I went to bed very early and got up very late. Between the incident with Charles and the whirlwind shopping trip, I felt worn out and depleted. As I rolled out of bed, I looked around the room at all the bags and boxes, stunned and a little pleased once again by Miss Winters’s generosity. Is it generosity? I wondered, but shook the thought off. Regardless of her motives, which I very much doubted were as sinister as Aunt Kate and Meghan had predicted, I had enjoyed myself yesterday, and I’d enjoyed spending time with my new boss. That was all. If a natural opportunity presented itself to ask her about her old assistants, I would, but I wouldn’t press her for an answer.
I took an extremely long shower, washing off two days’ worth of grime and sweat, then dressed in my oldest pair of overalls and a T-shirt. I always paint in junky clothes, as I tend to forget what I’m doing when I paint and rest my paintbrushes on myself while I work. My studio was located in the highest part of the house, in what is called the camel’s hump in a shotgun house like ours. It was sweltering up there, but it soon cooled down after I cranked the little window air-conditioning unit up as high as it would go.
I’d been painting for a long time when I heard a knock on the door at the bottom of the attic stairs. “Yes?” I called, snapping back into reality.
“It’s me!” Meghan shouted from below. “Can I come up?”
I turned to my painting and pulled the drop cloth over it. “Sure. Enter at will.”
She appeared a few seconds later, looking around the room curiously. Several of my older pieces were hanging on the walls, much to my embarrassment. I’d wanted to paint over them several years ago, but my aunt insisted on keeping them there “for posterity,” as she called it. The paintings reminded me how far I’d progressed, but I didn’t like seeing my own earlier mistakes. I did have, however, one newer piece I’d completed in Paris last year, a landscape. Meghan made a beeline directly to it.
“Wow! This is incredible!” she said.
“Don’t exaggerate.” I was proud of it.
She turned toward me, brow furrowed. “What are you talking about? This is really amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.” I laughed. “After all, you told me that was the best thing you’d ever seen.” I pointed at one of my oldest paintings.
Meghan rolled her eyes. “Forgive my sixteen-year-old tastes. I hadn’t seen much of the world yet. And anyway, no matter what you think now, it’s still good. Most people can only paint stick figures. You have a gift, you know. I wish you could see that.”
I didn’t respond and instead walked over and hugged her. “How are you?” I asked. “You’re positively glowing today.”
“I have every reason to be. Zach asked me to move in with him, and I said yes!” I hugged her again and we jumped up and down a few times, squealing.
“Wow! That’s fantastic news! What made you decide to make the big leap?”
“We spend almost every night together anyway. After three months, I’m not sick of him and he’s not sick of me. It seems like the right time to do it.”
“So romantic.” I rolled my eyes.
She pushed my shoulder playfully. “You know what I mean. The spark hasn’t, you know, fizzled. I think he might be the real thing.”
“I’m so happy for you, Meghan. I really am. We should celebrate.”
“You’re damn right!”
We found Aunt Kate on the phone downstairs, her face alight with mischief and happiness. It was obvious she was talking to Jim, her new boyfriend. Meghan winked at me knowingly, and we went back to the kitchen for some wine. I was surprised to see that it was already late afternoon. I’d gotten up at eleven, and somehow almost six hours had passed. Though I often lost myself in painting, it was rare that a whole day passed without my notice. I was, I realized, completely famished. I hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday.
I found a nice Prosecco in the fridge and popped the cork, pouring both of us a tall glassful. Aunt Kate joined us a few moments after this, and I got out another glass.
“Oooo, what are we celebrating?” she asked.
“I’m finally taking myself off the market.” Meghan laughed.
“You’re getting married?” Aunt Kate asked, her eyes lighting up even further.
Meghan laughed loudly. “No. We’re just moving in together for now.” She paused and said dramatically, “But who knows what time will bring?” Aunt Kate hugged her happily and Meghan filled her in on the details as I poured her a glass.
“To the future!” Aunt Kate said, holding her wine.
“To the future!” we responded, toasting and drinking.
“Soooo,” Meghan said after a moment, winking at me. “When are we going to meet your new beau, Aunt Kate?”
“He’s been in Florida this week, but he’ll be back tomorrow. I was going to see if you could join us some night this week for dinner. You could bring your Zach with you.”
“Well, I’ll ask my Zach when he’s free and get back to you,” Meghan said. “Maybe Chloé will bring her Charles.”
My face fell, and I turned away quickly. “That’s not going to happen.” I opened the fridge.
“Oh, no!” Meghan said. “Why not?”
“I’m just not interested in him.” I shifted some things around on the shelves. My stomach turned fitfully, and I was suddenly no longer hungry. I stood there for a long time, trying to calm myself before turning back to them and closing the door. Both were looking at me critically.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Meghan finally said. “Charles is friggin’ man-candy. How could you pass him up?”
I blushed and looked away. I wasn’t about to spoil the happy mood with any details. “Let’s talk about it some other time, okay?” I asked, looking at Meghan, hard.
Meghan acted like she wanted to argue, but luckily, she seemed to sense something and, after glancing at Aunt Kate, she agreed. “Okay.” She looked troubled for a moment longer and then appeared to remember something. “Oh, hey, that’s right. How did the shopping go with Miss Winters yesterday?”
