Page 47 of The Housemaid
“Right,” Andrew says. “To the dump.”
Enzo just stares at him for a moment, then walks right past him with the garbage bags. Without another word, he throws them into his truck and takes off. So I guess he got the message.
Andrew strides back over to the car and slides back into the driver's seat. “Well, that’s taken care of. But sheesh, what an asshole.”
“I didn’t think he understood you.”
“Yeah, right.” He rolls his eyes at me. “He understands more than he lets on. He was just holding out for more money.”
I agree that Enzo did not seem to want to take out the garbage, but I don’t think it was because he wanted more money.
“I don’t like that guy,” Andrew grumbles. “He works on all the houses in the neighborhood, but he spends a third of his time in our yard. He’salwaysout there. I don’t even know what the hell he’s doing half the time.”
“You do have the biggest house on the block,” I point out. “And the biggest lawn.”
“Right, but…” Andrew stares at Enzo’s truck, disappearing down the street. “I don’t know. I told Nina to get rid of him and hire somebody else, but she says everybody uses him and he’s apparently ‘the best.’”
Of course, Enzo isn’t my favorite person ever since he not-so-subtly rejected me, but that’s not why he makes me so uncomfortable. I can’t forget the way he hissed the Italian word for “danger” at me on my first day here. The way he seems scared to defy Nina, even though he’s large enough to crush her with one hand. Does Andrew have any clue how wary Enzo is of his wife?
Well, I’m not going to be the one to tell him.
TWENTY-NINE
Nina comes home from dropping Cecelia off at camp at around two in the afternoon. She’s carrying four large shopping bags from an impromptu spree during the drive home, which she dumps unceremoniously on the living room floor.
“I found thecutestlittle shop,” she tells me. “I just couldn’t help myself!”
“Great,” I say with forced enthusiasm.
Nina’s cheeks are flushed, there are sweat stains under her armpits, and her blond hair is frizzy. She still hasn’t taken care of her roots, and the mascara on her right eye is caked in the corner. When I look her over, I genuinely can’t figure out what Andrew sees in her.
“Take those bags upstairs for me, would you, Millie?” She plops down on the leather sofa and takes out her phone. “Thanks so much.”
I pick up one of the bags and, holy crap, it’s heavy. What kind of shop did she go to? A dumbbell store? This is going to end up being two trips—I don’t have big guns like Enzo. “Kind of heavy,” I comment.
“Really?” She laughs. “I didn’t think so. Maybe it’s time to start going to the gym, Millie. You’re getting a little soft.”
My cheeks burn.I’mgetting soft? Nina doesn’t look like she has an ounce of muscle on her. She never works out, as far as I can tell. I’ve never seen her even wear sneakers.
As I slowly and painfully make my way to the stairs with two of the shopping bags, Nina calls out to me again, “Oh, by the way, Millie?”
I clench my teeth. “Yes?”
Nina rotates on the couch to look up at me. “I called the house line last night. How come nobody answered?”
I freeze. My arms tremble under the weight of the shopping bags. “What?”
“I dialed the house phone number last night,” she says slower this time. “At around eleven o’clock. Answering the house phone is one of your responsibilities. But you and Andrew both didn’t pick up.”
“Um.” I put down the shopping bags for a moment and rub my chin, like I’m thinking about it. “I may have already been asleep by then and the phone isn’t loud enough in my room to wake me up. Maybe Andrew went out?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Andrew went out at eleven o’clock on a Sunday night? With whom?”
I lift my shoulders. “I have no idea. Did you try his cell?”
I know she didn’t. I was with Andrew at eleven o’clock. We were in bed together.
“I didn’t,” she says, but doesn’t offer any further explanation.
