”
Maya felt her body stiffen.
Victoria noticed.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Maya relaxed slightly.
Victoria continued.
“Then one day I realized I had basically built my whole defense around wishing you had made it easier for me to mistreat you.”
Maya looked at her.
“That’s ugly.”
“Yes.”
“Good sentence.”
“I paid a therapist a lot of money for it.”
“That tracks.”
They laughed again.
The laughter felt uncomfortable.
Human.
Maya preferred that.
Victoria glanced at the taupe handbag beside Maya’s chair.
“You kept it.”
“I’m deciding.”
“Still?”
“Apparently.”
“You’re exhausting.”
“So I’m told.”
They left an hour later.
Outside, the late afternoon traffic had begun.
Victoria stood near the curb.
“My father says the hotel’s employee retention is up.”
“It is.”
“He says guest scores are up too.”
“Barely.”
“He brags about you.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
Victoria smiled.
Then looked serious.
“Are we friends?”
Maya stared at her.
“No.”
Victoria nodded.
“Okay.”
Maya appreciated that she did not ask again.
“Maybe one day.”
Victoria looked surprised.
Maya regretted saying it immediately.
She opened her car door.
“Don’t make that face.”
“What face?”
“That one.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You are.”
Victoria laughed.
Maya got into the car.
Before closing the door, she looked at Victoria.
“You can come to the hotel.”
Victoria stopped smiling.
“The board restriction expired.”
“I know.”
“I mean you can come.”
Victoria looked toward the street.
“I don’t know if I want to.”
“That’s okay.”
“Do people hate me?”
“Some.”
Victoria winced.
“Some don’t care.”
“That might be worse.”
“Probably.”
“Rosa?”
“Definitely hates you.”
Victoria nodded.
“Fair.”
Maya closed the door.
Then lowered the window.
“Victoria.”
She leaned closer.
“What?”
“If you come back, you come as a guest.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“No family privileges.”
“No.”
“No ordering managers around.”
“No.”
“No touching handbags.”
Maya looked at her.
Victoria raised both hands.
“Too soon?”
“Very.”
Maya drove away.
One year after the night Victoria kicked her bag, Maya stood again beneath the Halcyon Grand’s crystal chandelier.
There was another charity gala.
Different charity.
Same orchids.
Same polished marble.
The reception counter had been moved eighteen inches because Maya had spent months complaining that its original position obstructed traffic from the east ballroom.
Nobody had cared until a fire-safety review proved her right.
She found that satisfying in a petty way.
Her charcoal trousers were gone.
She wore a dark green suit and shoes that hurt because she had ignored her own advice and bought them for appearance.
Luis had attended reluctantly.
He stood near the bar eating tiny crab cakes.
“You have money,” Maya told him. “You can buy food.”
“These are free.”
“You paid five hundred dollars for the ticket.”
“You paid.”
“Exactly.”
He took another crab cake.
Across the foyer, Richard spoke with board members.
He had stepped down as CEO four months earlier while remaining chairman.
The new CEO was a woman from Chicago who disagreed with Maya about almost everything and, to Richard’s confusion, improved the company.
Cal had not returned.
Dean had regained supervisory responsibilities after a clean review.
Jamal was assistant banquet manager and currently arguing with a vendor near the ballroom doors.
Rosa worked upstairs.
Lena had been promoted to floor coordinator after beating twelve applicants.
The hotel was not fixed.
Maya no longer used that word.
Hotels were buildings full of people.
People did not become fixed.
They became accountable, tired, generous, defensive, better, worse, different.
A stir moved near the entrance.
Maya looked up.
Victoria had arrived.
She wore a black dress.
No dramatic entrance.
No crowd freeze.
A few people noticed.
A few whispered.
Most guests did not recognize her.
Time had done what no public relations strategy could.
It had made her less central.
May you like
Victoria paused near the entrance.
Maya watched her scan the foyer.
