“She’s my boss.Not a lot I can do to ignore her.”
“Did you find it?The diamond.”
“No.”
I wince.“She must have been mad.”
“I don’t know because she sent me to the office to take back a few things.”
I recall.She wanted Maya away.Away from me.
“Does she know that we know one another from before?”I ask.
“No.I can’t tell her that.”
My eyes narrow.
“Because ...”She throws her hands up and I don’t press, but I can guess at the reason why; because Katherine is paranoid.Because Katherine likes people with money and power and she wants to please me, and she will hate that Maya and I have history.
Feeling emboldened, I press on, even though a warning in my gut tells me to drop it.“I want to understand what happened, Maya, why you and your mom suddenly vanished.”I have this gnawing feeling that it will explain everything, so I don’t want to let this opportunity pass by.
“Are we talking about that again?”
I don’t like the way she’s looking at me, or the way her voice has lowered.Or her response.
Unperturbed, I press on.“I never expected you to vanish like that.I thought I’d see you again the next day.”
She laughs, low and false.“As if getting into your cars was something my mom and I regularly did.”
“It looked odd to me, but I was confused.I thought that maybe your mom needed to go somewhere and quickly, and that my dad must have let you take the car.”
“Your father?Let us take the car?”Another cackle.My insides turn heavy.“What else did your father tell you?”she asks.
I scramble to put my incoherent thoughts together.“When you didn’t return, I asked the other housekeepers.They said to ask my dad.So I asked him.He said your mom and you had left forever and weren’t coming back.He said your mom had found a better job.”
She swirls the wine in her glass gently, staring at it.Not lifting her gaze to mine.“She ...did.We left the estate and my mom found another job.”
“Just like that?”
She lifts her chin, watching me silently.“Just like that.”
“B-but why didn’t you tell me?Why didn’t you say something?”
“It happened suddenly.”
“Your mom got a job elsewhere and it happened suddenly?”I cry in disbelief.“You could at least have left a note or something.”
“We were in a rush.It all happened so quickly.”
I don’t understand, but as I open my mouth to ask her, she shakes her head.“There’s no point in talking about the past.It’s not important.”
I disagree.It didn’t make sense, and her telling me they left because her mom found another job also doesn’t completely explain why she didn’t tell me.We were growing close.We’d kissed.We had a few weeks of summer left.She should have told me.She could have.
Silence sits between us like a big fat frog, unwanted and peculiar.There’s no use pressing her for more details because she clearly doesn’t want to talk about that.
I place my fingers around the base of the wine glass.“My father isn’t well.He has kidney disease.It was only recently diagnosed.”
She blinks, like the news has hit hard.“I-I’m sorry to hear that.”
