Chapter 8
T he next day starts off on a high. I actually managed to remember to set an alarm last night, so I wake up at seven as planned to take Princess for her morning walk. She’s already wide awake and ready to go, yipping and trailing behind me as I get dressed.
We step out into the hallway and I notice Elias’ door is still closed, so I shush the pup and tread lightly down the stairs so as not to wake him up. He deserves a good night’s rest after all the help he gave me yesterday.
I grab the leash from the foyer and attach it to Princess’ collar, making our way into the elevator and downstairs to the lobby. I’m starting to like this little morning routine; I feel like someone far more important than myself when I greet the front desk ladies and step out into the charming picture that is the Upper East Side. It hardly feels like my life, or at least the life I’m used to.
After moving from state to state my entire childhood, I never thought I’d find a place to settle down. A place to call home. Everywhere I went felt temporary, like it was just another stop in my family’s never-ending road trip across America.
Back then I knew if I got too invested in my new city, in my neighbors and the people at my new school, I’d just end up disappointing myself when we’d inevitably move on. So I didn’t. I kept a wide berth between me and anyone or anything I could get attached to, and even though it made life dull and uneventful, it saved me a lot of heartache over the years.
But now it’s different. Now I’m here to stay. I moved to New York by myself the minute I graduated college with no intentions of ever leaving. This is the place I’ve always wanted to be, where I could be anyone I want to be and do anything I want to do. So why do I still feel like I don’t belong here?
I decide to switch things up with our walk today, crossing the street and heading further east instead of doing the usual loop I’ve been sticking to. I turn down 2 nd Avenue and slow my brisk pace down to a stroll, taking in the sights around me.
The whole block is filled to the brim with trendy coffee shops, colorful bakeries, and hip restaurants that I’m sure are way out of my price range. It’s a quiet morning so I take my time peering into shop windows that haven’t yet opened for the day and taking note of every treat I want to try someday when I come back with the girls.
We pass the odd jogger and cyclist here and there, but mostly the streets feel empty at this time. Like the city is still sleeping, like time is moving just a little bit slower.
Eventually, we land at a small park right at the edge of the river and Princess lets out excited yaps when she spots some other dogs playing up ahead. She yanks me along as she runs over to them, jumping around a French bulldog she soon becomes fast friends with. His owner, a short elderly man who is the living embodiment of Carl from Up, and I exchange pleasantries while they play, chatting about the increasing July heat.
It’s not until I feel a tug on the leash that I realize Princess has followed her new friend into a mud puddle behind a nearby bench.
“ No, Princess! NO!” I shout, but it’s too late.
She’s paw-deep in the mud before I can reel in her leash, splashing around with a couple other dogs whose owners are equally displeased. She roots her little face in the mud like she’s searching for treasure, me and the other owners rushing to pull them away.
I have to physically take her out of the mud myself since she’s having the absolute time of her life, which means I’m now also covered in mud. And it’s everywhere .
I promptly take us back home, wanting to be upset or annoyed or even a little put out by Princess. But I can’t. She’s too gloriously happy to be spattering mud all over the sidewalk, and since I doubt she’s ever allowed to get down and dirty like this, I let her have this one.
I’ve almost fully dried off by the time we get back to the penthouse, the mud having formed a stiff paste on my arms and clothes. Princess, on the other hand, is still dripping from her thick fur, but remains completely unbothered.
We walk into the lobby while I daydream about the long, hot bath I’m going to take, but screech to a halt when I spot Elias at the front desk.
Why is he down here? And why is the woman behind the desk handing him a duffel bag?
He thanks her and turns around, coming face to face with us. Just once, I’d like to run into him when I look half-decent .
His tired eyes roam over the almost unrecognizable pup next to me, then over my body from head to toe, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“What happened to you two?”
“Princess gave in to peer pressure.”
He’s doing a horrible job of concealing his amusement. “To do what? Pig wrestling?”
“Ha. Ha.”
I roll my eyes and brush past him, tugging Princess along to get upstairs and out of these clothes.
“Be honest,” he mocks, following behind us. “Were you the peer that pressured her?”
“No, but I was the peer that had to drag her out of the mud.”
He’s fully laughing at me now as we step into the elevator, riding up with our crusty little companion.
Only when the doors open and he steps into the foyer do I realize Princess is going to track mud all over Gigi’s pristine floors. I could just pick her up and carry her upstairs since this shirt has already been destroyed beyond recognition, but Elias seems to notice my dilemma and starts rifling through his duffel bag.
“Here,” he offers, pulling out a hoodie and holding it out to me.
“Oh, no it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to ruin it.”
“Right, because mud is impermeable to soap,” he teases. “It’s fine, just take it. Wouldn’t be the first thing I own that’s sacrificed to Princess.”
I smile tentatively and take the hoodie, bending down to wrap her up in it.
“Thanks,” I say, lifting her into my arms and heading for the stairs. “I’ll wash it right after I give her a bath. ”
“Do you, uh—” he starts, scratching the back of his neck. “Want some help with that?”
