“Oh.”
“And to answer your question, I have absolutely no idea what our jobs will entail.”
“I’m a bit scared.”
“So am I.” Her face was white. “So am I.”
***
The sunrise woke me up early the next morning. I lay in the top bunk listening to Nancy snoring and stared through the window. The sky was a light orange, and I could see the gardens through the glass. I ran my hands through my hair and thought about Katie and Brandon, wondering how they were getting on.
Katie had been my best friend for a long time, and I had witnessed how Brandon had torn her apart when he had dumped her in college. I had felt helpless in comforting her and slightly envious that Katie had already experienced a great love, whereas I had barely experienced a soggy kiss.
Men and I never seemed to mesh. The men I liked never really liked me, and the men I didn’t like loved me in droves. I’d had a couple of relationships with suitable men, but I’d always found them to be a bit boring. I was boring, so I didn’t want to date boring men. I wanted a man who was handsome and sexy and dangerous. A man who could make me melt with a glance. A man like Greyson.
I closed my eyes and allowed myself to think about Greyson. He ticked off every box on my list, but he came with a couple of disclaimers I wasn’t quite sure about: heartbreaker and illegal.
“Are you awake, Meg?” Nancy whispered to me softly and I smiled. I was really lucky that I had gotten paired with Nancy.
“Yeah, I am.”
“What do you think we’re going to do today?”
“I have no idea.”
“It’s such a weird concept. I wonder if my sister had to go through this.”
“Who knows?”
“Will you help me?” She spoke slowly and my fingers froze in my hair.
“Find out about your sister?”
“Yeah.” She got out of her bed and stood up so that her face was close to mine in the top bunk. “You’re a lawyer and you’re already investigating stuff for your best friend. I was thinking maybe you could help me as well.”
“I suppose.” The words tripped out of my mouth before I had time to say no. I was already regretting telling her that I thought my best friend was dating a guy who had a connection to the club.
“Oh my God, really?” Nancy’s eyes widened with happiness. “Oh my God, that would mean so much.”
“I don’t know that I could really help much.”
“Oh, you would be a godsend.” Nancy’s fingers gripped my sheets. “I honestly have no idea what to do next.”
“You got this job. You know enough.” I sat up, rolled my legs over the edge of the bed, and then started laughing hysterically as I stared at Nancy’s eager face.
“Are you okay?” She gave me a worried expression.
“I feel like I’m in college again.” My words sounded bemused. “You remind me of my best friend, Katie. We were roommates for most of college. And I was always there as her sounding board.”
“You don’t sound happy about that.” Nancy’s voice was soft, and I stared at her in surprise.
“You know, I’ve never really thought about it before. But you’re right. It got old being her sounding board. You’re pretty astute.”
“It’s hard, isn’t it? Being number two.”
“Number two?” I frowned and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
“I’m guessing if you were the sounding board in the friendship, she was the one who had the boys and the fun.” Nancy looked at me with a question in her eyes.
“I guess so. Though I never looked at it like that before. It was more like, she had all these experiences and I just felt like the one who got left behind. Like all I wanted from life was to be a lawyer or travel the world.”
“Yeah, I’m the smart one.” Nancy shrugged. “Maria was the beautiful one. My parents always used to thank God that I got the brains and she got the looks.”
“But you’re beautiful.”
“Not when compared to my sister.” She smiled at me softly. “Maria was the kind of beauty that could sink ships. My dad used to say they should have named her Helen.”
“Helen?”
“Like Helen of Troy.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, my dad is...” She paused. “Or rather, was, a very funny man.”
“I’m sorry he passed away.”
“It’s okay. My mom warned him about the food he used to eat.” She shrugged and looked down. “He had a heart attack. My mom blames the steaks. I blame my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“He was never the same after she left.” She looked back up at me. “I think she broke his heart.”
“I don’t understand why he didn’t look for her.”
“She got engaged.” Nancy sighed. “They all had an argument. My dad thought she chose the fiancé over her family. Well, I don’t think she did.”
“Whoa, what?” I jumped down from the bed. “What do you think happened?”
“Well, the guy she was dating, he seemed to—”
BANG BANG.
Nancy and I both jumped as we heard the loud knocks on the door.
“Hello?” I called out timidly and shook my head at myself. Since when had I become scared of a few loud knocks?
“Are you girls up?” Patsy’s voice called through the door.
“Yes,” I called back and watched as she walked in. She looked her age this morning. She had no makeup on and her hair was in rollers. She was also wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants and looked very unglamorous. She grinned as she stared at Nancy and me and the shock in our faces. “We all look normal at some point in the day.”
“You look very beautiful,” Nancy squeaked out and I nodded.
“Don’t lie, girls.” She looked us over. “You both need to get ready so you can meet the other new recruits and some of the staff.”
“Do we learn about the positions today then?” I spoke up, curious as to when we were going to find out what our actual jobs were to be.
“Unlikely.”
“Will we see Greyson? I mean, Mr. Twining?”
“No, he doesn’t have much to do with the girls.” She shook her head and frowned at me. “Mr. Twining is the owner of the club. He has much more important things to deal with.”
“I understand.” I blushed, feeling embarrassed.