asks with sudden interest. “Did you change your mind about talking to Emily?”
“No, I haven’t changed my bloody mind. Louis paid me a lovely visit yesterday morning and threw me out, informing me he now owns this hotel.”
This must be news to her, because she sits straighter and sobers up. This must mean that Emily had no idea I was here, or that Louis came to see me.
“I still need to understand why you’re here. I saw Emily here yesterday, too. That’s why when you texted me to meet you at The Pierre, I had no doubt I’d be meeting Emily.”
“When did you see Emily? Were you at the hotel when we came yesterday?”
I nod. “Yeah, I was waiting for my driver when I saw her enter and I decided to stay and wait. I had hoped to see her.” She’s quiet, just drinking her tea. What’s running through that nutty head of hers? “Why were you here, you and Emily?”
“It’s not important why we’re here. It’s just an interesting coincidence that we’ve all ended up at the same hotel.” She’s back to scoping the city line outside the window.
I finally sit down and say, “It’s important to me. I’d like to know why you’re here. I’ll talk to you about things you want to know, but I’m not interested in a one-way interrogation. I’d like us to understand each other and maybe you’ll help me.” Perhaps if you need me to listen, I could help you, too, Sara.
She tears her eyes from the window to look at me and says, “I wouldn’t even know where to start.” She takes a sip of her tea before looking away again and I believe I actually felt her anguish in those few words.
“Go back to where it doesn’t hurt to talk about it. Tell me how you got to a point in your life where you spend a passionate night with a lover at the most exquisite penthouse in New York City, but it doesn’t end with chocolate croissants and tea with milk and two sugars?”
She shakes her head but then her whole body trembles and tea spills on the floor. Her head sinks into her hands and the tears flow freely again.
I think I just found the one other person in New York who’s perhaps even more broken than me.
“The Promise” by When In Rome
I feel myself being carried somewhere. I try to stop drowning in my tears and open my eyes and tell him to put me down. Liam carries my trembling body out of my room. “Where are you taking me?” I ask as we enter a bedroom I didn’t even know existed on the same floor.
“We need to sort your issues out before we get to mine, and if you start bawling on me every time you get a whiff of that arse from last night, we won’t get very far.” He lowers me onto a clean, crisp bed in a room I’ve never seen in this penthouse. “This is the last time I’m bringing you a wet cloth to clean your pretty face, got that, Sara?” I smile because he is kinda sorta being sweet.
“Okay, but Jeff is not an ass,” I say back to him in a small voice that’s not very convincing even to my own ears. He just shakes his head and goes into the bathroom for yet another stupid towel to dry my stupid tears.
I clean my face and blot my puffy eyes. I look over to see him sitting at the edge of the bed, watching me with a frown, probably dying to know why I’m endeavoring to help Emily with her issues when, clearly, I’m the one that needs all the help.
“Am I finally gonna hear who this Jeffery Rossi is to you? And everything and nothing are not valid responses. I accept full sentences that include profanity. I’ve already concluded that he’s an arse by the way he left you in the middle of the night after he finished wanking off inside you. Don’t tell me he didn’t because I was here to see it with my own eyes, your honor. Your eyes are disturbingly sad and you haven’t stopped crying since we’ve officially met. And FYI, blokes who are not arseholes don’t put the women they care about in hotels to bang whenever they please and then go home when they’re done.”
I attempt to be strong and not look away from his knowing eyes after everything he just said