“It was fine,” I answered, a little too quickly.
Meghan laughed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Just that. It was fine. We went to a bunch of stores. We bought a lot of things. I got my hair cut.”
“I can see that,” Meghan said, sharing an incredulous look with my aunt. “What else?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, heat rising to my cheeks.
“You’re being awfully cagey about it, girly,” Aunt Kate said. “You were acting funny last night, too.” She turned to Meghan. “You should see all the stuff she got. She could open her own boutique.”
Both of them were staring at me, eyes wide with curiosity, and I finally laughed, breaking the tension. “I did get a lot of really nice things. In fact, I’m wearing an evening gown tonight. It’s Armani but just a rental.”
“Oooooo!” Meghan said. “Armani. Wow. So fancy.”
“Fuck you,” I said playfully, throwing the paper towels at her.
“I want to see you in it,” Meghan said. “In fact, I want a damn fashion show, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, gracious, so do I,” Aunt Kate added, eyes glowing, “though it’d probably take all night to show us everything.”
Embarrassed but pleased with their request, I finally agreed. Both of them clapped excitedly. “I’ll show you a couple of my new work outfits, okay? Then I have to start getting ready for dinner.”
“Where are you going?” Meghan asked.
I swallowed. “Broussard’s,” I finally admitted. Not only is Broussard’s extremely expensive, but it is also known as a romantic restaurant for couples.
“Just the two of you?” Aunt Kate asked, sharing a look with Meghan.
“Yes,” I said, exasperated. “Just the two of us. We have to talk about business.”
They both looked uncertain, but I didn’t want to argue with them and excused myself to my room.
I ended up trying on several outfits for them, finding that I enjoyed the attention more than I thought I would. Aunt Kate made popcorn, and they treated the experience like they were at a show, cheering loudly with each outfit. I also enjoyed the clothes even more now that I realized they were actually mine. As I changed from outfit to outfit, I decided to ignore my nagging thoughts about Amelia yesterday. I’m just nervous about the new job, I told myself. Nothing else.
Finally, it was time to get ready for dinner, and Meghan insisted on staying to watch me get ready. She sat on my bed, holding one of my old stuffed animals as I did my hair. I decided on one of the simple twists Lizbeth had shown me yesterday and was surprised to see that it was looking as I expected it to and staying in place.
“You’re acting really strange about all of this,” Meghan finally said.
I sighed. I’d known this conversation was coming for hours now. “No, I’m not.”
“I don’t get it. She buys you all this stuff and you don’t have a problem with that? It doesn’t strike you as strange?”
“Of course it does,” I snapped. “But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about feeling strange about it. She’s my boss. She insisted.”
“Okaaay,” Meghan said, shrugging, “if that’s what you need to do to feel okay about it.”
“Yes. It is,” I said, hoping that was the end of it.
“But what happens if she—”
“Listen. I don’t want to talk about her. She’s nice, and yes, she bought me a shitload of clothes and I don’t understand why. Rich people are weird. Can we just drop it?”
Meghan lifted her eyebrows and lowered them. “Sorry,” she said quietly.
I sighed. “And I’m sorry I snapped at you. There are no ulterior motives here. She has a certain style, and she insists I share it since we’ll be in public together. That’s all.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
“I do say so. Now drop it.”
We sat there in silence for a while as I applied my makeup, my hands shaking slightly with anger. I managed to cool down by the time I finished, and when I turned around, Meghan no longer looked upset.
“You look amazing,” she said. “Where did you learn how to do that? I’ve never seen you wear makeup like that before.”
“Just here and there,” I said, not wanting to start another argument. “What time is it?”
“About seven fifteen,” she said, glancing at her phone.
“Jeez, I’m cutting it close.” I stood up. “Help me pick a pair of shoes, would you?”
“What are the choices?” Meghan said, getting up too.
“Those over there.” I pointed to a pile of shoeboxes.
I flushed as Meghan examined all the shoes, gasping and looking incredulous with each revealed pair. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she asked.
“Come on, Meghan. I don’t want to get into this with you again. Which ones should I wear?”
“These would look best, I guess,” she said, handing me a box. “I can’t believe you own heels, for God’s sake.”
“I know, too weird,” I admitted. “Who would have thought?” I slipped on the shoes and stood there for a moment, letting Meghan take in the full effect. “How do I look?”
“Like the world’s most expensive prostitute,” she said. I picked up a pillow and threw it at her and we both laughed, my anger finally melting away. The truth was that it was weird, and I did feel very strange about all of this. I just wasn’t sure what to do about it except go along with everything for now.
By the time we finally made our way into the living room, the Rolls was waiting for me outside. Meghan, Aunt Kate, and I looked out at it through the curtain and watched as George opened Amelia’s door for her. I heard myself gasp when she stepped out. She looked absolutely gorgeous.
“Wow,” Meghan said, “what a knockout.” She looked at me curiously, as if trying to gauge my reaction.
Aunt Kate touched my arm and I turned to her, one eyebrow raised. “Please be careful,” she told me.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, face flushing again.
“I think you know exactly what I mean,” she said quietly.