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Following Auggie through the mostly dark house, I find Mom right where I knew she would be. At her desk in the corner of the living room with her headset on and her computer open in front of her. She gave up her office when Liz came home. Auggie knows to be quiet when Nana is working so he just waves happily at her with a toothy smile on our way through to the kitchen.
After a big cup of coffee for me and a bowl of chocolate chip cookie cereal for Auggie (I know, not exactly the breakfast of champions but it keeps him happy), he is settled in front of our small TV watching a DVD of his favorite cartoon while I get ready for work. My shift isn’t until ten this morning, which would have been great… if I had been able to sleep in. Usually I’m there at seven, but since I pulled a double Ms. Smith, the head housekeeper, told me to come in a little later than usual. She is very stern, but has always treated me fairly, especially since I’ve started working extra shifts. As long as I’m there when she tells me to be, anyway. She does not appreciate tardiness.
Picking up a cardigan off the back of the couch where I tossed it a couple of days ago, I inspect it to be sure it’s still clean before I pull it on over my housekeeping uniform. I’d rather wear this than the server’s outfit any day. It’s a simple button-up grey dress that I can wear with a pair of sneakers. Other than the cheap, slightly scratchy fabric it’s not too bad as far as uniforms go.
“I’m going to head to work now, Mama. See if there is anything I can do to pick up some hours since I’ll be early. Auggie should be fine till Liz gets up.” She waves, signaling that she heard me, still talking to her customer on the phone.
I kiss my little man and blow raspberries on his cheek, making him squeal and squirm to get away. Scooping up my purse and a waiting travel mug of coffee, I head out into the pale light of the rising sun, ready to catch the bus and start another day.
Today is already shaping up better than yesterday. Lawrence isn’t working until this evening, thank goodness, but as soon as I walked through the doors, Ms. Smith said that the other food service manager was asking if I was available to help for a little while. They need someone to do a room service delivery to the penthouse. I have to admit that I’m a little curious. To be honest, more than a little. I never got a chance to go up there to visit my friend Ana, even though she invited me. She married the owner of the casino, Mr. Cerelli, and less than a month later she disappeared without saying a word. I miss her, she’s the only friend I’ve made since I started working here. She didn’t even get judgy about me never being able to do more than occasionally meet for coffee. She just understood, and we hung out and talked about books and movies whenever our work schedules allowed.
Anyway, this will be an opportunity for me to see how Mr. Cerelli is doing. Every time I’ve seen him in passing over the past several months, it’s like he’s had a black cloud hanging over him. I think it’s because he’s pining for Ana. The rest of the staff gossips about him, so usually only Ms. Smith is allowed up to his home. I don’t put much stock in gossip—look at what they say about me... and I’m a virgin.
What do they know anyway? Absolutely nothing, that’s what. I may not know why Ana left the way she did, but I do know that she really liked Mr. Cerelli. She used to watch for him every chance she had and brought him up in almost every conversation, so whatever happened between them… I’m sure that she must have had a very good reason to leave.
When I get to the kitchen, I’m shocked. The room service cart is enormous! Mr. Cerelli must have company, I think to myself as I glide up the elevator and shove it into the hall and up to the door where I press the button and wait for someone to let me in. When the door swings open, I’m thrilled to see Ana standing there, dressed in a man’s dress shirt and a pair of leggings, and boy howdy is she pregnant!
Abandoning the cart of breakfast trays, I throw my arms around her squealing, “Oh. My. Gosh. Girl! Where the heck have you been?” We hug again and I continue chattering, so excited to see my friend. “And pregnant!” I state the obvious, “Is it a boy or a girl? Oh my-Lanta! Auggie will have a playmate!” Finally, the need to catch my breath halts my babbling and Ana laughs happily.
“Yes! I’m back! X and I are working things out. I AM pregnant!” She answers all of my questions and laughs again, “Obviously! We find out today if it’s a boy or a girl! And why are you delivering room service before seven in the morning? Did you change jobs?"
I roll my eyes a little, as if! “I got hired as a waitress too, and since I’m early they asked me to make a room service delivery.”
