“Where did they get them?”
“You know, I’m not sure. But I would be happy to ask.”
“I don’t suppose you have any photos of them.”
“No, but I can take a few.”
I tried to temper my optimism—it seemed too convenient, too much of a coincidence. And yet, what if this was it? A missing link? The thing I needed to see?
I looked down at my phone, hoping he would get the hint and move on. Clara had texted me again.Lily, we NEED to talk. Please.
“I’m sorry but I need to get to work. Excuse me.”
“Where do you work? I could meet you after your shift?”
I turned over my shoulder and told him the name of the spa.What was going on with Clara? News about Peaches?A blowup with Des?
“I’ll try to get some photographs, soon!” he called after me.
“Okay, thanks,” I said, waving as I left.
WHEN Igot into the spa, Emily was leaning over the desk, trimming the brown edges from the petals of the orchids with a pair of nail scissors.
“I’m glad you’re here. The visit from corporate was moved to tomorrow afternoon. Apparently Whitney needs to fly out to Tokyo early Monday morning to investigate some sort of snail sludge facial.”
“When will they be here?”
“Three o’clock. Carrie’s been freaking out all day. I think she’s probably just locked herself in her office with a plate of loaded nachos and it’s up to us now.”
“So much for the captain going down with the ship. What do we need to do?”
“I know. Well, they’ll be looking in every fucking corner. And I haven’t seen Luis for like an hour. I’ve tried calling the number we have for him, but no one’s picking up. It’s an answering service for a social work office, and I just keep getting a recording.”
“Has he ever skipped out on a shift before?”
“Not that I know of. But this glass is a wreck, and someone needs to polish the floors. And the Jacuzzi is making that weird noise again. I’m assuming Carrie never called anyone about it, so I have to get maintenance to get down here stat.”
“Are they really going to turn on the Jacuzzi?”
“We have to assume they will. You’ve seen what it’s like here. This company is all about punishment. They’ll dock us points for every strand of hair curled in the shower drain.”
“Points?”
“Each spa gets evaluated and scored on a hundred-point basis twice a year. We haven’t been open long, so this is our first proper evaluation.”
“So …”
“So what?”
“Emily, what do you care?”
She sighed. “Lily, this is how I spend most of my time. I know you are just buying time before you start your career over and move back to the city, but me? This is all I have. If I have to spend forty hours a week in this godforsaken shithole, then I sure as hell need something to show for it. I need to have a little pride. I don’t know about you, but I feel like if I don’t make something of myself, I’m going to get obliterated. I’ll end up like my mother. Popping out a bunch of kids, making peanut butter sandwiches all day, up to my eyeballs in laundry. With no idea who I am anymore. People are always saying you have your whole life ahead of you, but that’s not true. If you’re a woman, you need to set yourself up. You need to make your path before you get steamrolled by everything everyone expects you to do. Kids, house, all that shit.” Her face was steely, but her voice had gone high and thin.
“Yeah,” I said. “I know what you mean.” I felt it, too, a pressure bearing down on my shoulders. Every day that I wasn’t doing something to build up my life was a day I felt hammered a little closer to the ground—smaller, more invisible, easier to step over and ignore. I had never heard Emily sound so upset. I thought of the day she left her student loan balance up by mistake, how that debt must be hanging over her head all the time. Emily, trapped here, when she deserved so much better, so much more—it wasn’t just me who thought a part of myself would die if I didn’t get out. “Want me to do a lap and see if I can find Luis?” I asked, chastened.
“Please. And here.” She pressed the scissors into my hands. “Make sure the orchids in the ladies’ lounge look okay.”
I started my walk to the back of the spa. “No brown edges!” she called after me.
