Page 38 of Maid in America

“No. Men should be tripping over themselves for you. Although, you’re probably living a lot more stress-free life than some of thesemarriedchicks.”

“True.” She nodded.

“I like my life the way it is most of the time. I like my solitude. I just get lonely, too, sometimes.”

“You should go out. Go dancin’. That’s what I do. I love a good Cotton-eye Joe.”

“I’m not the line-dancing type.”

“What kindatypeare you, then? You like to cha-cha? Waltz?”

“Try pole.” She laughed and covered her face.

“Excuse me?”

“Hold on. Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m showing you this…” Maya disappeared into the living room, rifled through a few things, and came back with an eight-by-ten portfolio.

Barrett placed the glass plate back in the microwave and folded his arms across his baby-oiled pecs.

Maya flipped the page open to one of the plastic-sheathed photographs inside and shoved the book toward the Viking God in her kitchen with a look of embarrassment.

“Holy shit! Is that you?” Barrett asked, snatching the portfolio fully away from her. In the book were blurry snapshots of a woman dancing on a chrome stripper pole at what looked like a dance club. In one of the images, the woman was upside down, holding the rod, doing splits in the air.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” He flipped through the pages to another where he saw a photo of a younger Maya holding a first-place award.

“I didn’t even know they had competitions for this kind of stuff. Dammit, I want to be a judge!”

“I was a wild child. First place in the New Mexico pole dancing competition… three years in a row,” she boasted. “Although,you’d never know it now that I’ve packed on about twenty pounds.”

“Oh, stop it. You look amazing.” Barrett flipped through more pages, each an incredible shot of an animal. The book was full of prints of peacocks, jellyfish, monkeys, and crustaceans.

“Did you take all these?”

She nodded and waved it away. “Yeah, but you don’t have to look through those.”

“These are incredible.”

“I used to photograph for a bunch of magazines. That was before I learned C++.”

He closed the book and looked at her with sincerity. “You’re a cool chick, Maya.”

She smiled, too embarrassed to respond. She took the book and plopped it on the kitchen island, backing up to her original vantage point in the doorway.

“What’s that?” She pointed to the corner of the floor. “On the grout?”

Barrett looked around, confused. “Where?”

“Right there. On the grout in the corner on the floor.” She smiled. “Looksrealdirty right there.”

What she was insinuating finally occurred to Barrett. “Oh, that? On the floor?”

He pointed to nothing.

“That? Oh wow, what a mess. That’s going to need a good scrubbing. Do you mind if I get down on my knees and get it soaking wet so I canreallygo to town on that thing?”

He lowered to his knees, grinning the whole way, sticking his shiny ass in her direction, muscles flexed.

She laughed, cheeks blushing again. “By all means. Don’t mind me. I really do adore when you’re…thorough.”

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