Page 10 of Time Served in New York
“Depending on where they work . . .”
“The Bronxistheir work,” he explained. “Just like Frankie’s familyworksQueens, and Paula’s sonworksBrooklyn.”
“I’m so disconnected from home that I never really considered theirwork. I mean, I grew up there, so I know what goes on but . . .” Valentine’s soft laugh interrupted me. “Okay, so I don’tknowreally, but you get what I mean.” We were quiet for a bit, listening to our friends talking, before I finally asked what had been on my mind since we arrived at the airport. “Is he . . . here?”
“Who?”
I tilted my head and frowned. “Isheon the plane? You know . . . With the luggage.”
Valentine burst out laughing and then stifled it and tried to look somber before he answered, “Yes, he is.”
“How did you do that?” I asked in total awe. “I can’t even get through TSA without myself and my bag being molested, but you gothimon the plane without them so much as blinking an eye?”
“We’re on a private charter, Birdie. We didn’t go through TSA, remember?”
“Right . . . but . . .”
“We drove the luggage directly onto the tarmac and loaded it into the plane. I’m sure Frankie’s brother has men working the hold that he trusts.”
“He owns this plane?”
“No. From what Frankie said, he rented it for our trip. But that doesn’t mean he’s not in control of who’s handling our luggage.”
“Oh.”
“It’s going to be okay, Birdie. I promise.”
“I’ll be glad to know he’s nowhere near our home,” I admitted. “I was walking over to Jenn’s the other day and saw that the, um, landscape looked different, so I knew that . . .”
Valentine smiled as he interrupted. “You don’t have to say anything. Just know that it’s all taken care of, and in about four hours, we’ll have washed our hands of the whole situation. You can rest easy, and at some point, so can Carol.”
“I love you, Valentine. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Thank you for letting me, Birdie. I love you too.”
4.
BLUE
“Did you see the bathtub?” I heard Matalie ask August as I sat across the table from them.
I’d already filled my plate at the breakfast buffet along the far wall and leaned back when a woman in a hotel uniform filled the empty mug in front of me from the steaming carafe she held. When I glanced up and said, “Thank you, ma’am,” she looked taken aback before she smiled.
“I got into it fully dressed and told Tyler we’re moving in for good,” August answered, still talking about the tub in her room. She continued with a grin, “He said that even if he went back to stripping full-time, we wouldn’t be able to afford a week here.”
“The nanny that Frankie arranged for us is taking care of the kids in one of the penthouse suites,” Lyric explained. “She took us up and . . . it was so . . . I mean, it’s just . . .”
“The nanny stole your ability to speak in exchange for getting the prince to fall in love with you?” I blurted when Lyric stammered as she tried to come up with an accurate description. “Holy shit. Where the fuck did that come from?”
Everyone laughed before Brea said, “He’s rubbing off on her.”
“He’s rubbing something,” Paula teased.
“Next thing you know, they’re going to start prepping for the apocalypse,” Jenn said with a bark of laughter. When she saw the look on my face, she gasped, “No! Really?”
“He bought these buckets full of MREs . . .”
“The envelopes of dehydrated food?” Sis asked. “He invited me and Soda over for dinner and then went on and on about how easy they are to prepare and how they would last forever. When I sat down at the table, he had a carafe of hot water and a variety for us to try.”