We chit-chat for a while before I excuse myself. I have to get downstairs. I push the now empty cart into the hall. As I step into the service elevator, I see Travis and Faye, the nice couple who I met yesterday before going home. Other than the man in the bar, they were the only guests who I delivered to who weren’t rude or just plain hateful. They were also the only other ones to give me a tip bigger than a dollar or two. I smile and give them a little wave, before pressing the button that will take me downstairs so I can start another day of work.
Gliding back toward the ground floor I can’t help but think about how happy I am that Ana is back so we can hang out again… not that I have any free time. Since Ana and Faye seem to be acquainted, I can’t help but think that it would be nice if all three of us could spend some time together. Faye seemed like someone I could be friends with, and I really could use another friend.
Chapter Five
Blake
I’m hardly ever late for anything, but I am this m
orning. I had a hard time falling asleep last night. Thoughts of Ellie dominated my mind while I tossed and turned. She looked so tired, so defeated, the last time I saw her. I hung around the bar a lot later than I had originally planned, hoping to get another opportunity to talk to her and to give her the tip in person. Of course, after she brought me my coffee and pie, I didn’t see her again other than a couple quick glances as she trundled that damned cart in and out of the service elevator and carried trays out to the casino floor.
Tina did open up to me a little bit more once she realized that I was there as a guest of Xavier. She filled me in on how Ellie usually works in housekeeping but has been picking up shifts waitressing and making room service deliveries to make extra money to help support her family. She didn’t say anything about the child Lawrence said she has, so I’m still wondering about that, and where is the father? The idea of her working extra shifts to support her child while some deadbeat skates by pisses me off.
I left her tip with Tina once I realized that she was going to stay too busy for me to get a chance to talk to her again. I’m a pretty good judge of character, and other than her proclivity for propositioning customers, and looking like a bit of a weirdo, I could tell that she is solid and that I could trust her to pass along the cash. Ellie’s understandable sadness over the threat of her pay being garnished to pay for something that wasn’t her fault made me want to do something nice for her. I am going to talk to Xavier about it and see if he can prevent her wages being docked, but that didn’t feel like enough. If I’d had more cash in my pocket, I would have left it all. I just hope she does something enjoyable for herself with it.
“Hey bro, you’re late.” Travis greets me as I walk into the kitchen where everyone is gathered around the heavily laden dining room table.
“Did I miss anything?” I ask, shrugging nonchalantly.
He shakes his head, “Nah, mostly just Faye and Xavier getting acquainted. We do know who the big guy was yesterday.” I can’t stop my eyes from raking over Faye’s battered and swollen face. The bruising that had already started yesterday is fully evident now, blackening her eyes and spreading down her cheeks. He’s talking about the man on the roof, the one who did that to her. “I did the world a favor by taking him out.”
I nod my agreement, because seriously, who would even argue that fact? She looks even worse this morning than she did yesterday, and I know that Travis kept ice on her and anti-inflammatories in her system all night. There’s no way he wouldn’t have.
“I’m going to be making a trip to New York with Faye so we can settle things there with the house. After Faye witnessed her mom and my uncle Brad bring executed, neither of us want it, and if we can find the Cerelli book of horrors, that would help X out.
I know that I should be paying more attention, but I can’t stop replaying the previous day in my mind and without meaning to I wander into the kitchen where Ana and X are talking about a doctor’s appointment.
“Hey, Xavier, got a second before you go?”
He nods briefly and pats Ana on the ass as she walks toward the foyer to wait for him. He looks at me expectantly. “I just wanted to bring a problem with one of your restaurant managers to your attention.” Lowering my voice, I continue. “I think you have a potential lawsuit on your hands if you let him stick around. He’s bullying and probably sexually harassing the female staff members under his authority.”
His face grows dark and serious, “Swing by and see me later. I want all the details. I don’t want bad people on my payroll, and I don’t want the good ones being abused.”
He reaches out and we shake hands. I know that we’ll get to the bottom of this and then Ellie, and everyone else, will have a more pleasant work environment. I stop in the dining room and take a bagel off the table and follow X toward the door and into the small foyer outside of the penthouse. Raising my hand in farewell to Travis and the girls, I push the button on the service elevator. I’m going to go snoop around housekeeping for a while and see if I can find Ellie. It’s a good thing that Xavier got us cleared with his security team, so no one should question me poking around.
