Page 72 of Takeover
I led her to the living room, and she froze, staring at the view of Central Park."Holy shit, Gwen.Can I marry the view?"
"I'm glad you love it.As far as I can tell, no one else really seems to care here.Not Micah.Not Atticus.Sometimes I bring my laptop in here just so I can look."
"That's it, I'm moving in.Where's my room?"
"There are many to choose from.But I thought you loved your freedom and being downtown."
“I could learn to be an uptown girl.”
"You love the West Village.Stop lying."
"Okay, you're right.But I shall be making a pointed effort to come up here more often."
I finally tugged her to the kitchen and found Magda packing some containers.Rice and chicken, pasta, the shrimp dish from the other day."Hey, Magda, what are you doing?"
She smiled at my sister."Hello, Miss, would you like some lunch?"
Morgan, ever the ham, grinned and then did a little twirl."Are you offering me brunch?I'm in love with you."
Magda laughed."I like you already.I'll feed you any time.There's some French toast here.I can warm it up."
Morgan just gave me theHoly shit!French toastface, and I laughed."Magda, you don't have to cater to my sister."
She waved me off."You won't let me cater to you, so I'm going to spoil her."She finished closing up what looked like leftovers.
"Taking some leftovers, huh?"
She shook her head."No.Mr.Price wanted me to make sure I pack you lunches."
I frowned."He what?"
"Don't worry, I mostly repurposed some of the dishes we had earlier.The shrimp from yesterday, you'll have tomorrow, since it’s the freshest.And then I made you a few quick things.Some pastas and the zucchini that you liked the other day."
"I can’t believe he asked you to do that."
"Oh, it's no bother.Besides, I like doing it.And since I'm making yours, I'm making some for him too.That way he won't eat out as much.It's not good for him, you know."
If I hadn’t been so shocked and confused, I would have laughed.She looked after him like his own mother would.I frowned thinking about the older woman I'd met.How long had she been ill?How long had it been since Atticus had someone had to care about him?
Magda took out the warming plate and stacked on the French toast for my sister, warming it and giving it to her before she made herself scarce.
"Wait, let me make sure I have this right.You have a housekeeper who makes food for you.You never have to slave over your own stove again unless you want to?"
"Yes.Not that I have time to cook anymore anyway.It's been a little crazy."
My sister lifted a brow."I mean, honestly, it's been a little crazy for a few years already.Things were supposed to get better for you once you took your company and joined Dad.But they never got better because you kept trying to show him that his investment was worth it, even though you didn't need to prove anything to anyone.He got the better end of that deal.You know that."
I massaged the back of my neck and said, "Can we not talk about that?I just… I don't want to."
"Okay."She spoke around a forkful of French toast."Let me get to the reason I'm here then."
"Okay.You didn't just come for a visit?"
"Sure, I did.But I had an ulterior motive.The party planner is annoying me.She's not listening to anything I say."
"Morgan, I cannot deal with the details.If it's some insane, garish affair, fine, I do not care.None of that matters to me."
"Fine, then onto my other matter."
