She scrunched her face. I barely even noticed how her nostril ring glinted in the fluorescent lighting. “Isn’t that a hotel?”
“They have a bar. We could get a drink.”
“Do they have organic beer? Because there’s a place a couple blocks away that has great home brew that’s organic.”
Organic beer at the Mark Hopkins? “Uh, we won’t know unless we go there.”
Rainbow grinned brightly. “That’s true. Let’s do it.”
“Great.” I returned her grin and opened my door. “Come in while I change.”
“Groovy.”
I set my briefcase by my desk in the living room. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be a second.”
“Okay.”
I glanced back at her before I went into my bedroom. She was looking around with a puzzled look on her face. I shrugged. Probably confused by the neatness and order of my apartment. No precarious towers of magazines or shoe mounds.
Hanging up my work clothes, I pulled out a pair of jeans and a black silk shirt. I debated wearing one of my new sweaters, but I wanted to be inconspicuous and a pink sweater didn’t fit the bill. Though calling it a sweater was overstating its substance—it was more like spun candy than any sweater I’d ever owned.
“Hey, Kath!”
I turned around right as Rainbow walked into my room and flopped onto my bed.
“Oh!” I held the jeans in front of me. I wasn’t used to having an audience while I changed.
“Is that the underwear your friend bought you?”
I looked down and blushed, clutching the pants closer. “Yes. Why?”
She whistled. “Wow.”
I didn’t know whether to ask her what she meant or how she did that with the silver stud in her tongue. I decided on the former.
She shrugged. “I’ve never had a friend who bought me stuff like that. Heck, I’ve never had a boyfriend who bought me anything that nice. He must
like
you.”
The emphasis she put on
like
made my face burn hotter. I remembered last night, and how Luc sounded when I talked to him on the phone today, and frowned. Even if he had liked me before (and I still thought that was a stretch), he wouldn’t now—not after what I did last night. “I don’t think so.”
She shrugged again. “If you say so,” she said absently, looking around my room.
I waited for her to leave so I could put my clothes on, but it seemed like she’d settled in for the duration, so I took advantage of her inattention and quickly dressed.
I laced up my tennis shoes (maybe the next time I went to the outlet stores I’d buy a pair of boots—I could wear boots to work too, right?). “I’m ready.”
Rainbow glanced at me and frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I frowned. “Why? Don’t I look okay?”
“Your clothes look great. I had no idea you ever wore anything but those ugly suits—”
“Hey—”
She continued before I could protest that my suits were Donna Karan. “—but your hair could use some help.”
My hand automatically flew up to my head. I had no idea what she meant. It felt in order.
“Come on.” Rainbow bounced off the bed, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to the bathroom. Pushing me down on the toilet seat (thank God the lid was closed), she began pulling the pins from my bun.
“But, Rainbow, I don’t think—”
“Shh.” She was so forceful, she shushed me right up. “This’ll just take a second.”
I wrinkled my nose and let her do her thing, only because I figured I could put my hair back up after she was finished.
“Do you have hair spray or gel or anything?”
“In there.” I pointed at the medicine cabinet.
She frowned at the tube of styling gel. “This company does animal testing.”
I pictured a rat with its fur styled into spikes. But I resisted grinning—by the look on Rainbow’s face, I didn’t think she’d appreciate the humor.
“I’ll use it this time, but it goes against my beliefs.” Her face scrunched, she squeezed a little into her palm and tossed the bottle into the garbage.
“Hey!” I’d worked half an hour to pay for that gel.
She patted my head. “I’ll bring you some better product. There. I’m done.”
I’d avoided looking in the mirror as she worked, fearing the results. I mean, would you trust your hair to someone with frizzy dreads?
But I had no choice because she held my shoulders and made me look.
Hey.
I blinked my eyes, pushed my glasses up, and leaned closer. “It looks good.”
She grinned. “I know.”
My hair was in smooth waves, still on the curly side but softer looking. Tousled. “It looks—”
“Sexy,” she said. “You should wear your hair this way more often. Do you have lipstick? You need some.”
At this point, if she said I needed a piercing I would have believed her. I glossed my lips and, at Rainbow’s pronouncement that I was ready, I grabbed my coat (my dress coat, not the red one—I didn’t want to stand out), locked up, and waited for her in the hallway.
She emerged from her apartment in an old army-style coat and a knapsack made out of some faded carpet material. “Let’s go.”
I wondered what they’d think at the Mark Hopkins, but I was too eager to get there to worry about it. It was already late. Chances were Luc and Lydia were already gone, but I wanted to see. I had to make sure everything went well. For the sake of my promotion.
Really.
Because of the time, I sprang for a cab. I know—I wouldn’t be able to expense this. Sometimes you just had to splurge.
Rainbow and I had to walk several blocks before we caught a taxi (they just don’t hang around our neighborhood). But once we got a hold of one, it was no time before we were at the hotel.
The Mark Hopkins overlooks downtown San Francisco, at the top of Nob Hill. Nob Hill is where San Francisco’s Gold Rush and railroad millionaires settled. The housing there is still stately and expensive. Needless to say, I didn’t have much cause to go there often.
The doorman opened the door for us to enter. He nodded at me and then Rainbow. Then he did a double take and gaped at my neighbor.
I scowled at him. Rainbow might not have been the traditional type of customer that frequented the Mark Hopkins, but he didn’t have to be so rude about it.
“Is there a problem?” I asked in my coldest Lydia voice.
“No, ma’am,” he replied quickly.
