Page 29 of The Love Scam
(“Senza offesa, la maggior parte degli americani non sono fluente, anche in inglese.”
“Nessuna presa. Tutto quello che hai sentito parlare di americani è vero. Noi siamo i peggiori.”*)
and her chattering should have helped the time pass, but it didn’t.
“The pencils are for the poor children,” she explained. She had asked if she could practice her English on him, and he’d been happy to oblige. Like virtually every European he’d met, she spoke excellent English while apologizing for what she thought was poor English. “Many people donate school supplies at the beginning of the school year, but this time of year those supplies have been used up.”
“Oh.” That made sense. He knew that when money had been tight, his mother never bought anything that wasn’t on sale, including school supplies. That was fine in late August. In the spring, not so much.
“In fact, we should have had more than pencils this time. But some people, they promise and then they take back their promise. So we have to—” She cut herself off and jabbed at the elevator button, and finished as the doors closed. “Never mind. Do not bring that up with Delaney.”
“Bring what up?”
She beamed. “Yes, like that.”
“You and Delaney, you’ve worked together for a while?” Sofia looked to be in her late teens; maybe they went to the same church or something? Volunteered for the same organizations?
“Oh, yes. Her work is my work.”
“Partners, huh? You should tell her you want to trade jobs—she can haul baskets and you can hang out in the hotel room, goofing off on social media.”
“I will always do what Delaney asks of me” came the surprising and emphatic reply. “And she is not ‘goofing off.’”
“Yeah, yeah, the old ‘social networkingiswork’ excuse, I’ve heard it before. You should ask for a raise at least.”
“I would never take her money.” Sofia sounded shocked, as if Rake had suggested they steal Delaney’s panties and throw them in the Trevi Fountain. Dammit! Now he was thinking about Delaney’s panties floating in the Trevi Fountain. “She has given me everything. Even when she was small and had nothing.”
“Yeah? She must have set up a great dental plan. I mean, I’ve heard of employee loyalty, but you guyscommit,you know?”
“You are a dolt of a man,” she said, not unkindly.
A minute later, they were back in her (their?) room and he was saying hello to Elena and Teresa, still hard at it, and Lillith, who was elbow-deep in Peeps and furtively chewing while she “helped.” He grinned at her T-shirt (BE YOUR OWN SAFE SPACE. OR BE BATMAN.).
And while it was great to see that a third of the baskets/candy/Peeps/supplies had been cleared out, it was awful to see that two-thirds remained. Still, there’d be a lot of happy kids on Easter Sunday, though he’d rather have written a check. And speaking of checks, he was that much closer to reclaiming his life, so the morning hadn’t been an entire waste.
He glanced over at Delaney, working at the desk, and told himself he definitely wasn’t hoping for a smile, or praise, or cash, or a kiss. (Or an antacid.)
Whoa. Keep it in park, pal. You’ve established this is purely a slave/master relationship, and not the kinky kind.
“Son of a bitch.”
He started. Delaney had spoken so quietly, it was more a hiss.
“Aw, hell, you’re not talking to me, are you?”
“Fuck.” She looked up. “Sorry, Lillith.”
“Fanculo,” the child put in helpfully, earning a snort of appreciation from Rake.
“Are you okay?” Rake asked, partly out of concern, and partly to be doing something, anything, besides more baskets. “Did the hotel change the Wi-Fi password? Try today’s date.”
Delaney appeared to notice him for the first time. “C’mere.” When he obediently trotted to her side, she turned her laptop around to show him the screen. “D’you recognize these men?”
He squinted, shook his head. “Never seen them before.”
“You have, you just don’t remember.”
“Vermouth is the real villain here.”
