She came out of the bathroom and saw that behind one wall was a full movie theater complete with giant plush seats. Next to that, a home gym, glassed in like the gym in a hotel, with a Peloton treadmill, bike, and rowing machine,anda Pilates reformer. She’d never seen a Pilates reformer out in the wild, in somebody’s house! She inched closer, practically drooling, her feet itching to try out the straps. They looked pristine, not like the ones at her studio that saw many pairs of feet a day. A voice behind her made her jump.
“Hello there, young lady. Looking for something?”
Jordan whipped her head around. “Jesus! You scared me, Bernadette.” Bernadette was standing on the last step of the staircase, smiling at Jordan in that half-mocking way she has, as though she is the middle school queen bee and she has your number. “I was looking for the bathroom,” Jordan explained. “Took me forever. But I found it. One down, sixteen to go.”
Bernadette descended the final step and stood level with Jordan. “There’s one in the pool house. That’s the one guests are using. I saw you walk over here so figured I’d track you down and tell you.”
Jordan’s face burned. No wonder the house was empty. “Ohmygod,” she said. “I’m not supposed to be in here, am I?”
“Strictly speaking, no.”
“Am I going to get in trouble?”
“Are you going toget in trouble?” Bernadette tilted back her head and hooted. She must have been a nightmare in high school. Jordan felt foolish. “I guess you can take the girl out of Western Mass...” said Bernadette. She laughed some more, then said, “I won’t tell anyone that we’re in here if you won’t.”
This was when Jordan realized that Bernadette was drunk. Really drunk. Many-glasses-of-champagne-on-an-empty-stomach drunk. Ho, boy. Bernadette plopped down in one of the plush movie seats and patted the one next to her. Reluctantly, Jordan sat, but she looked around while she did, as though the usher was going to come and ask for their tickets.
“I’ve been thinking,” said Bernadette. “I want someone to be partner. I’m thinking about succession planning.”
“Really?” Jordan sucked in her breath and her heart started to beat faster. “Really, do you mean it?” This is what she’d been hoping for—to beat out Tom and Caitlin and Irina! To be partner! To be in the right position when Bernadette is ready to retire!
“I mean it.” Then something unexpected happened. Bernadette’s hand wason Jordan’s thigh,resting as casually as if it was on her own thigh. This couldn’t be right. There must be a mistake. Jordan returned Bernadette’s hand to her, placing it on the armrest between their seats.
The hand came back almost immediately, resting on Jordan’s crotch, the heel against her pubis. Jordan froze. She couldn’t move or think. What should shedo? Her voice sounded like it was coming from the corner of the room when she said, “I don’t think you mean to do this.” She squirmed, tried to shift away, but Bernadette’s hand held her fast.
“It’s okay, nobody knows we’re here,” Bernadette said, undeterred. She turned slightly in her seat so she was facing Jordan. “Why don’t you loosen up, Jordan? Have a little fun?”
“Loosenup?” repeated Jordan. “Bernadette—”
Bernadette leaned in, her breath hitting Jordan’s neck, and whispered, “If I were you I’d think carefully about what choice you make here, Jordan. I’m about to make some big decisions.”
Jordan was breathing hard, and she could feel her face flaming. She twisted her body completely away and stood, leaving Bernadette sitting, looking up at her. Her crotch was still burning where Bernadette’s hand had been. Her eyes were smarting from Bernadette’s dragon breath. She said, “Bernadette. You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Bernadette snorted and said, “Idon’t know what I’m doing?” She hooted. “We’ll see about that!” She rose, gave Jordan a long, inscrutable look, and stalked up the stairs. Jordan stood next to her theater seat for a good long time, her knees shaking just a little. She waited before following Bernadette, and right when she emerged from the house and into the night the fireworks show began.Pop pop. Pow pow pow.
It took Jordan forty-five minutes to find an Uber that would make the $295 trip from Sagaponack back to the city. The Uber driver was cranky and quiet, the way Uber drivers often get when they accept a really long trip and then regret it. She was glad for his silence—she didn’t want to talk.
When she was back in her own apartment, she poured herself a nightcap—WhistlePig, neat, in one of the Glencairn glasses she bought herself the previous Christmas, for no reason other than she wanted them.
Her hands were shaking a little as she poured.
She put on her pajamas and climbed into bed, setting the glass beside her on the nightstand. The WhistlePig was so smooth and flavorful (notes of cocoa and cured leather) that just holding it madeher feel calm. She took a small sip, then another, set the glass down again, picked up her phone.
Nothing from Bernadette, not that she’d really expected anything.
She drank the rest of the WhistlePig in one gulp. If Glen Cairn were a person (he’s not, right?) he might be disappointed in Jordan for her gracelessness. She settled herself on her pillow for a long summer’s nap.
She would deal with all of this in the morning. Or not.
“Oh my god, Jordan,” says Natalie. “Is that why she’s calling you all the time? To apologize? Is she worried you’re going to complain to HR or something?”
“Actually, there’s been no apology. There’s been no acknowledgment.”
“But Memorial Day was, what, six weeks ago? What’s happened since then?”
“She’s traveled a lot. A client in LA, a client in London. I was in Atlanta for a week when she was back. She was on vacation over the Fourth... so it’s kind of been business as usual. But it’s not. She’s been calling me because she wants me to lie to a reporter who’s working on a story about her, about her being a ‘toxic boss.’?” Jordan makes air quotes with two tired fingers. “She’s trying to make sure I’ll do what she needs me to do to make it go away.”
“Why would you do that?” asks Natalie, horrified. “She’s definitely toxic—and threatening. She put you in a terrible situation.”
