Chapter 6
"Are you going to eat those?" Sarah asks, pointing at the french fries on Jodie's plate.
Both cleaners, as they sometimes do when they finish their late shift, have gone to eat at the employee cafeteria in the Mallois Hotel, where, despite the ridiculously low food prices, Jodie usually brings a lunch box because she can't afford extra expenses. Today is her first day working in Katherine Taylor's penthouse, and her nerves have tied her stomach in such knots that she's barely touched the meat and salad on her plate, let alone the fries.
"No, have them," she responds, pushing the plate toward Sarah, who's been stealing fries for a while now.
"I don't know why you're so nervous, it's just another job," her friend comments while chewing.
Jodie furrows her brow and leans forward while scanning the cafeteria before speaking.
"Just another job? I'll be in her penthouse, Sarah, in Katherine Taylor's penthouse. Do you know what that means for me? I can barely breathe when she's around, and I'm going to spend three hours in her home, breathing in her scent," she says, flustered.
Sarah stops mid-motion, her hand frozen on its way to grab another fry, and gives her a calculating look.
"Right, I had forgotten the tiny detail that you're head over heels in love with that woman," she says and bursts out laughing.
"It's not funny to me. I don't know if I'll survive this. I hope she's not there while I'm working in her place," she says, appealing to the heavens.
"That woman is such a workaholic she lives in one of her hotels, Jodie, of course she'll be there," Sarah assures her while demolishing the fries, "but you should see this as an opportunity to get closer to her. You'll never be closer to that woman than now, and hell, you'll have access to her underwear - how many women can say that?" she jokes playfully.
"Oh God, don't mention her underwear," Jodie flushes again, her heart suddenly racing.
"Okay, enough jokes," Sarah turns so serious she even pushes away the plate of fries. "Let's look at this for what it really is."
"And what's that?" Jodie inquires.
"Your chance to get ahead. You were able to leave that awful bar job where they paid you terribly and late, not to mention what you had to put up with in there. The hotel pays well, and you're going to work double shifts. From now on, you won't have to struggle to pay your mother's nursing home fees on time, and you can keep paying your brother's debts without drowning in interest. Someday you'll get rid of all that and finally breathe, but for now, Katherine Taylor has given you some oxygen without knowing it, so take advantage of it, and if your heart beats too fast when she's near, think about all your bills and you'll see how it passes."
The laughter of both friends turns several heads in the cafeteria, but neither cares as they finish their meal talking about Marjorie García's horrible temperament.
"Good luck, friend," Sarah tells her when they finish eating.
Jodie knows she's going to need it because, although she managed to relax while with Sarah, now that she has to go up to the hotel's top floor, she feels like her heart might jump out of her mouth at any moment.
When she reaches the penthouse door, Jodie pulls out the card that gives her access without needing to knock. At first, she hesitates whether to use it, but Lamir Kumar's instructions were very clear: if Mrs. Taylor is inside, she shouldn't disturb her. Her hand trembles when she swipes it through the reader, and she curses herself for not being able to control all this anxiety that overwhelms her just from being so close to the woman she's been swooning over like a teenager for what feels like too long now.
"Hello, Jodie," Mrs. Taylor's greeting catches her off guard.
Katherine is walking through the immense living room when she enters, and there are too many things that catch Jodie's attention. The first is that her blonde hair is loose and tousled, giving her an informal air that Jodie likes just as much as executive Katherine. The second is that she's wearing comfortable clothes, just cotton pants and a T-shirt under which Jodie suspects she's wearing nothing else. Those are the positive things Jodie can appreciate, because the next ones are very negative for her. The first is that Mrs. Taylor is walking toward the sofa with two wine glasses in hand, and the second and worst is that there's a sophisticated-looking woman sitting on the sofa with her blouse poorly buttoned and the clip that probably held a perfect updo now tilted to the right.
"Hello, Mrs. Taylor," Jodie responds, experiencing an unmistakable sensation of jealousy that she disguises as best she can. "Perhaps you'd prefer I come back another time."
Katherine walks to the sofa while shaking her head and hands one of the glasses to her companion.
"That's not necessary, Annie will leave soon. Meanwhile, you can start with the bedroom and bathroom," Katherine responds, sitting on her right leg across from Annie, who gives Jodie a quick glance before focusing on her host and starting to flirt with her blatantly.
Jodie has never been in Mrs. Taylor's penthouse, but she guesses the bedroom can only be down the hallway at the end, so she heads there quickly, grateful to lose sight of this Annie and not have to witness how that woman seduces the only one she yearns for while simultaneously processing a detail she didn't know and which is undoubtedly a ray of hope in the darkness she's feeling: Katherine Taylor likes women too, and that was something Jodie didn't know. Once in the hallway, she leaves the cleaning cart and, as if by intuition, heads toward the door on the left. Indeed, there she finds Katherine Taylor's bedroom, but what Jodie didn't expect was to find the sheets rumpled and clothes thrown on the floor.
Clenching her jaw in an impulse she can't control, she storms in and starts picking up the clothes while wondering what would happen if she got rid of all the underwear and left Annie with nothing to wear. A mischievous smile crosses her face for an instant, but it fades when she concludes that she's probably already showered and put on something Katherine lent her.
With the clothes collected and the sheets changed, Jodie enters the bathroom inside the bedroom, and if she had any doubts about what happened between the two women, she finds a vibrator resting on the marble counter after having been cleaned by someone. Jodie appreciates not having to clean it herself and continues with her work until she hears Katherine and Annie's laughter in the living room. Then she freezes, her heart constricting, understanding definitively that even though Katherine Taylor likes women, she doesn't stand a chance because they belong to completely different worlds, and Katherine would never see her the way Jodie sees her.
With that thought weighing on her chest, Jodie finishes picking everything up and throws the dirty clothes in the cart, promising herself she needs to erase Katherine Taylor from her thoughts as soon as possible.