I couldn’t believe how well that worked. I almost clapped my hands in glee. Practicing in front of the mirror was paying off.
We stopped in the lobby. I looked around for the lounge area—that had to be where Luc and Lydia were meeting, right?
“The bar’s back that way.”
I looked to where Rainbow pointed. Excellent. I smiled at her. “Let’s go.”
But when we got closer I stopped. What if Luc saw me? I didn’t want that.
Rainbow ran into my back. “What’s wrong?”
I saw the worried look on Rainbow’s face and grimaced. “I have something to tell you.”
Her brow furrowed. Then she placed her hand on my shoulder. “You know, it’s okay. I kinda wondered at first, but then there was your friend who bought you the underwear so I thought I was wrong, but I guess I was wrong about being wrong. But I don’t mind. I mean, I don’t do chicks—not that I haven’t tried them—they just aren’t my thing. But I’m very flattered. You know, I have one or two friends you might dig in a big way. Especially Dill—she’s into the power suit, femme lipstick thing.”
Pushing my glasses up, I wondered what she was talking about. I shrugged. She’d probably inhaled too much incense. “Um, thanks. I was just going to tell you that I brought you here under false pretenses.”
“I get it.” Rainbow smiled reassuringly and patted my arm. “It’s okay. I can dig alternative lifestyles.”
Maybe I needed to go clear out the incense from her apartment before she completely lost it. “Listen, you know my friend Luc? The one who gave me the underwear?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s supposed to be here tonight. With my boss.”
Her forehead scrunched. “Don’t tell me you have a thing for your boss. That can only end up bad. Trust me. I went out with the manager of the Wienerschnitzel where I worked in high school.” She gagged. “Bad scene. I had to go work at Wendy’s, and the fries weren’t as good.” She frowned. “That was before I became earth conscious.”
“Um. Okay.” I think I missed something somewhere along the way. “Here’s the thing. I set up Luc and my boss because I want to buy a home.”
Rainbow gawked at me with her big, round eyes. Then she took my arm and pulled me toward the lounge. “I think we need a drink.”
“That’s the thing.” I dug in my heels. “I don’t want Luc and Lydia to see me.”
“Whatever you say.” Then I heard her murmur under her breath, “I hope they have organic beer. I really need one.”
The lounge was right out in the open but set back from the lobby. The only thing separating us from their view was the foliage in front of us.
Actually, Rainbow was really good at sneaking. She headed straight for one of the enormous potted plants, dragging me behind her.
She parted the branches an inch or two, just enough to peer through. “Okay—you see them?”
I snuck a look, my eyes zeroing in on Luc immediately. “Over there.”
“Holy shit, Kath.”
“What?” I asked, alarmed.
“He’s hot.” She whistled. “How can you be into women with him around?”
Into women? I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s okay,” she said distractedly, still staring at Luc. “To each his own.”
I shook my head. “Focus, Rainbow. How are we going to get in there?”
“Come on.” She took my hand and we skirted around the lounge, with a brief stop to snatch a couple of menus from the bar, until we were as far away from Luc and Lydia as we possibly could be. There was a table right there that we took.
Rainbow quickly opened a menu and handed it to me. “Hold this in front of your face.”
She was brilliant. I peeked above the menu at her. “How’d you become so good at sneaking?”
“Subterfuge was my middle name in high school.” She opened the menu and glanced through it. “Shoot. They don’t have organic beer.”
That was the least of my worries at the moment. I glanced around the menu at Luc. I couldn’t believe they were still here. I checked my watch for the time—it was almost ten o’clock. Had they been here the whole two hours?
I pushed my glasses up, squinting to get a better look. They seemed like they were having a great time. I pursed my lips. Luc was leaning on the table, listening to Lydia speak. I knew firsthand how having him listening to you felt. It was an active thing—he did it with his whole body and you felt like you were the center of his world.
Then he laughed and squeezed her hand.
I scowled. He seemed awfully into the assignation for having been so reluctant.
“They seem cozy.” Rainbow surreptitiously peeked over her shoulder. “They’re obviously having a good time.”
I grunted.
“Madams.” The waiter nodded regally to us. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Do you have organic beer?” Rainbow asked hopefully.
“Let me see what we can do.” He turned to me and waited patiently.
I realized I’d lowered the menu, so I snapped it back up to cover my face. “A Coke, please.” A Shirley Temple seemed too tawdry for the Mark Hopkins.
“Very good, madam.” He nodded again and went to carry out our order.
“A
Coke
?” Rainbow shuddered. “Do you know how bad Coke is for you? They use that stuff to wash blood off the freeway after accidents where people get decapitated.”
“Did you know Iceland consumes more Coke per capita than any other nation?”
“That doesn’t mean
you
should drink it.” She held up her hand. “But live and let live, I always say.”
I looked around the menu again, keeping an eye on Luc and Lydia.
Really, it was very considerate of him to act so nice to my boss even though I knew he had to be suffering. I mean, what would Luc have in common with her? Poor guy, he was probably counting the milliseconds till he could go home. I owed him big for doing this for me. When I bought my home, I’d invite him over for dinner. Of course, he’d have to do the cooking.
“Did I mention how cool it was that you set up your boss with your friend?”
I wrinkled my nose over the top of my cover. “I didn’t set them up. Well, not really. Luc’s just doing this so I won’t lose my job.”
“Huh?” She dropped one of the napkins so she could bend down and peek behind. She spent so long down there that when she came back up her face was red from the blood that’d rushed to her head. “I don’t get it.”