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“So not going to happen.”
“Nikki?” he asked.
I ignored him.
“Jade said she had a book of photographs for Zoë. Could I go get them?”
“Be my guest, her room is on the second floor.”
We walked up the stairs and he showed me her room. As he pushed open the door, the stench of weed came seeping out. The curtains were drawn and the room was pitch dark, and in total disarray. I switched a light on, stared at the floor, which was covered in clothes and books and damp towels.
“Maybe I’ll give her a call later.”
“Sure. Or you could wait a bit, hang out with me?”
“Okay.”
We went up another set of stairs and again I had to marvel at the size of this place. The third floor was carpeted, with side mirrors and bookcases filled with books. His room was tidier than Jade’s, his bed was made, the cupboard doors closed. This was a good sign, I thought. Maybe Mac was really on the straight and narrow.
There was an adjoining room, probably a sitting room once, which he had turned into a study. There were several screens and keyboards and an office chair with wheels.
“I’ve been wanting to show you something,” he said. “Something I’ve been working on.”
“Yeah?”
“I think it may be a game, but we could turn it into something else.”
I pulled up a chair and he fired up his computer. The screen became alive, and he showed me his code and I got pulled into his world for a few hours. By the time I realized what the time was, it was already dark. I looked at my watch.
“Shit! I have to get back, but Mac, I’d like to see more.”
“Yeah?!”
“Definitely. This has a lot of possibility. I am going to give you a call later, okay?”
He gave me a huge smile filled with hope and relief and I gave him a big grin back.
I quickly ran down the steps, almost colliding with Jade who was on her way up with another woman, both were clearly wasted.
“Slow down,” she snapped at me, probably thinking I was Mac, and then she recognized me.
“Oh,” she said, shocked.
“I’m Will,” I said, introducing myself to her friend. “The father of Jade’s daughter.”
“What? You have a kid?” the friend said, shocked, as if I’d said she had cockroaches.
“She doesn’t live with me,” Jade said quickly, almost guiltily, and I realized they were together. The way they were talking to each other, the way the friend demanded explanations. Only partners did that.
“And she never will,” I said, pushing past them and going out the front door.
Chapter 23
Nikki
On Wednesday afternoon, another nanny came over with her charge, Michel, for a playdate at Zoë’s. His parents were French and from Paris originally. Britta, who was Swedish, said when the parents had advertised for a nanny, they had specified that it had to be someone able to speak French. Fortunately, Britta had spent a summer in Provence with her mother, who was dating a local winemaker and Britta had spent her time snogging the farmer’s son while her mother was trying to get the father to propose.
At the end of the summer, Britta’s mom returned without the coveted engagement ring, but at least Britta was able to speak French. She’d come to New York with low expectations, basically she wanted to see if the US was like she’d seen on TV. She wanted to see the locations from Friends and Sex and the City. She swore she once saw Sarah Jessica Parker get into a cab and so far, this was the highlight of her six-month stay in the Big Apple.
