to services, because I saw when I entered the apartment that she’d invited a friend.
They were sitting at the table together. He was older, as in nearly fifty, but he chestnut brown hair that was shaped into a visor of some sort. I saw immediately that he was a rich, powerful white male. They’re not exactly rare in New York.
“Lena!”
“Good afternoon,” I said, walking over for the sake of politeness. I really just wanted to get my pint of Cherry Garcia into my stomach before it melted in the CVS bag, but Aunt Betty had really drilled manners into me.
“I’m Lena,” I said, sticking out my hand to the stranger.
He smiled and shook it. “Nice to meet you, Lena.”
I waited for his name, but it never appeared.
It looked to me like they had been eating some kind of rare meat with tomato sauce. The man and Raya both had large, uneaten chunks on their plates.
“Well,” said Raya, “We were just heading out. Have a nice afternoon.”
They had their coats and were out in an instant.
I stuck the Cherry Garcia in the fridge and went after Raya’s leftovers. They were very rare, and I didn’t quite recognize the meat, but they tasted delicious.
Waste not, want not.
V.
My train was late because of some damage to the train before, so by the time I got to work I was both late and in a huff.
And to top it off, my first call with a lady who insisted on being called “the Honorable Mrs. Huffmeister” and was disgusted when I messed up her stupid title. Ten minutes later, it was official. I’d started the day by losing our company a rich client.
Lakisha peered over the divider at me.
“Hey! Lena.”
It was hard for me to hide in the cubicle, as the walls weren’t very tall. I’d replaced the puny chair they’d given us with a more solid piece of furniture, so I couldn’t even scoot back and forth easily.
“Lakisha! How long have you been here?”
“Oh, I got in a little early, as usual. People who call super early in the morning are generally demanding, but less cranky than the folks who call at nine because that’s when they think we open.”
I pondered her words. She was only a couple years older than I was, but she was very wise. One day soon, she’d probably just breeze out the door, off to conquer the world.
But until then, we could remain allies in the trenches of our call center.
“Lena, what’s up?”
“Nothing. Everything’s normal.” I looked down at my outfit a little nervously. Good, no stains anywhere. Lakisha was super skinny, so I felt a bit self-conscious around her. But at least she wasn’t as pretty as Raya, and didn’t seem to give a shit about her looks. I never saw her wear makeup, and she wore colorful headscarves to spite our ultra-conservative managers.
“Come on. I know that was a tough call, but you don’t sound like yourself.”
I put my head in my hands. “I’ve met someone.”
“Like, a guy?”
“Yes. But I don’t know his number, and Raya won’t give it to me.”
“Why the hell not? She doesn’t approve of him?”
I shrugged. “I think that she likes him, but they’re definitely not close. It seems like she’s convinced that he’s not right for me, specifically.”
“Shouldn’t you be the one to decide?”
“Absolutely.”
Lakisha smiled. “Girl, you look like someone died. Don’t let it get you down.”
“What the hell, though? I mean, she’s really treating me like a baby.”
“I can get her to give it to you.”
We heard the blustering voice of our manager, Mr. Arthur, chewing out some poor soul who was even tardier than I.
“Look, I’ll make it quick. What’ve you got on Raya?”
VI.
There were a bunch of lists available on the internet. I tried to scroll through them on my breaks, and it took me a while to find what I wanted. Very specific search terms were necessary for that.
When I got home, Raya was sitting at the kitchen table, doing something or other on her laptop. She made money “independently” somehow. It was never particularly clear to me, as every time she started talking about investments and the stock market I tuned her out.
“Raya. I need Bay’s address.”
“I don’t have it!”
“Right. I’m not even asking how you know each other. I’m just asking where he lives.”
“Lena, he’s a secretive guy and a jerk. He has no desire to spend time with people. Didn’t you get that from him?”
She was partially right. It seemed like he did want to spend some time with people, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t managing to do that right now.
“Ok, so what can you give me on him?”
“Nothing. Stop bothering me.”
“Cool. Well, if you want, I can start paying rent somewhere else soon. Then I wouldn’t have to bother you at all.”
