I looked down. “I was worried she’d come out of it like that…”
“Yeah. I could just see it in her eyes when I met her after that. She didn’t even want to go look at cute new shoes. Do you know how bad things have to be before she won’t go look at cute new shoes?”
“Bad, I’m guessing.”
“Bad.So,” she said, brightening, “that’s where you come in. She went to this Galley launch party because she wants to get into the startup space, and you’re the one who connected with her the most from that place. So, help me get her spark back?”
I blinked. “I’d… love to, but I have no idea how I’d even do that.”
“Well, you were there, so I assume you had a good reason to be,” she said, wrongly. “What’s your tie-in with the industry?”
“Oh, uh, you know… I’m friends with Krysten Adesina, founder of Jewel.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Jewel, the app?”
Shit, she knew the app. I was on the spot now. “Familiar?”
“Yeah, it’s what my company does scheduling with. That’s how I got the invite, anyway, my boss has a friend who knows the founder, and he knew I’d be interested, so… I guess we’re only a few degrees of separation apart.”
“Funny, that,” I said, feeling a little delirious. “Big Apple’s a small town sometimes.”
“Tell me about it,” she said, as if I wasn’t just saying bullshit. “Well, that’s perfect. I had a feeling you’d be the right person for the job. Do you talk to Krysten a lot?”
“I’ve actually got a meeting with her tomorrow afternoon. Something you want me to pass along to her?”
She reached across the table and swatted playfully at my arm. “Houdini with the magic tricks,” she said. “That literally could not be more perfect. Tomorrow afternoon is great. Helena tends to be flexible in the afternoons. Take her with you.”
“I but the huh?” I said, which was a real choice of a sentence. She beamed.
“Take Helena with you. I’ll tell her there’s a prospective client who wants to work with her on something, and she’ll show up, and bam! It’s Houdini and her founder friend.”
“Oh, uh.” I scratched my head, and my neck, and my wrist. Why was my wrist so fucking itchy? “I don’t know…”
“How come?”
Well, for one, because Helena knew me as Cassandra, and Cassandra was connected to Krysten, which meant she was probably connected to Jewel. For two, because the meeting was to talk about my pitiful selfmaybebeing allowed to do something connected to the companymaybe, now that I’d backed up my groveling the tiniest bit, and I didn’t want Helena to see that. For three, it was because I’d have a heart attack and die if I saw Helena. “Well, it tends to be pretty exclusive,” I said. “Hard to just walk into these kinds of things. But I’ll ask Krysten.”
“Helena’sreallysmart. Everyone assumes she’s not because she’sjusta hot model, but she’s really clever and good with the business side of things, because she’s grown up doing it. She’s already got a personal connection to Jewel and the ecosystem, so even as a contractor, she’d be a really good asset.”
“I-I will for sure pass that all along,” I said, my face hot. I mean, I could see the logic. Helenawassmart, and she was good with people, so she was definitely in line with what Krysten wanted. A better person would help her get into that position. But Jewel was my only lifeline, and I couldn’t fuck it up.
But god, I wanted to see Helena again. Andgod,I wanted to be part of the reason she could pursue what she wanted. Even if it ruined my life in the process.
“Do you not trust her?” she said, and I shook my head a little too hard to pass off as cool.
“No, I do! I do. I definitely do. I’ll talk to Krysten, for sure, but I’ll… I just don’t think she’ll be thrilled about that. But even if not, I’ll talk up Helena to her,” I said, blabbering now. “You know, play the long game if nothing else. I’d already mentioned Helena to her at the party, about how… perceptive she was. Read right through a person. She’s good at that, isn’t she?”
She smiled sweetly. “She really is. But sometimes she’s just a bit too trusting… lets people take her for a ride. As you know.”
“As I—know?” I said, my throat tight. She waved me off.
“You know, the whole story about the girl who slept with her and…”
“Oh. Yeah. Well, Krysten’s not trying to sleep with her. I mean, I assume she’s not. I mean, she could if they wanted to. I don’t think that’s on her radar though.”
Estelle laughed. “Need a drink, babe?”
I hung my head. “I was doing better for a little while there.”
