The little redhead—Ilya, her name’s Ilya—comes out of the kitchen and puts down the bread baskets. Mia watches her, confused. Meg frowns, glancing at Mateo, but he doesn’t even look up.
“Um… who’s that?” Meg finally asks.
“Who?” Mateo asks, straightening a crooked fork at his place setting.
“The beautiful redhead with the piercing blue eyes?” she asks, smiling cheerfully.
Mateo smirks at her description, still not looking up. “New maid.”
“Oh, good,” she says, nodding and reaching for her empty wine glass. Then she sighs, and grabs the water instead.
He reaches across the table for her hand, giving it a reassuring thumb-rub.
“No, it’s good,” Meg says, picking up steam. “We need to hook her up with Joey.”
I glance at Vince—the darkening of his features comes as no surprise, but the way Mia goes pale does. She stares at the table, then steals a glance at Mateo. He’s still paying attention to Meg, so he doesn’t see it.
Vince looks over at Mia and she must notice out of her peripherals because she returns his look… but there’s ice in her eyes when they meet his.
Vince looks away.
So does Mia.
I glance around the table, but no one else seems to have noticed.
Mateo releases Meg’s hand and glances at Joey’s empty seat at the table. He looks across at me, but thankfully the new maid comes back out and saves anyone from having to respond.
Meg’s friendlier to the new maid this time, smiling and thanking her with that look she used to give Mia, like she has a new friend in her sights. I wonder if Meg actually likes any of these girls, or she’s just cunning enough to know she needs to keep the pretty ones close so they won’t want to tempt Mateo.
Although, considering Mia is sitting at the dinner table on a week night when they only have to come on Sundays, I’m not sure how foolproof that plan is. I felt confident he’d let Mia go when he let her go live with Vince, when she didn’t come around as much, but something’s shifted. Meg changed something between Mia and Mateo, something she didn’t mean to change, and I don’t know how that’s going to ultimately pan out.
I resist the urge to get lost in that whole mess for the moment, bringing my attention back to the table, to Elise seated beside me.
“How was your day?” I ask her.
She smiles, but casts the maid a less fond look than Meg. “It was good. I helped Maria out a little.”
“You shouldn’t have to now; Maria has help again,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes, like I’m a real dolt. “Yeah, I know. Thanks,” she says, dryly.
I shake my head, but can’t help smiling a little. “Only you would be annoyed that you don’t get to be a maid anymore.”
“She’s too nervous,” Elise states, grabbing a piece of bread. “She’s not gonna last.”
“She’s had a long day,” I tell her. “I’m not even sure she will stay, but… I needed to put her somewhere until we figure it out.”
Dinner is long tonight—I’m not sure why. Everyone at the table seems a little off, all for our own individual reasons. Vince wants to leave as soon as it’s over, but Mateo invites us to the study for the drinks we didn’t have beforehand.
I’m just about to tell Elise she can go with the girls, but Mateo adds, “The girls can come, too. I have something to share with everyone, anyway.”
Mia and Meg exchange questioning glances and we all head for Mateo’s study.
Usually Mia sits on Vince’s lap when she’s in the study, but tonight she sticks close to Meg. Initially Meg heads toward Mateo, but when she sees Mia’s her shadow, she goes over and sits on the sofa by the wall. Mia sits beside her, and Vince sits in an arm chair facing her, sulking.
He couldn’t have possibly told her, right? That would be insane. Even he pointed out that she didn’t know because she would’ve told Mateo, so what purpose could it possibly serve to clue her in after I’ve already bailed his ass out?
The possibility of that makes me decidedly uncomfortable. If Mia tells Mateo, and Mateo finds out I knew, I’m going to be in deep shit.
Maybe I should talk to Vince.
Of course I can’t in this damn house, because Mateo can watch the footage later.
I probably should’ve killed Vince. I have too much invested and too much on the line to leave a loose cannon rolling around, and I’m not completely convinced Mateo isn’t going to snap Mia back up anyway. I wish he’d have just told me that when I asked him before I met Vince and Joey at the warehouse.
Too late now, I suppose. I’ve already assured Mateo that Vince wasn’t in on it, so I can’t exactly change the story now.