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“Well, I hope it all ends up at Goodwill,” I say, but I really hope it all gets burned in a dumpster.
“What are you taking out of here?” The porter turns to me.
“A pair of Prada shoes.”Thisquestion I planned for. “They’re very expensive.”
“You people with your labels.” He shakes his head.
“I worked for the designer and got them for free. I also don’t have a job now. Or a place to live since I’m locked out of this apartment,” I angle for more sympathy. “I’m going to sell those shoes so I can eat.”
He doesn’t rudely assess that I’m eating just fine, thanks to Nell—well, and Ford.
We get to the floor, and the elevator door opens.
At Michael’s apartment, Paulie unlocks the door to let me in.
“I don’t want to keep you.” I turn around and smile at him.
The porter’s eyes suggest he’s debating whether to trust me.
“It’s just a pair of women’s shoes.” The pair I have in the bottom of my work bag. “Michael isn’t a cross-dresser, is he?”
“I would have noticed that.”
I try to figure out how to get Paulie to leave when his walkie-talkie crackles.
“Yo, toilet overflowing in 10C,” a voice says.
Exhaling, he drones to me, “Let yourself out, okay?”
“I will. Thank you.”
Stepping inside the apartment still makes me sick, remembering how my world crashed down around me here. How humiliated I was by Michael’s friends.
After a soft knock on the apartment door, I open it to find Ford standing there.
“Nice job, sugar.” He leans down to kiss me.
Nick shuffles in behind him, ignoring us.
“Where should we look?” I ask, squeezing Ford’s hand.
“I’m looking,” Nick says, putting on gloves.
“Okay.” I pace in circles around the living room, not sure what to do with myself.
“You’re shaking.” Ford gathers me in his arms.
“Everything fell apart for me, right here.”
“That’s what I’m here for, sugar. To make this better for you.”
Nick pops his head out from the hallway leading to the bedroom. “Do you know if he has a safe?”
“I don’t think so.”
Ford lets me go but holds my hand as he walks around the apartment. “This place is a joke. He thought he was hot shit, I bet.”
“He sure did.”
