Chapter 12
Jodie and Sarah have been sitting in the staff dining room of the Mallois Hotel for fifteen minutes. Both have their tupperware containers open, the only difference being that Sarah devours her mac and cheese with delight while Jodie hovers her fork over her meat in sauce, unable to decide which piece to stab.
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong or are you going to keep playing airplane with your fork?" Sarah asks, tired of watching her.
"What?" Jodie responds, thrown off balance.
"You haven't touched your food since we sat down, and you haven't said a word, not to mention you looked like the walking dead when we arrived this morning. I gave you space thinking you'd tell me later, but since you're not saying anything and I'm dying of curiosity, I demand you tell me," Sarah responds, pointing at her with her fork full of macaroni, with melted cheese dangling from it.
Jodie sighs while staring at her. She hadn't planned to tell her anything about what happened yesterday in Katherine's penthouse, but the truth is she can't get it out of her head, and if she doesn't vent, she feels like she'll collapse at any moment.
"Yesterday Katherine invited me for a drink in the penthouse when she got back from running some errands. All very natural, she didn't want to drink alone and asked me to sit with her."
Sarah raises an eyebrow.
"Katherine? Not Mrs. Taylor anymore?" she questions mockingly.
"Shut up," Jodie demands, not in the mood to play along.
Sarah erases her mocking expression and becomes serious again.
"Okay, you sat down with her for a drink," Sarah says, encouraging her to continue talking.
Jodie looks from side to side making sure none of her coworkers can hear them, still, she lowers her voice and leans forward.
"At one point she tried to..." Jodie blushes when she remembers and a shiver runs down her spine like a current.
"Kiss you?" Sarah gapes.
Jodie shivers again, just thinking about Katherine's lips on hers makes her dizzy.
"Not exactly. I was about to leave and suddenly she was behind me. She said she loved my neck and caressed it," she manages to express.
"Oh my god!" Sarah exclaims, covering her mouth. "And what did you do?"
Jodie clears her throat and slowly shakes her head.
"I pushed her away."
Sarah gives her a surprised look at first, but it quickly turns understanding.
"I can't sleep with her and then..." Jodie shakes her head and takes a breath.
"I understand," Sarah says, taking her hand across the table, "I don't know if I would have had that willpower, but I understand what you did and I think it was the right thing."
"Really?" Jodie asks, surprised.
"Yes. You and her belong to two completely different worlds, and I'm not saying she can't like you, but a woman like her, I don't know, must be used to things you can't even imagine, and I guess someone like us can only be entertainment. You did right to stop her, you need this job and sleeping with her would have only complicated things."
Jodie nods in complete agreement with Sarah, although a part of her—a very big part—had hoped her friend would tell her she had made a mistake and try to fix it.
"And what do I do now? In a while I have to go to her penthouse and I don't even know how to look at her," Jodie asks anxiously.
"Just act like always, go there, do your job and don't bring up the topic, like it never happened, I'm sure she'll do the same. Besides, I imagine someone like Katherine Taylor isn't used to being rejected, it must be so new for her that it'll be the last thing she wants to talk about."
Despite the circumstances, Jodie can't contain a loud laugh.
"I'm serious," Sarah insists, infected by her laughter. "Those people never get told no, and you rejected her, her wounded ego won't let her bring it up."
While walking from the elevator to the penthouse door, Jodie keeps thinking about Sarah's last words. She doesn't know Katherine well and maybe she's too blinded by her feelings for her, but she's never seemed like a person dominated by ego; instead, she relishes thinking about how Annie would feel facing rejection, it would probably cost her several sessions with the most expensive therapist in the city.
When she takes out the card to access the penthouse, Jodie sighs and prays everything she knows so Katherine won't be inside, but as usual, her prayers go unheard and the businesswoman sits at that work table that looks like a hurricane has passed through.
"Good afternoon," the cleaner greets while closing the door.
"Hello, Jodie," Katherine responds, looking up over her laptop screen.
For an instant, their gazes lock and Jodie feels everything spinning around them, but then Katherine returns her attention to what she was doing and Jodie's lungs start getting air again. Taking her friend's advice, she decides to get to work while wondering if Katherine is thinking about that moment of tension they lived yesterday or if she has completely erased it from her mind.
"Tomorrow I'll need you to come with me to the Magnolis again," the businesswoman says when Jodie has barely taken two steps.
"Sure, whatever you need."
"Good," Katherine responds without lifting her gaze from the screen.
She doesn't understand why, but Katherine's coldness bothers her. Jodie leaves her things and after cleaning and tidying the room, she goes into the kitchen to collect her boss's lunch remains, which from the plates and several coffee cups she finds, suggests she hasn't left her penthouse today.
She finishes rinsing the last plate and when she turns to put it in the dishwasher, she finds Katherine standing by the kitchen island. It's not that Jodie gets scared, but she feels such a jolt through her body seeing her there, in a basic t-shirt, casual pants, and her famous blonde hair pulled back in an informal ponytail, that the plate slips between her fingers and crashes to the floor.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," she apologizes nervously, looking from side to side, unable to remember where the broom is that she herself put away just minutes ago.
"It's okay, it's just a plate, Jodie," Katherine says, approaching.
"I'm so clumsy," Jodie berates herself, increasingly agitated, moving erratically around the ceramic pieces scattered on the floor.
Suddenly, she feels the burning heat of Katherine's hand closing over her left hand. Jodie freezes, paralyzed.
"I said it's okay," Katherine whispers, looking into her eyes, "I'll clean it up. Okay? Stay there."
It's not really a question but an order, because Katherine, with her other free hand, motions for Jodie to step aside, and a couple of minutes later, she's throwing the remains of the plate she just swept into the trash.
"Done, nothing happened here," she resolves, turning to Jodie, who has remained hypnotized watching her boss do something she should have done.
"I really am sorry, I'll pay for the plate."
Katherine lowers her head and sighs before raising it again and piercing Jodie with her gaze.
"Stop talking nonsense, will you? You think I've never dropped a plate?"
"I don't know," Jodie hesitates, scratching her head.
Katherine lets out a sudden laugh that calms the cleaner a bit.
"Well, truth is I don't remember ever breaking a plate," Katherine admits, "but glasses yes, many. In any case, I didn't come to talk about broken plates."
Jodie swallows. Suddenly she feels an uncontrollable insecurity and becomes terrified contemplating something she hadn't thought about, that Katherine might fire her to avoid having to see her after what happened the day before.
"I wanted to apologize for yesterday," the businesswoman says, leaving Jodie disoriented at first and relieved afterward.
"There's no need, it's fine," the cleaner responds, trying to end the topic as quickly as possible.
"Yes, there is, Jodie, I crossed a line. I'd had a shitty day, I was stressed, I drank too much and I was comfortable with you, and I don't know, I got carried away."
Jodie looks at her with a clenched jaw. She appreciates the apology because it only confirms what her intuition has told her from the beginning, that Katherine isn't one of those people who think their power gives them the right to take whatever they want at will, but it really bothers her that she's using drinking as an excuse, because that means if she hadn't been drinking, Katherine would never have approached her, and that hurts a lot.
"I promise it won't happen again," Katherine adds, unaware of that strange anger beginning to invade Jodie without her being able to control it.
"It's forgotten, Mrs. Taylor, there's no need to keep apologizing," Jodie spits out, taking the broom and dustpan her boss just used.
"Back to Mrs. Taylor?" Katherine asks, not understanding anything, but Jodie doesn't answer and walks away from the kitchen to put away the cleaning supplies.