I stare blankly at him. “With washing one hoodie? I think I can manage.”
“No, with giving her a bath. I know from experience she can be… difficult.”
Hard to imagine this bundle of joy being difficult, but it can’t hurt to have another pair of hands. Not to mention the fact that I have no idea where her bath stuff is.
“I doubt it, but sure.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he quips as he follows me up the stairs and down the hall before he opens the double doors that lead to Tobias and Gigi’s bedroom.
“Why are we going in there?” I ask, stopping short of the threshold.
“Because that’s where they normally bathe her?”
“I’m not supposed to go in their bedroom.”
He leans his arm against the door frame and cocks an eyebrow. “It’s not like you’re going in there to rummage through their underwear drawer.”
“Can’t we just do it somewhere else?”
He considers me for a moment, like he’s trying to figure out if I’m secretly a nutjob or just a stickler for the rules, before letting out a sigh.
“Fine. I’ll get the shampoo, you go set up in your bathroom.”
I flash him a smile and do exactly that, unwrapping Princess once in my bathroom and depositing her in the tub. It takes a few seconds for the water from the detachable shower head to warm up, but by then Elias walks in with the supplies.
He kneels down next to me while I start hosing her down, watching the water pooling underneath her paws turn brown .
“Couldn’t help but notice you’re wearing the same clothes you were last night,” I state, rubbing some shampoo between my hands.
He holds his own hands out toward me, and I squirt some of the soap into them. “What about it?”
“Either you only own one outfit, or you spent the night elsewhere.”
A devilish grin spreads across his face. “Maybe I did.”
“What happened to getting the rest of your stuff from the dorm? Didn’t you need—oh, I don’t know—all of your earthly belongings?”
“Got them in my duffel bag,” he says, lathering up Princess’ legs. “Dropped it off at the front desk last night then went out with some friends. I thought we were just going for a few drinks, but then I met a girl at the bar and one thing led to another…”
I’m catching his drift way before he gives me a suggestive wink to let me know he got laid last night. Still, the wink manages to send a fuzzy feeling down to my middle despite my best wishes.
The absolute last thing I want is to be attracted to him. Not only because it would make our totally professional and perfectly legitimate business deal extremely awkward, but because Veda absolutely cannot know she was right. Ever.
“Is it really that easy for you? You just show up at a bar, pick someone at random and boom you’re going home together?”
“That depends. Do you want the modest answer or the real answer?”
“So cocky,” I tisk, even though that very charm is working its magic on me right now. I really wish it weren’t though.
He shrugs. “Some people have a gift. It would be wasteful not to use it.”
“You’re right. It’s so good of you to go out of your way to gather more intel for my article like that. You’re such a committed source,” I praise sarcastically.
“What can I say? I’m a generous guy.”
He peers over at me and for a moment I forget where I am. That is, until Princess starts licking the soap off my hand. I snap out of it, continuing to pick away at the clumps of mud that formed on her ears.
We work in silence for the next few minutes, scrubbing and brushing, rinsing and shampooing again and again until the water starts to run clear. It’s tedious and time-consuming, and it doesn’t take long for my knees to start aching while I’m bent over the tub like this, but Princess is loving it. I rinse her off one final time, the last of the suds disappearing down the drain to reveal her all shiny and new again.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I gloat at our success.
“I don’t trust it. I’m gonna get her a towel before she—” Elias says, standing up and reaching for the towel rack right before disaster strikes.
The second I turn off the faucet, Princess starts violently shaking herself off. I hold my hands out in front of me to shield myself from the spray, but it’s no use. I’m now not only covered in dried up mud, but in every single molecule of water that flew off of her fur. And so is Elias.
“See? What’d I tell you: difficult.”
I laugh meekly as he tosses me a towel about ten seconds too late, the two of us wiping Princess down in vain. At this point, we’re more wet than she is. His hand grazes against mine when we pat down her belly, and a small current zaps through me .
I am so pathetic.
We literally smell like wet dog, and I’m still getting worked up over him. This has got to stop.
“I can take over from here,” I blurt, pulling my hand away.
Nope, I won’t let this happen. I don’t do this kind of thing; the heart-palpitating, breath-quickening crush thing. Men have always been off the table for me, at least in any kind of real way, and I intend for it to stay that. They’re an option I don’t ever allow myself to consider, a luxury I simply can’t afford (emotionally, that is). It’s the only way to protect myself. And Elias is no exception—no matter how unbearably charming he may be.
He pauses a moment, looking at me like I’ve grown a third arm. “You sure?”
“Yep. We’re pretty much done anyways.”
I can’t even look at him, my eyes zeroed in on the task at hand.
“Alright,” he shrugs, getting up once more and heading for the door with the shampoo and brush in hand. “I’ll put these away. See you for another writing session later?”
“Uh-huh. Thanks for the help.”
I finish toweling Princess off until I hear his footsteps recede out of earshot, and can finally breathe a sigh of relief.