Every sip of bourbon is a welcome reprieve from stress, and I find myself relaxing as Inez’s stress level increases. I’m not much of a drinker, but as my limbs grow heavy and my lips tingle, it’s enticing. How easy it is to drown one’s sorrows in a bottle of liquor when only a couple of mouthfuls make everything feel less detrimental.
Oh, I might be run out of town? No big deal.
I rescheduled my clients’ appointments for the first time ever? Whatever. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.
Is this why my mom was always fucked-up? She never talked about our lifestyle with me—I never had a say in what she did and where she took us. But maybe the only way she could live with herself as she loaded her four-year-old daughter into the back of an old Buick, without heat in the middle of winter and drove to clubs at all hours of the night, was drunk.
Alcohol softens the edges of reality. Reaction time is slower, inhibition is nonexistent, and the headache that plagued me this morning softens to a thud behind my eyes. Catastrophe is doable with a glass of good bourbon. But when Inez hangs up the phone and tells me that Naomi is on her way in, I still care enough to set the glass down and sit straight.
“Can I go?” I ask. A tiny voice inside myself points out that I’m over-enunciating my words. “I did my part. It didn’t work out, and I’d like to return to my regularly scheduled program.”
“Something isn’t adding up,” Inez responds, ignoring my request to leave. “There’s no way I send my best girl in and he’s not happy.”
Rolling my eyes, I choose to ignore the way she speaks about me like I’m a trained dog. I push myself halfway out of my seat, deciding I’ll call a car once I’m outside.
“Sit down, Lydia,” Inez says.
“What does a girl need to do to get some damn respect around here?” I think out loud, not expecting an answer and not getting one.
Falling into place like ordered, I chip the rest of the nail polish from my ring finger and ponder the upcoming week. Since Inez took me in, I’ve adopted a strict one cock a day protocol, and I never service more than two clients in twenty-four hours. This isn’t a hooker’s attempt at modesty. It’s nothing more than a stab at preserving my pussy and stretching this gig out for as long as possible. On days when I have two clients, I persuade them into different things to avoid intercourse with both. Now that I’ve had to reschedule today’s appointments, there’s going to be two days when I have three jobs.
Another fucking reason why I don’t disrupt my routine.
Dropping the appointments will only injure my reputation, further drawing out the consequences of ignoring my better judgment. I should never have stepped foot in Talent’s building. Between the two of us, I’m left with the shitty end of the deal while he takes over the world.
“Inez, I don’t have time for this,” I say as Naomi materializes with an ego so inflated it almost doesn’t fit through the door.
Naomi skips hellos and strides through the room in a hurry, glancing at her wristwatch before flipping her hair back. Her dry ends whip me across the face, escaping my reach before I have the chance to rip her hair out from the roots. Disrespect isn’t something I let go unanswered, but Naomi’s ignorance to the amount of shit she’s in will suffice once it dawns on her that she’s not here for a pat on the back.
She chews gum with her mouth open, snapping a bubble before her ass hits the seat. Naomi taps a text message on her phone, and she says, “I don’t want to rush you, Inez, but I was in the middle of something important.”
“Creating more connections?” Inez tilts her head in confusion.
My sense of hearing has never been sharper, despite the liquid downer coursing through my blood. I don’t want to miss a syllable of the scolding Naomi’s set to receive. Nothing more than a mouthful of words has been shared between the two of us, but Naomi rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s her unjust ego or the stupid fucking way her mouth opens like a fish when she’s cornered.
“I’m sorry?” she asks. A flash of recognition clouds her eyes.
Inez catches it, tapping her fingernail from pinky to thumb