10. Nick #2
Maddie, Luca, and I all help ourselves to dinner from the various takeout containers on the steel counter in Luca’s kitchen.
His apartment is an ode to functionality and minimalism.
And fancy gadgets. The three of us take our full plates and sit at his round glass table on his “ghost” chairs.
I don’t know how he lives with translucent acrylic chairs.
They’re completely transparent. I’d probably end up killing myself if I lived here, because I’d search for a snack in the middle of the night or a piece of paper to scribble on and end up tripping over a chair and falling into the table. But to each his own.
“Aren’t you going to show us your new routine?” Luca asks me.
“No,” I say. “I don’t need to embarrass myself in front of you guys tonight.”
Luca casually slings his arm around Maddie. Maddie doesn’t look like she minds. Apparently, Luca doesn’t need to invoke clause eleven for physical contact. He is a good-looking guy.
“You mean, you don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of Maddie?” Luca asks.
“That, too. I also need to rest up for tomorrow.” I look at my notes on my phone.
“And frankly, now that I look at what I scribbled down for the choreography: ‘Arms/legs up, jump, side to side, turn and swing, swing,’ my notes are not going to help me. I feel like I’ve missed the basic class and vaulted straight into expert experience. ”
“That’s so cool that you’re going to be doing choreographed dancing at your show,” Maddie says. “I’m impressed.”
That’s something.
Luca gets up and brings what’s left of the partially filled food containers to the table so we can help ourselves while seated.
“What’s happening with your investigation?” I ask.
Maddie fills Luca in on her research to date, after swearing him to secrecy.
Luca owns his own security company, so I convinced Maddie he could be a good resource.
A bribery case might involve high stakes with desperate people.
But I can’t say that to Maddie. I don’t want her to think I don’t believe she can handle herself, even if it scares me to think of one of those guys coming after her if she gets too close to the truth.
“I found several other people who had shoddy repairs with a similar story to Tasha’s friend by looking through the repeat repair request tickets filed with the Infrastructure Department, so there’s a pattern.
Also, I convinced my boss to allow me to do a Meet the City Agencies article series, both because it’s helpful to know, but also as a way for me to interview the deputy commissioners, so I’m meeting with them tomorrow. ”
“She’s on fire,” I say. This story could be Maddie’s big break.
“Tonight, I’m reviewing my repair tickets spreadsheet to see who else to follow up with,” she says. “I was able to crunch the data as you suggested, and Pommer has the most repeat calls.”
“If they’re taking bribes and facing criminal charges if discovered, that could be dangerous,” Luca says.
My gaze meets Luca’s to convey my thanks. I’m worried about Maddie pursuing this story for that exact reason. But it would be a career-defining scoop.
“Shouldn’t you guys move somewhere safer than your current apartments?” Luca asks.
Wait. We didn’t discuss moving.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Stalker woman might be able to figure out your address. I’m not sure the security is up to par, even if you did install that camera, Nick. Now that you’re taking off.”
“You’ve never mentioned it before,” I say.
“I’m worried about Maddie, not you,” Luca says. “There’s been an uptick in break-ins via fire escapes this spring.”
“Have you seen Maddie fight?” I ask. “You should be more worried about the burglar. I’m still scarred from when Maddie invited me to her ju-jitsu ceremony awarding her a brown belt.”
“My friend Iris made us all take classes,” she says. “I can definitely take stalker woman.”
“Can you?” Luca asks. He looks intrigued.
I frown. Maybe introducing Maddie and Luca was not a good idea.
“You think I can’t?” Maddie asks Luca.
Nope. I don’t want Maddie and Luca showing their jujitsu moves—or any moves—to each other.
“You can show him using me,” I interject. Pathetic, I know.
Luca leans back and smiles like he’s figured something out. Great.
“I believe you,” Luca says. “Nick here isn’t bad either. I’ve taught him a few maneuvers. You guys can practice together.” Luca winks at me. He does know how to read a room, as his career in security depends on it. “I’ll do the dishes. Let me bring out the mat.”
He would have a mat handy.
Maddie turns to me and leans close. “You should show me.” That whiff of peony drifts by. It’s not my jujitsu moves I want to show her.
But better me than Luca.
“Show me your move to get out of a grab from behind. I’ll grab you,” Maddie says. “But don’t actually throw me. I just ate.”
