Chapter 6
The diner on Central was the same one Maya and I had gone to after my portfolio review last spring. Vinyl booths, a pie case that hummed too loud, coffee that tasted like it had been on the burner since morning. She was already there when I walked in, her burgundy satin dress gone, replaced by a denim jacket and a white t-shirt. Her hair was down now, not up. She looked smaller without the nightclub lights.
She stood when she saw me. She didn't hug me right away. That was new.
"You came," she said.
I slid into the booth across from her. The waitress poured me coffee without asking. I wrapped both hands around the mug even though it was too hot.
"I didn't know if you would text back," I said.
Maya stared at her own mug. "I felt awful after last night. I kept seeing Graham's hand out like that. And Landon just staring at the table."
For a minute we just sat there. The bell over the door jingled and a couple with a stroller came in. Somewhere in the kitchen, hash browns hissed on the griddle.
"I need to ask you something straight," I said. "About Landon. Why he was there. Graham thinks — he thinks it was something it wasn't."
Maya nodded fast, like she'd rehearsed this. "That was me. I told you to bring him. Remember? You texted that you wanted feedback on the Harbor Lofts pitch and I said Maya's going to kill me if I bring a guy to girls' night, and I said bring him. I said it was fine. I said Graham wouldn't care because it was work."
I did remember. The text thread from Thursday. I'd been nervous about the pitch and Landon had offered to look over my boards during happy hour. Maya had said, just bring him for ten minutes, we'll make it quick, no big deal.
"It was a portfolio review," I said quietly, more to myself than to her.
"It was," Maya said. She leaned forward. "Celeste, I swear, I told Landon it was casual. He thought he was just helping you for twenty minutes and then leaving. He didn't know — I didn't know Graham had that whole thing in his head."
The coffee steam rose between us. I felt a knot loosen in my chest that I hadn't realized I'd been holding since Graham said you said you were with the girls.
"So he wasn't — you and I didn't —" I couldn't finish it.
"No," Maya said firmly. "There is nothing between you and Landon. He has a girlfriend. He talks about her the whole time. You were showing him your rendering on your phone. That's it."
I believed her. Landon had barely looked at me at the booth. He'd kept his eyes down the whole time Graham was standing there, rigid in his dark blazer. Not guilty. Trapped.
Maya's hands tightened around her mug. "He called me."
I looked up. "Who?"
"Graham. Last night. At nine. I was doing my makeup before we went out. He asked where you were. He said you weren't answering and he wanted to surprise you with a ride."
My stomach dropped. The diner suddenly felt too bright.
"What did you tell him?" I asked.
"I didn't tell him anything," she said quickly. "I said we were meeting at the nightclub, girls' night like we planned. I thought — I thought if I said the name he'd just show up and it would be awkward but not — I didn't think he'd do what he did."
I stared at the chipped edge of the table. Nine o'clock. That was before we'd even ordered drinks. Before Landon had pulled out his laptop to look at my files. Graham had already been coming.
"He used your call to find me," I said. "But he also already had my location. He showed me his phone in the car. The blue dot. He didn't need you to tell him."
Maya's eyes filled. "I know. I feel like I set you up without meaning to. I was trying to cover for you. I told him girls' night so you wouldn't get in trouble for bringing Landon. And then I put you right where he could find you."
I reached across the table before I thought about it and touched her wrist. Her skin was cold.
"You didn't expose me," I said. "You protected me. You just didn't know he was already watching the dot. He turned off my location sharing after, like punishment."
Maya let out a breath she had been holding. A tear slipped down and she wiped it with the heel of her hand.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked. Her voice was small.
I thought about last night, how she'd kept her gaze in her lap while Graham leaned over the table, how she hadn't said anything to defend me or to throw me under. At the time it stung. Now I saw it for what it was — she was scared too.
"I'm not mad," I said. "I'm just tired of everyone acting like I did something wrong for getting help with work. You tried to make it easier. Graham made it something else."
She nodded and squeezed my hand back. The waitress came by and refilled our mugs. Neither of us had drunk much.
"Will you tell Graham?" Maya asked. "That I told you to bring him?"
I looked out the window at Central Avenue, at the traffic moving past in the afternoon sun. The neon signs from last night were off now, pale and dusty in daylight.
"Yes," I said. "Not to blame you. So he stops making Landon into something he's not. Landon shouldn't carry this."
Maya exhaled. "Okay. Okay, good. I will too, if you want. I'll tell him."
May you like
We sat there a little longer, not fixing everything, but not pretending anymore. The strain was still there between us, thin and humming like the pie case, but the lie that had been sitting on the table was gone.
Outside, I knew Sunday dinner was coming. And Graham was still wearing his empty ring finger like a weapon.
