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“Richard? Seriously? You would date someone named Richard?Dick, Maxine. His nickname would be Dick.”
“I would if he was a partner at the St. James firm whose cousin married a Rockefeller.”
My shoulders slouched in defeat. “Sorry, Max. I didn’t mean to interrupt your fishing expedition. I just kept remembering him calling us trash and I let it get to me. Thank you for rescuing this drunk fool.”
Maxine’s own shoulders lowered at my apology. She closed the distance between us, wrapping me in a much-needed hug.
“I know this whole night has been hard for you, and you’re already on the edge from a stressful week.” She leaned back to look me in the eye. “We both know I’m not the touchy-feely type, but I feel like I should mention that you’re worth all the money at that table put together, and then some. I knew the first day we met that you were the kind of person I’d be lucky to have as a friend.”
“You mean the day I slid the coffee and cookie under the stall door and waited outside until you were done crying?”
“Yeah. Not my best day.” She released me, looking around the room. “This feels weirdly like a full-circle moment for us.”
Pulling away from her, I turned to check my appearance in one of the illuminated mirrors above the sinks. I grimaced at my reflection. Splotchy red patches had bloomed across my cheeks, streaking down my neck and spilling onto my chest — a telltale sign that I had been drinking too much, and that my body was overflowing with too many feelings to keep in. “We’d better get back or people really are going to be concerned about your bladder.”
Maxine tilted her head back, letting out a loud bark of laughter. “Let’s hope incontinence does it for Dick.”
I really was lucky that her former boss had been such an asshole that he’d made her cry less than an hour into her first day.
We pushed through the door together this time, to find Holden leaning against the wall across from the bathroom door. He was looking down at the phone in his hand, brows furrowed in concentration. I used to think that look was annoying and pretentious, but now it seemed oddly endearing. He glanced up, his eyes glossing over Max and quickly coming to rest on my face.
“Everything okay?” he asked, standing and slipping his phone back into his pocket.
“All good.” Maxine smiled brightly.
“Actually,” I said, rubbing one hand across my forehead, “I’ve got a terrible headache. I think I’m going to call it a night.”
Maxine’s head swiveled, bewilderment written all over her face. “Right. I didn’t realize your headache was that bad.” She didn’t even miss a beat. “I’ll call our driver and he can take us home.”
“No, no, you stay! I can call a cab.” Stopping her before she could protest, I continued, “Someone has to be here when we win that trip to Aspen.”
I actually had no idea if that was how a silent auction worked, but it sounded good.
“Are you sure? Joe’s just a phone call away,” she offered, like the good friend she was, even though I knew she wanted to get back to trying to land that yacht trip.
“I’ll drive her,” Holden said to Max, as casually as if the two of them discussed who was driving me home all the time.
“No, no, no,” Maxine protested, digging through her clutch for her phone. “That’s very kind of you to offer, but you can’t leave your own fundraiser.”
“Leaving whenever you want is the only perk of hosting the fundraiser,” Holden stated, hand reaching inside his jacket to remove his own phone. “This is my mother’s show anyway. I’m not needed. I can take her home.”
“Are you sure?” Maxine asked hesitantly, glancing between Holden and me. “She can be a real handful when she’s dru—has a headache.”
I had been a quiet observer up until this point, my eyes ping-ponging between the two of them, content to just take in the conversation unfolding around me. But now I had to speak up.
“She,” I said, placing a heavy emphasis on the word, “is standing right here and is perfectly capable of ordering her own ride, thank you very much.”
I turned to flounce down the hall, fully intending to make a dramatic exit. Unfortunately, I must have misjudged my position relative to the wall and ended up walking right into it. The thud of my forehead bouncing off the drywall echoed loudly in the empty hallway. Maxine let out a loud sigh behind me.
“See what I mean? A real handful.”
“That could have happened to anyone.” I turned to face them, rubbing my forehead. “And I’m not drunk.”
It might have been the bump to the head, but my words sounded suspiciously slurred even to my own ears.
“Give us a second, Holden.” Max wrapped a hand around my upper arm, tugging me toward her. She smiled at Holden as she shoved me back through the door of the bathroom.
“Geez, Maxi-pad, you need to cut back on the stress ball.” I shook out my arm, the spot she had been gripping starting to tingle as the blood resumed circulating. “You could crush bricks with that grip.”