She frowned. “Aunt Betty would kill you. Besides, how would you get the money?”
“Oh, I’m sure that various publications will be very interested in knowing what a senator was doing here at our apartment on Sunday morning.”
Raya’s glare almost made me cry, but I stayed firm. It was the only way to find out about Bay.
“You wouldn’t dare, sister.”
“I absolutely would. But I’d prefer not to go that route. I’d like the address of the man who saved my life.”
“Look, I don’t have it.”
I shrugged and made for my room.
“Wait! Lena, I can find out where he lives. Just give me 24 hours.” Something in her voice was pleading. I never thought I’d be able to scare my tough-as-nails sister.
“Fine. You have that much time, but no more.”
VII.
Oddly enough, Raya never gave me a particular address. She just told me a metro stop and a business.
“He lives really close to there, I promise. Somewhere in the yellow building across the street from the deli.”
“You don’t know which apartment?”
“No! But just getting this information cost me a lot. You could say thank you.”
“I’ll thank you when I actually find him.”
But when I actually did find my sexy savior, I didn’t know what to say.
It was after about half an hour of loitering next to the deli, so I had to step away from the brick wall and brush my back off.
“Hi!”
He stopped in his tracks. “Hello. What are you doing here?”
Coming up with a backstory hadn’t even occurred to me. And it was my absolute first time in the neighborhood, so I had no idea what was nearby.
I slouched a little bit, and adjusted my hat with a sheepish smile.
“I wanted to thank you for rescuing me.”
He cocked his head and thrust his hands into his pockets.
“Did you track me here?”
“Um, track you?”
“I mean, uh, figure out somehow where I was.”
“Raya told me.”
“Wow. I didn’t expect her to betray me.”
“Well, I threatened her, basically.”
We were both unsure of how to go on. Next to us on the street, two cars engaged in a battle of horns. The two of us moved aside to let an elderly woman walking three Schnauzers pass.
“Would you like a sandwich? This is a great deli.”
I looked in the window. It was definitely inviting.
“Ok.”
At the deli, I took Bay up on his offer to pay for the food, because I didn’t have enough cash in my wallet to even afford the side salad and pickle that I was eating.
He looked pained.
“Is that really all you’re going to get? They have great sandwiches here, you know.”
All of the women’s magazines I’d seen that said not to pig out in front of a man flashed before my eyes.
“I’m
not that hungry.”
“One Reuben?”
The thought of all of that salty fat made my mouth water.
“Come on, I’ll get you one. If you don’t eat it all here, yoßu can take some home.”
I told myself that I would do just that. Of course, as soon as Bay brought over the little plastic basket, I scarfed the whole thing.
“Why did you choose this neighborhood?”
“I wanted to be somewhere where nobody would know me. It makes things less complicated.”
“Is it close to your work?”
“Actually, I work from home. Sometimes I come down here and have a couple of sandwiches while I work on my laptop.”
“Isn’t it lonely?”
He sighed. “To be honest, yes. But I do interact with a lot of people in my job, at least over the phone, so there’s that.”
“What do you do? I talk on the phone, but I have to commute to fucking East Haven to do that.”
My shirt was riding up a little bit, and nothing was worse than showing off a muffin top. Although the table blocked my midriff, I tried to yank the shirt down as inconspicuously as possible.
Bay was listening to me carefully. “Why don’t you live there, in East Haven?”
“Free rent with Raya.”
“Right. Anyway, I run a specialized import/export company and a couple of other websites.”
God, his messy hair looked incredible. I tried to concentrate on his words, rather than simply ogling him.
“What do you import?”
“Exotic meats, mostly. Some other stuff.”
“Do you supply this place?”
He burst out laughing. “Free sandwiches! That would be genius, Lena. But no. They only serve Kosher meat here, so that’s a whole different thing. And one of the things I import is wild boar, so the whole no-pork thing really wouldn’t work.”
“What does that taste like? Wild boar?”
At this, Bay positively grinned. “Oh, it’s tough and gamey. And delicious.”
After lunch, Bay walked me to the subway.
I glanced at the script I’d stuck into my purse. It was the
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