5
Lydia
I spent the weekend redoing my nails. I wasn’t a fan of letting people touch me, so I learned how to do my own nails and cut my own hair.
Lucky for me, my nails were naturally thick and strong, which made them perfect for short stilettos.
I kept them pointed and filed the underside of each nail so they were sharp enough to cut when I needed them to.
The color of the week was a dark gray this time.
The rest of the weekend was spent just like every other—groceries, working out, meal prepping for the first few days of the week, cleaning the apartment, laundry, reading, drinking beer, and listening to music.
When it was over, and I had to face another Monday, I woke up an hour earlier than usual to keep my routine at the café.
It’s just another day, the same as every other day.
At the first sip, I relished the goosebumps when the sweet coffee flavor hit me, watching the people on the street as I listened to ‘Black’ by Pearl Jam—just what I needed.
I took a deep breath and let my mind wander.
I had two weeks of this, and would need every second I could take to wind down and disconnect.
The first three days went by pretty easily.
They were busy and exhausting, but nothing out of the ordinary happened, and I was getting the hang of all the systems and protocols I had to work with.
On Thursday, before I could ask Rick to cover for me so that I could have lunch, a gorgeous woman leaned on the desk and smiled at me.
She wore a tailored beige suit and a dark brown blouse.
Her hair was down in red waves that made her light brown eyes pop on her tanned skin.
She looked at my name tag and smiled. “Hi Lydia, did Daniel Mason come in yet?”
I was just going to answer when I saw him behind her, walking to the elevators. He looked at me and shook his head, wording ‘noooo’ in what almost appeared to be playful body language.
She was going to turn around and see him, so I leaned forward, touched her hand, and whispered, “you’ve got lipstick on your teeth.” I wasn’t lying, but I wouldn’t have touched her like that under normal circumstances.
She licked her teeth and smiled again.
“All gone,” I said.
“Ugh, thanks. I was just with my assistant who somehow failed to mention it.”
“No problem. I’d want someone to tell me.”
Her smile widened, and it felt so genuine that I decided I liked her right then. “Did you happen to notice if Daniel came in yet?”
“I can call his office to check. Who should I say is looking for him?” I wasn’t very good at lying outright, which forced me to learn ways around that flaw over the years. Avoidance and carefully-worded answers usually did the trick.
“No need, I wanted to catch him coming back from lunch but I either missed him or he’s late. Dammit.”
“Do you want me to leave a message?”
“No, I’ll just text him. Gotta run to a meeting. I hope I’ll see you again, Lydia.”
My phone buzzed, and I looked down at a text message from an unknown number.
?? Thx!
The rest of the day went by without a hitch. I was exhausted and couldn’t wait for it to be the weekend again. Then it would be one more week of this, and I could go back to the quiet sixth floor where the copy machine and printer were my best friends.
When I got home, I got another text from the unknown number.
?? You’re getting great feedback. Madelyne is dying to promote you to the front desk
I realized who the number belonged to.
?? Mr. Mason?
?? Oh sorry, should have mentioned that before. Thanks for stalling my sister
?? You’re welcome.
Why was the CEO texting me? I looked at our messages and read them again. There was nothing in what he wrote that was inappropriate. Was he just being friendly because that was his sister?
God, I suck at this.
I tossed my phone aside and watched a movie in bed until I fell asleep.