Page 64 of Falling for Them

Nah, I’d much rather make amends with my shitty past and be happy.

After making the donation, I do a search for local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.There’s one happening in about an hour across town, and I can make it if I hurry.

Ella

The Maids in Heaven office is neat and orderly, much like the business owner, Melinda Nokim, herself.

“Ella,” she says, standing to greet me with a smile and a warm handshake.“Good to see you.To what do I owe the pleasure?”

I grin back.There’s something so warm and comfortable about Melinda—she really invites ease and confidence.“I’d like to change my work location, if possible,” I say.

“You’re at the Tyler building now, right?”she says, wrinkling her forehead in puzzlement.

“Yep.”

“Are you sure?”Melinda asks.“Everyone who’s worked there says the Tyler building is the best gig.I can find you another slot, but it won’t be the same.”

“Yeah,” I say.“I’m sure.”

She gets up from behind her desk and sits in the chair next to mine.Her deep brown eyes are searching.“If someone hurt you there, or made you uncomfortable, Ella, I need to know.Reporting it to law enforcement is up to you, but I can’t send someone else in there without knowing for certain that it’s safe.”

“It’s safe,” I say.“I promise.”

I mean, Joel’s an ass, but physically, he didn’t do anything I didn’t want him to do.

“All right,” she says, sighing and returning to the other side of her desk.She fixes her gaze on her computer screen.With a few clicks of her computer mouse, she nods and mutters to herself.“There’s another building in Dorado Heights.It’s a luxury apartment complex, and all you’ll be cleaning is the public areas—hallways, basically, as well as a lower level restroom for waiting guests.To be honest, Ella, it sounds like it will very quickly bore you.”

“I don’t mind being bored,” I say quickly.“And there will be other maids working, too, right?”

“Yes.You’ll be with Brent and Gail.”

“Thank you,” I say.“This sounds perfect, really.”

Nodding, she says, “If you say so.I’ll text you the shift dates and times, but it will mostly line up with your current schedule.That way it won’t ruin your shifts at the pub, right?”

“Right, thank you.”I get up to leave.

“Ella,” she says softly, “you’ll tell me if anything is wrong, won’t you?”

“Of course,” I chirp.“Everything is fine, though.”

The lie doesn’t sit well as I leave her office and walk back out into the chilly late-January day.

Because nothing is fine, and I’m not sure that it will ever be fine again.

I experienced a lavish taste of heaven before being slammed right back into hell.

Eighteen

Kingston

Joel’s off skiing in Tahoe again.He left the day after the gala and he’s been there for nearly a week.He didn’t take my skis this time.Either he’ll rent some, buy his own, or put off any pretense of actually skiing and do what he’s really there for: partying.

Nobody else who works here can just up and leave whenever the fuck they feel like it.

I remember him as a little boy, and my heart clenches in my chest.He never quite took to me like he took to his mother, Rayanne.She and I had him when we were young, just starting college.She told me she was on the pill.Much later, while drunk and angry at me, she’d admitted she had never been on the pill.She’d seen that Tyler Analytics, my dorm room start-up hobby, was going places, and she wanted to be a part of it…forever.It had been her mother’s idea, actually, and I’d pitied Rayanne during the big confession, rather than being pissed at her.

I wish now, that things had been different.I wish I’d insisted on splitting custody evenly, rather than just taking Joel every other weekend.He and I were almost strangers while he grew up.