Page 57 of November

“I do.” India smiled. “I’ll show you. Come on.” India reached for and took Maisie’s hand. “You reallyhadto park your own car?” she asked with a smile.

“I didn’t know that guy.”

“That’s Justin. He’s worked here for years.”

“Youknow Justin.Ididn’t.”

“Did he not greet you by name?” India asked. “I told him you’d be here.”

Maisie followed India into the main part of the condo, which was larger than Maisie’s entire apartment and probably the apartment next to it, too.

“You said this place was nice, but not super fancy.”

“It’snotsuper fancy.”

“That looks like pretty fancy art on the walls, India.”

India laughed softly and said, “Yes, it is. It’s a Georgia O’Keeffe.”

“A print, right?”

“Uh… No. It’s the original.”

“What?” Maisie asked.

“I bought it at an auction a few years ago. I was going to loan it to a museum, but I fell in love with it.”

“You just have an original Georgia O’Keeffe painting in your house?”

“My family is big in the arts. It’s pretty common. The rest are prints, though.” India motioned around the room to the other paintings on the wall. “Can I get you that latte?”

“We’re going out for drinks,” Maisie replied.

“I know, but I still need to get dressed.”

“I think I would’ve noticed if you weren’t dressed, India. Trust me, I definitely would’ve said something had you answered the door naked.”

India laughed and replied, “I’m still in my work clothes, Maise. I got home late. I just put on earrings, but I still need to change.”

“You look great,” Maisie told her.

India smiled and replied, “I look like I worked in these clothes all day. There are wrinkles, Maisie. I don’t want to go out with wrinkles.”

“Will you dress casually? Do you evenhavecasual wear?”

“I have jeans. Does that count?”

“I don’t know. Are they eight-hundred-dollar jeans?”

“I think they were two hundred dollars, but I don’t remember.”

“You spent two hundred dollars onjeans? Why? Do they burn caloriesforyou when you wear them?”

“I think they make my ass look great,” India said with a shrug. “Want to see?”

Maisie nodded slowly and replied, “Yes, I’d like to see that.”

“Give me twenty minutes? Okay. Maybe thirty.”