nervously, turning on her heels.
It took me fifteen minutes to finish everything. By the time she came back, I’d even packed my toolbox.
"I'm back. Oh, wow. Are you already done? It always takes me forever."
"I'm handy like that," I said, winking. "Honestly, it's all about the tools. This drill piece is special for brick walls.” Feeling a bit hungry after smelling the aroma from whatever she was holding, I asked, “What did you buy?"
"Some empanadas at the shop in the next building. The lady running it, Maria, is from Buenos Aires, and I am trying to convince her that she has to charge more for them, because they are delicious. I hope she takes my advice. Until then, I’m just going to tip her generously."
I was fascinated by how quickly she befriended someone she’d just met. I grew up in a small town in Montana, and I’d always missed the deep bonds of a small community. Connections were different in DC and New York—somehow, they only tapped the surface. I knew none of the neighbors in my building. New Yorkers in general were a cautious bunch, as they should be, but it made it difficult to make their acquaintance.
"I'll bring a plate with empanadas, and we can eat in here. I don't want to disturb Harper in the living room."
“That's fine by me."
I sat on the windowsill, looking outside. There was no view to speak of; it looked directly into another building. Everyone had curtains so that you couldn't see inside the other apartments, because they were just that close. I assumed it was the same reason Ellie wanted some, to ensure her privacy as well. She came back, sitting on the other ed of the windowsill, the plate between us.
“Thanks for helping me out,” she said.
“No problem. Next time you need something done, just call me.”
She grinned. “I definitely will before I do more damage. I want to personalize the room a bit without investing too much time and money, since I’ll be moving to New Orleans in six months.”
“Why do you have to go again?” She’d briefly alluded to this, but I never really understood it all.
“The job takes me to three restaurants. Same brand, different cities with cuisine tailored depending on the location.”
“And at the end of it, they’ll give you a permanent job?”
“It’s a possibility, but nothing is for sure. It will look great on my résumé anyway, to have worked at these diverse locations, so I’m sure I’ll be able to find a good job after that, or even another rotation. And then hopefully, in a few years, I’ll have enough knowledge and capital to open my own restaurant.”
“I like that you know exactly what you want.” I really did. Lately, I’d felt like I’d been missing something.
“I read once that it’s good to keep your end goal in mind, especially when things get tough.”
“True. Dylan and I wanted to create software for an insurance model for people with businesses in weather-dependent industries. Our parents operated a ski resort, and we had a few years without enough snow. So little, we couldn’t even make enough of it with our snow machines. It nearly ruined them financially, because insurance doesn’t cover that. Anyway, the plan was to submit the software in a competition. The winner would have access to a wide network of partnerships to roll it out nationally. We messed up the submission, so we were disqualified. We were discouraged initially, but then I realized we could do it on our own—the goal wasn’t to win the competition but to create a product that would make people's livelihoods like my parents less of a roller coaster. We have the product, so that’s a win. Now we’re working on finding partners. It’s moving more slowly than if we’d won the competition, but we’re making progress.”
“Are your parents still operating the resort? Did you go skiing a lot as kids?” she asked. I got the impression that she wanted to hear everyone’s life story from the moment she met them, and I liked that about her. So many women I’d dated were only into themselves.
“We did. As kids, we were on the slopes a lot after school. And my parents are retired now.”
“How are they taking retirement? My mom’s is coming up, and she’s a bit grumpy.”
“Honestly, they’re enjoying it. They’re happy that they have a granddaughter to spoil and over the moon that Isabelle’s pregnant too. That will be their second grandchild, and they’re ecstatic. Which