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“You don’t understand, Anne. I had the worst day imaginable. I can’t believe I walked in on Sheikh Rahal. It’s never happened before!”
Her friend, a fellow maid who still worked at The Double Tree a few blocks over, shook her head and sipped on her Cosmo. “That’s not the big deal. The thing that surprises me is that you’ve never ‘accidentally’ walked in on him before.” She shook her head, letting her long, dark hair fall over her shoulders. “I’d have at least tried that one before. I’ve seen him on telly and he’s brilliant. Fit and gorgeous.”
“I would never ‘accidentally’ do anything,” she defended, holding up her fingers into air quotes. “I don’t even like the way you said that.”
“Oh, so many women think about it!” Anne clamored. “I mean you work all those long days cleaning up for one of the most eligible billionaires on the planet. An oil sheikh? That’s so many peoples’ fantasy. I’d love to get to know Sheikh Rahal a lot better, if you catch my drift.” She winked back at Brenda. “Do you know what I mean?”
“Half the pub does,” Brenda said, letting out a groan. “Besides, there’s no point in thinking about it or reliving it. He made it perfectly clear where I stand, and none of it was good. I mean, I get it, it’s all some silly Cinderella thing. In real life there is no Maid in Manhattan and I’m not J-Lo in the least. You should have heard it ‘just my maid.’ I was dumb to even kind of hope there might be something.”
“Wait, ducks, are you saying you felt sparks?” Anne asked, narrowing her eyes before pouncing for the kill. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Because I’m a professional and I shove those thoughts aside and do my job. He pays way better than any hotel job I’ve ever had and one college tuition and one apartment in London aren’t cheap. It’s been what I’ve needed to help put Haley through American University. But, okay, maybe a little I did hope there was something there. Now I know that was the last thing on his mind. Perfect!”
She hiccuped and called the bartender over to refill her Guinness. After today’s humiliation, she was far from in the mood for something fruity and girly. She needed something with substance, and soon she might just turn to whiskey and go fully hog wild.
“I made a mess of everything.”
Anne patted her hand. “Oh, love, you fell and he helped you up. He’s the stupid git who didn’t send his girls for the night away before noon. He’s the one lazing about in bed when he knew your cleaning schedule to serve him better.”
“Ugh, don’t use the phrase ‘serve him’ with Sheikh Rahal. I get the wrong mental image, and that doesn’t help.”
“Exactly, he’s the one who should be sorry.”
Brenda sighed. “But I’m the one who had a stupid crush and should have known better. In fact—” She was about to finish her point when her cell rang. It was Yankee Doodle Dandy, a quick sign that it was Haley calling from back home in the States. Holding up her hand, Brenda excused herself from the conversation. Anne’s attention had already wandered to a businessman at the corner of the bar. “Hey, Haley, I was going to call a bit later.”
“Mom?” her daughter’s voice quavered on the other line. “I have to tell you something pretty bad.”
Brenda’s heart tensed. The one thing she feared most was that her daughter would face the same struggles Brenda had. While she loved Haley, Brenda wished she’d waited until she was older to have her. At age twenty, the surprise pregnancy had ended Brenda’s college career and put her into the maid lifestyle. Again, she’d never do anything different if it meant Haley couldn’t be a part of her life, but she’d talked a long time with Haley about making better choices.
This just can’t be happening.
“How far along are you?” she asked.
“What? Ew. No, that’s not my problem,” Haley chimed on the other end.
“Thank God...”
“I don’t know about that, Mom. You might not like the real problem. There was a car accident and everyone’s fine physically.”
Her heart sped up on the other line. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It’s dumb. Last night I was coming home from the Alpha Omicron Beta mixer and maybe I was still tipsy—”
“Haley Jean! You know we’ve talked about that and about how you have to be responsible in order to stay in your sorority.”
“I know! But I hit this Bentley, some ambassador’s kid over by Georgetown, and they are suing us for a lot of money. Mom, I don’t know what to do.”
