Page 40 of Time Served in New York
“Oh! Sweet lady,” Kitty said with a nod before he took a bite of his apple. “She even came all the way back up to bring him chocolate milk a little bit later.”
“That reminds me. I need to find Olivia and ask her where she got that lotion she gave us,” Matalie said as she twisted around in her chair. “I know this is a huge place, but do you know her, by chance? She brought fresh towels to our room the other day and I asked if there was a drugstore nearby because I forgot my lotion. She brought me a bottle that is just divine.”
“She actually makes that herself,” Freda explained as she added a selection of Gatorade to the juices in the trough of ice on the sideboard. “I think she works this evening. I’ll make sure she comes to talk to you.”
“Thanks!” Matalie said with a smile.
“Have a pleasant day,” Freda said before she tucked the empty tray under her arm and walked toward the door. “Please ring if there’s anything else I can get you.”
“The people who work here are so dang nice,” Pandora said as she cut up a piece of melon for Jared.
“My guess is that even though we’re a pain in the ass, they probably like us better than any of the other guests because we’re not uptight assholes,” Boss surmised. “When do you think the last time a group of women staying in this hotel started up a conversation with any of the kitchen staff or someone from housekeeping?”
“I would guess that never happens,” Frankie said from where she sat at one of the other tables.
“Is your family nice to them, Frankie?” Hadley asked.
“I know they’re nice to the people they come into direct contact with, but in their defense, this hotel employs hundreds of people. There’s no way they know them all.”
Jenn agreed, “Well, everyone we’ve met so far is really nice. Your family has been so kind to us.”
“Hopefully, your brothers aren’t as hungover as us. If they are, they’ll never forgive us,” Stamp said as he propped his arm on the table and rested his head in his hand. “I’m too old for this shit. My whole body hurts.”
“How’s Matteo?” Paula asked Stamp.
“He’s fine. The young ones recover quicker, I guess,” Stamp said before he tipped up his Gatorade.
“I think my whole butt is bruised,” Harper moaned. “I may have broken something from falling on it so much.”
“Where’s Brea?” Hannah asked.
“Traction,” Paula said with a giggle.
“When I talked to Chef this morning, he said that Brea was floating in the tub and the only thing she’d move was her foot to reach up and add hot water when the water got too cool,” Hook said.
“We’ve all got a few hours to do our own thing this morning. Is everyone staying around here or what?” Jenn asked.
“I’m going to hang out with my friend Carol,” Bernadette told us.
“Hook asked me to take him to some places I remember from when I was a kid,” Paula explained. “What are you guys going to do?”
“Jude and I are going to go to the 9/11 memorial and then roam around,” I explained. “He found a website that has some cool places from history and movies. Anyone want to go with us?” Several of our friends wanted to go with us, and within just a few minutes, we’d made a plan for the day. “Who volunteers to go up and try to talk Brea into coming with us?”
A resounding chorus of “Not it!” sounded from around the room followed by more laughter.
As Jude explained the sights he planned to see, I leaned over and smiled at Frankie. “Thanks for bringing us to New York, friend.”
“It’s been a great adventure so far, hasn’t it?”
“There’s been so muchadventurethat I don’t think anyone’s taken time to ask how you’re doing. Are you ready to be married to my brother?”
“More than ready.”
“You know that means you and I are going to be sisters, right?”
“That’s terrifying,” Frankie teased.
“My family’s moving up in the ranks because of you,” I told her with a smile. “We went from petty criminals, convicts, and murderers to mafia. The only criminal enterprise that’s higher than that would be congress or the presidency, and I highly doubt any of us are willing to get that dirty.”