“Okay,” I say.
We both stand up and move away from the table. Maddie grabs me from behind, her arms wrapped around me, her chest pressed against my back. All that softness… My mind goes blank. Absolutely blank.
“Nick?” she asks.
Right. Focus. I drop lower and step out so the gap between my legs widens, bringing Maddie off-balance, clinging to my back.
I swing my left foot behind her. And then I grab her lower legs, pushing my hips forward so that all of a sudden, Maddie is fully off the floor and about to be tossed over my left thigh.
“I’m not going to throw you because that’s kind of a nasty throw.” I put her down gently.
“That’s cool,” Maddie says. “I’m adding that to my repertoire. Let me try it on you.”
Maddie stands with her back to me. Normally I grab across the chest, so I hesitate. Luca snorts. So glad we’re amusing him.
I grab her low around the waist. She drops down, stepping her right foot to the side, and then steps behind me with her left foot and grabs around my legs but doesn’t try to pick me up.
“Got it,” she says.
She then shows me her under-the-arm move. When she butts her head into the crook between my shoulder and neck, I forget to focus on keeping my balance. I fall easily into her when she sweeps against my foot.
“You’re not putting up any fight,” Maddie says. “I’d then flip you over my shoulder.”
“I’m worn out from the hours of choreography practice,” I say weakly.
“Let me show my Osotogari move,” she says.
When she first grabs my arm and directs me to fist her shirt near her neck and then moves me to the side, almost as if we’re in some dance, our arms locked together, all I can think is: I want Maddie .
Until she sweeps my leg out from under me and I’m on the mat.
She kneels down next to me. “Are you okay?”
No. Her lips are so close to mine.
Luca coughs. “Still. You guys can always bunk here if you think you need more security. I have an extra room.”
I scramble back to a sitting position because lying down with Maddie leaning over me is testing my self-control. “And a comfortable couch. Or so I’ve heard.”
“It’s a good thing that Tristan is not here to hear you rub it in,” Luca says. “You should introduce him to Maddie since they’re both reporters.”
“Who’s Tristan?” Maddie asks.
“He’s a reporter for the Washington bureau of The New York Carrier Pigeon , but he’s moving back to New York to take over the family business.”
“ The New York Carrier Pigeon family empire, you mean. You know him?” Maddie asks. “I haven’t run into him yet, but I’m sure I will.”
“We’re friends from playing high school travel league soccer together,” I say. “He’s a good connection for you to have.”
“How come you haven’t mentioned you know him before?” Maddie asks me.
“Because…” I can’t answer that question.
I could have introduced them last weekend when Tristan was in town.
But Christina couldn’t stop talking about Tristan after the three of us had dinner.
Tristan even revealed, after we broke up, that she’d hit on him.
What woman could resist him? He had it all, especially for someone interested in reporting.
I should introduce them, but not anytime soon.
As two reporters, they might click. Maybe when this contract is over and this possibly proximity-fueled desire has faded.
“Christina liked him a little too much,” Luca says oh so helpfully.
She raises her eyebrows. “I heard he’s quite competitive. And we’re working for rival papers. I’m not sure we’ll be friends.”
“My money is on you,” I say. Maddie has an amazing network of connections.
I met her at City Hall once for lunch. We had to stop every few minutes to say hi or catch up with someone while walking in the park, including the street sweeper, the hot dog guy, and a few people who looked like they were living on “their” bench.
Those relationships take time to build. Tristan is kind of aloof.
“Nick hates to ask for favors,” Luca says. “On his own initiative, Tristan ran the article yesterday morning interviewing that elderly couple where they acknowledged that Nick was not Cara’s boyfriend.”
I didn’t even think to ask Tristan.
“Our friendship is not about favors. He has too many people who ask him for favors. It was a surprise to me when he ran it,” I say. “I thanked him for clearing my name.”
“As he said, he ran it because it was the truth. But it doesn’t seem to have been picked up by any other press.
Still, I think Nick and I would both feel better if you carried a whistle.
I can also offer you a spray.” Luca unlocks a cabinet filled with gadgets and hands Maddie both a whistle and a small spray device.
“Why do you keep your pens in there?” Maddie asks, pointing at a box of pens. “Is it disappearing ink?”
“They’re recorder pens. Do you want one?”
“Definitely. That’s so cool,” Maddie says.