I follow after her. I know where she’s going since I’ve memorized the floor plan, but I’m still unprepared for the size of every room we pass. How people can casually walk around this place like it’s a normal home blows my mind. I grew up in a decent-sized house, but after everything came crashing down, I decided smaller was better. Less to maintain and ultimately, less to miss when I left it. But here, there’s room to breathe and grow and dream.
Maya opens the door to the gym. It’s impressively stocked with a squat rack, free weights bench, yoga mat, and every cardio machine one could want. Inthe corner is an ice bath and a sauna that could easily fit ten people. There are rolled towels and fresh lemons on a mini table outside the sauna to complete the aesthetic. Maya picks up a lemon I assumed was decor, slips a knife—a real one—from between the wood slats in the sauna, and cuts it in half.
She gives one half to me and keeps the other for herself.
“Strip. Rub this on your skin every five minutes. Helps the process. Or at least I like to pretend it does.”
“You’re very proficient at this. Makes me wonder if perhaps you aren’t very good at your job.” It’s meant to inflect some lightness into our midst, and thankfully, it works.
She laughs as she rips off her shirt.
I carefully avert my gaze and take off my own. I kick off my socks and pants, feeling awfully exposed in nothing but boxers.
“The only form of discipline I can use is the phrase ‘was that a good choice?’” Maya says dryly. Obviously, it’s something that has bothered her for a while. “So if you’d like to take a shot at fixing her behavior, be my guest. Since you can’t get fired.”
But surelyshewill if any of this gets back to Arabella’s parents.
My chest tightens like I was just punched. I’m a terrible person.
I need to get out of here before the guilt disables me.
I drape my wet clothes over an elliptical machine, then secure my backpack to the bar with a lock. Thankfully, I thought to take it off before I jumped into the hot tub.
I turn around to find Maya shaking her head as she wraps a towel around her body. “You locked your bag to an exercise machine? Trust issues much?”
I ignore the latter, weightier part of her statement. “I believe lathering with lemon while in the sauna to remove red dye from our skin might be a little stranger.”
She rolls her eyes and leads the way into the sauna, holding open the glass door for me.
“Are you going to lock me in here?” I ask.
“Unfortunately, that feature was disabled after Bella trapped her first nanny inside while it was running.”
“Did she kill that one too?”
“Nah, the nanny had a phone; she was fine.”
A chill runs through me despite the warmth. “Terrifying.”
“You’re telling me. Sometimes I feel like I’m a soldier in battle, taking my life into my hands every day.”
“You should probably quit.”
“I probably should.” She lifts a shoulder and drops it. “But oddly… I like her.”
Maya always had a soft spot for the underdog or the troubled child. Maybe that’s why she liked me. I was a project she could fix, like the kids she tutored after school.
I slip past her, careful not to touch her in any way. To touch her again would end in the demise of my resolve.
Even with a towel around her, there is far too much skin on display, though it’s cherry red. She’s got a sports bra and some spandex shorts on; they must have been under her sweats, or she keeps them here specifically for these moments.
Maya takes one side of the sauna, and I take the other. I notice she leaves a small crack in the door. I’m not the only one with trust issues.
I lean back against the hemlock wood, relishing the heat after being cold for much of the night. For the first time in months, I feel my body relax as sweat drips from my pores, creating streaks of red down my skin.
“How’s Rosie?” Maya asks.
There goes the relaxation.
