Chapter Eleven
ZELDA, ELLIOT, ERIK, and Nadine were already at the gate by the time Cierra arrived at La Guardia airport.
Erik was sitting next to a woman Cierra had never met; she was gorgeous without a lick of make-up.
They were holding matching coffee cups, laughing while watching the overhead news together.
Elliot was leisurely playing a game on his iPad, munching on a flaky almond croissant, with a loving hand resting on his wife’s thigh.
Zelda was furiously typing away on her work phone; her eyebrows were deeply furrowed, creating parallel lines between them that looked like skis.
“Morning,” Cierra said as she reached the merry travelers.
Zelda’s head snapped up. “Oh, Cierra, thank God you’re here. I was getting worried.”
“Babe, we don’t start boarding for another forty-five minutes,” Elliot said, his exhausted tone suggesting their morning had been far less leisurely than hers.
“I know, I know, it’s just . . . whatever. Glad you made it on time.”
“Of course, thanks for arranging the car.”
Even though Cierra’s apartment was only twenty minutes from the airport, Zelda had insisted on sending a black suburban, which Cierra had no desire to refuse. There was even a to-go coffee waiting for her on the console when the driver arrived; the cup was still hot.
“Morning, Cierra,” Erik said cheerily. He gestured to the beautiful dark-haired woman beside him. “This is Nadine. Nadine, this is Cierra.”
“It’s great to finally meet you,” Nadine said with a warm smile. “Everyone’s been going on about you,” she said while hunching her shoulders in intrigue. “I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity.”
Nadine, like Erik, had that positive yet nonchalant type of energy — like the main character in every teen girl soccer movie.
It was easy to see why they’d hit it off so quickly.
She was slightly taller than Cierra, with wavy hair cropped just at the shoulder.
Olive-green eyes sat far apart on her high cheekbones and round face.
Nadine looked around Cierra’s age, with subtle lines around her mouth and eyes, likely a result of chronic smiling from a life of popularity, if Cierra had to guess.
“I’m gonna grab some snacks before takeoff — you guys want anything?” Erik asked the two women.
“I’m all good,” Nadine said.
“Same here,” Cierra replied, “thanks though.”
“Cool, be back in a bit.”
As Erik walked down the white linoleum toward a newsstand, Nadine looked around before leaning into Cierra; Zelda and Elliot were a safe distance away, absorbed in their respective tasks.
“So, what’s traveling with them like?”
Cierra shrugged, slightly caught off guard by the leading question. “Couldn’t tell you, it’s my first time. But they’re nice people.”
“Oh, yeah — I keep forgetting this is all relatively new for you, too. You started at the beginning of the summer, right? I bet you get to know people so fast being in a job like this.”
“Eh, somewhat.” Cierra pondered. “Enough to get along pretty well, I think.”
“Well, they all really like you. Zelda and Erik talked nonstop on the way here about the daikon-mushroom soup you made. I got hungry just listening to them,” Nadine said with a grin.
“Oh.” Their words of praise came as a welcome surprise. “That was sweet of them to say. Hope they didn’t hype me up too much, though.”
“Psh,” Nadine said with a friendly eye roll. “I’m sure you live up to it. I know Erik was really grateful for all the help at his work event.” Looking around again, she lowered her voice. “This is my first time flying first-class.”
Taken aback by Nadine’s openness, and somewhat relieved to discover she’d have at least one person around she might relate to, Cierra whispered back, “Me, too.”
“Wanna be friends?” Nadine joked, although Cierra could recognize the curious insecurity in the woman’s glances and movements. She looked back at Zelda and Elliot, still absorbed in their screens. “I feel like I’m at summer camp.”
Cierra chuckled gently. “Of course, I could use the company.”
Just then, Erik came back with bananas and a couple of pastries.
“What are you guys talking about?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Scheming already?”
“You could say that,” Nadine said with a wink before Erik handed her a pastry. While happy for them, their cutesy interaction only made Cierra think about Julian. She had forgotten how all-consuming crushes could be; they were annoyingly wonderful.
Overhead, the flight attendant came on the intercom.
“Attention all passengers for flight W632 to Mexico City, we will now begin the boarding process. If you are flying first class, please make your way—”
“Oh! That’s us,” Nadine said excitedly.
Erik shook his head and laughed, grabbing her carry-on. “Yeah, now we get to drink cheap wine for free in a tiny recliner,” he teased.
