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I didn’t need half a million dollars. I need my designs. I want my hard work to be on that runway. But I can’t draw right now. I’m too wound up.
We stop at my motel, where I quickly pack up my clothes and toiletries while Ford pays my bill. With a proud smile on his face, he gives the Uber driver the address of a high-rise across from Central Park on the Upper East Side.
“You live on Fifth Avenue?” I ask, watching fancy storefronts turn to residential buildings and trees.
“Apparently.”
The idea I can step out of his building and walk right into the park excites me.
A doorman opens the Escalade’s door, and Ford gets out. He helps me from the car and taking my hand, he tucks it under his arm.
“Ted, this is Bernadette. She’ll be staying with me. I’ll give her the access codes and notify concierge in the morning.”
“Miss.” Ted nods to me. “Whatever I can get you, feel free to ask.”
“Thank you.” I straighten my spine.
It doesn’t go unnoticed that Ford didn’t say how long I’ll be staying. Perhaps Ted knows Ford well enough. That he uses Club Dare and buys women for a month.
But I’d like to think bringing me home in this very public way, and introducing me, suggests that Fordwants me to be respected here.
Ford motions to the driver who followed us in and hands over my two suitcases.
We pass two sets of elevators and turn a corner to a slender one. “This goes right to the upper floors,” Ford says.
“Penthouse?”
“Not exactly. I’m a lawyer. There are much richer people in this city than me. I’m in a duplex on theexecutivelevel. Still high up.”
“Richer people like Emery?”
“He owns an entire block downtown.” Ford rolls his eyes.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“And Ashton?”
Ford stiffens. “He has a townhouse a few blocks from here.”
Interesting.
We reach a very high floor. Which one, I don’t know because there’s no floor counter in the elevator. Ford flashed his card in front of an infra-red reader and up it went.
Outside the elevator, a chocolate and gold raised wallpapered hallway stretches out, complete with arched breaks. Rich, mahogany-stained wood paneling below gives the place such a warm, elegant feel.
Ford steps into a recessed alcove, enters a code on the keypad near a steel entry door, and it whooshes open.
He steps aside and lets me in first.
Scents flow to me. Lemon polish, cologne, new plush carpet.
“Tomorrow over breakfast, I’ll giveyou all the codes you’ll need. I’ll have an elevator card sent up to you before I leave for the office.”
“What time do you eat?”
“My housekeeper gets here at six. I work out from six to seven then shower. Seven thirty?”
