Page 10 of Hotel Mallois

"Hello, Jodie," Mrs. Taylor's greeting catches her off guard.

Katherine is walking through the immense living room when she enters, and there are too many things that catch Jodie's attention. The first is that her blonde hair is looseand tousled, giving her an informal air that Jodie likes just as much as executive Katherine. The second is that she's wearing comfortable clothes, just cotton pants and a T-shirt under which Jodie suspects she's wearing nothing else. Those are the positive things Jodie can appreciate, because the next ones are very negative for her. The first is that Mrs. Taylor is walking toward the sofa with two wine glasses in hand, and the second and worst is that there's a sophisticated-looking woman sitting on the sofa with her blouse poorly buttoned and the clip that probably held a perfect updo now tilted to the right.

"Hello, Mrs. Taylor," Jodie responds, experiencing an unmistakable sensation of jealousy that she disguises as best she can. "Perhaps you'd prefer I come back another time."

Katherine walks to the sofa while shaking her head and hands one of the glasses to her companion.

"That's not necessary, Annie will leave soon. Meanwhile, you can start with the bedroom and bathroom," Katherine responds, sitting on her right leg across from Annie, who gives Jodie a quick glance before focusing on her host and starting to flirt with her blatantly.

Jodie has never been in Mrs. Taylor's penthouse, but she guesses the bedroom can only be down the hallway at the end, so she heads there quickly, grateful to lose sight of this Annie and not have to witness how that woman seduces the only one she yearns for while simultaneously processing a detail she didn't know and which is undoubtedly a ray of hope in the darkness she's feeling:Katherine Taylor likes women too, and that was something Jodie didn't know. Once in the hallway, she leaves the cleaning cart and, as if by intuition, heads toward the door on the left. Indeed, there she finds Katherine Taylor's bedroom, but what Jodie didn't expect was to find the sheets rumpled and clothes thrown on the floor.

Clenching her jaw in an impulse she can't control, she storms in and starts picking up the clothes while wondering what would happen if she got rid of all the underwear and left Annie with nothing to wear. A mischievous smile crosses her face for an instant, but it fades when she concludes that she's probably already showered and put on something Katherine lent her.

With the clothes collected and the sheets changed, Jodie enters the bathroom inside the bedroom, and if she had any doubts about what happened between the two women, she finds a vibrator resting on the marble counter after having been cleaned by someone. Jodie appreciates not having to clean it herself and continues with her work until she hears Katherine and Annie's laughter in the living room. Then she freezes, her heart constricting, understanding definitively that even though Katherine Taylor likes women, she doesn't stand a chance because they belong to completely different worlds, and Katherine would never see her the way Jodie sees her.

With that thought weighing on her chest, Jodie finishes picking everything up and throws the dirty clothes in the cart, promising herself she needs to erase Katherine Taylor from her thoughts as soon as possible.

Chapter 7

"We haven't received the other part of the payment as promised, and we can't keep postponing this matter any longer," Jodie Sinclair hears on the phone. "If you don't resolve the debt this morning, you'll need to pick up your mother from our facility this afternoon."

Jodie has had the phone pressed to her ear for several minutes. She stops listening to the nursing home director when he repeats twice that it's impossible to keep a patient who doesn't pay her fees. The housekeeper, overwhelmed and furious, went to the bar where she used to work, but the owner refused to see her. He owes her for the last two weeks she spent serving drinks there, and without that money, it's impossible to pay what she owes.

"You won't put my mother out on the street," Jodie snaps with determination, tired of everyone dismissing her. "I'll call you as soon as I can."

After hanging up without giving her interlocutor a chance to speak again, Jodie stores the device in her locker and heads straight to talk to her supervisor. As much asshe despises that woman, she knows she needs to ask permission for anything she plans to do at the hotel. When she leaves the locker room, she heads to the small office next to the cleaning supplies closet, where Marjorie Garcia spends several hours a day making schedules, reviewing work sheets, and plotting—according to Jodie—how to make her workers hate her more. She doesn't make it into the office because the supervisor is at the door talking to a coworker.

"Shouldn't you be on the third floor already?" Marjorie asks as soon as she spots Jodie.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you," the housekeeper replies.

Marjorie raises an eyebrow and releases air like a buffalo. She gives Jodie a head gesture to tell her what she wants.

"I need to request an advance, I have a prob—"

"Absolutely not," Marjorie interrupts her, shaking her head. "Your behavior and productivity lately leave much to be desired. Advances and other privileges are earned. Now, get to work unless you want me to write you up for starting late."

Marjorie turns and enters her office. Jodie feels an irrepressible urge to grab her by the neck and give her a good punch. It's not a good day for the housekeeper; she'd rather be at home resting instead of begging to get some money to face the debt she has at the nursing home. Driven by desperation, she goes straight to Lamir Kumar's office to talk to him, who's actually the person who can handle these types of requests.

"Miss Sinclair, what do you need?" Lamir asks when, after being announced that Jodie needs to speak with him, the housekeeper enters his office.

"An advance," she responds directly.

The man nods, slowly, and interlaces his hands on his desk.

"This first has to go through human resources, who then usually checks with Olivia, Mrs. Taylor's secretary," explains Lamir, who knows the procedure by heart. "I have no problem with it, but that's how it's handled."

"Whatever is necessary, but I need it as soon as possible, please," Jodie asks, politely.

Lamir picks up the phone and makes two calls. He has seen the desperation on the housekeeper's face and, after he himself had judged her for a theft she didn't commit, he wants to make the process easier for her. He notifies Olivia directly so the approval will be faster and, when he's about to tell Jodie that she'll surely have that advance during the morning, the director's office door suddenly opens and a very angry Marjorie Garcia enters. Her eyes shoot fire and Lamir Kumar, who always seems to be afraid of her, draws a look of horror on his face.

"Seems like you have trouble following orders," Marjorie says, approaching Jodie, "I told you you couldn't ask for an advance. Are you deaf?"

Jodie takes a few steps and ends up very close to her supervisor. She has to look up because Marjorie is taller, but she doesn't intimidate her, she never has, it's just thatthe housekeeper has always preferred to maintain good behavior and not do anything that puts her job at risk.

"I've never disrespected you," Jodie says through gritted teeth. "I ask that you don't disrespect me."

Marjorie clicks her tongue, moves away from Jodie, and approaches Lamir.

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