“Listen, for five hours, I’ll take it over coach,” Elliot quipped, coming up behind them.
“Me too,” Cierra chimed in, eliciting a fist-bump from Elliot.
“Oh my god, will you two just get in line,” Erik said.
Cierra jumped into the queue with pleasure, ready to get this vacation going. While the prospect of exploring a new city excited her, she had other objectives, too. The sooner this trip was over, the sooner she was back in New York with Julian.
By the time they all arrived at the Airbnb in Polanco, a posh neighborhood in the heart of the city, it was early afternoon.
Which was perfect, because Cierra needed to make the rounds on food collections.
She still wasn’t a hundred percent sure why the Lawsons didn’t just schedule to eat out, especially given the metropolitan culinary scene, but suspected it had to do with Zelda being a hypochondriac.
Apparently, she’d gotten food poisoning the last time she visited and was deathly afraid of anything like that happening again.
The air was warm and dry, a reprieve from Manhattan’s sub-tropical heat, and made her chores seem less daunting.
Cierra’s job was actually fairly simple for the trip: keep the Airbnb stocked with snacks and grab-n-gos, host the party taking place Saturday evening, and keep Zelda from getting diarrhea.
“Dear, if twenty-two million people can make it work, I think we’ll survive a few days,” she overheard Elliot saying as their SUV approached the entrance to the villa.
“I’m not taking any chances.”
The grandeur of the sprawling villa was intimidating.
In a lush pocket of the city, a pebbled driveway opened onto the property.
The house (if you could call it that) was a subdued Prussian blue — like the color of waves in Japanese watercolors.
Unlike some of the Spanish-colonial style architecture, beautiful in its own right, the exterior was completely smooth, as if it were an inflated pueblo home.
She let out a low whistle while walking through the front door. It opened into a foyer, revealing a courtyard in the center, like a monastery, with tiled hallways leading to the various rooms and gathering areas of the residence.
“It’s nice,” Zelda said absently, sending a text message to someone before turning toward Cierra. “Do you have everything you need? Rental car? Cash?”
“Yeah, got everything I need.”
“Perfect, we’ll check-in later about tomorrow,” Zelda said before dashing off toward one of her colleagues.
“Your room is right across from ours,” Nadine said, walking up from behind her.
In the twenty minutes since they’d arrived, she had already changed into linen shorts with a crop-top and chunky tan vacation sandals with teal and magenta tassels.
“And it’s so cute. You even have your own tub.
I’m so jealous.” Erik and Elliot joined the two women.
“The first and last day of freedom, kids,” Elliot said forlornly. Starting tomorrow, everyone was going to be in full-blown networking and schmoozing mode for Zelda. “What are you gonna get up to?” He looked at Cierra first.
“There are a few errands I need to run ahead of the event tomorrow.” In all honesty, she hadn’t done too much touristy research, since she knew she’d be working most of the time.
Realistically, she’d be lucky to get one afternoon of sight-seeing that wasn’t related to her job.
When Zelda was on edge, that anxious energy seemed to flow right into Cierra.
“That sounds like a good way to see the city,” Elliot remarked. “What about you two?”
“I’m down for anything,” Erik said, stretching his arms. “Whatever the lady wants to do is what I wanna do.”
“Well, I’m not sure if we have enough time, but I wanted to check out their Anthropology Museum. A bunch of articles I’ve read claim it’s the best in the world.”
“That’s in the Bosque de Chapultepec, right? That’s only five minutes from here,” Elliot said while checking his phone. “It’s two-thirty now, and they close at six. I’d say you have plenty of time.”
That name sounded familiar, and Cierra remembered Julian’s recommendation.
Librería Porrúa Bosque de Chapultepec.
“Would you guys mind if I tagged along on the way there? There’s a bookstore I wanted to check out, and I think it’s in the same park.”
“Oh! The one with the massive tree sticking through the middle!” Nadine said quickly, with wide eyes. “I watched a TikTok about it.”
“More the merrier,” Erik said, smiling at Nadine’s excitement. “What about you, wanna come?” he asked his older brother.
“No, I should stick around and see if Zelda needs help with anything. But you guys have fun. I’ll wanna hear all about it later tonight.”
While Erik called one of their private drivers for the weekend (which Cierra was still getting used to), she plotted out her evening and the next morning; she had more time than she realized.
Luckily, all the grocery stores she had ordered from were nearly all in the area where they were staying, so realistically, it would only take her an hour or two to make all the stops.