Chapter 12 - Maya Saw The Zipper
The hallway by the coat check was cooler than the ballroom, and the chandelier glow didn't quite reach it. The carpet gave under my heels, and the air smelled like wet wool and perfume. Lily walked between me and the wall, dragging her hand along the wainscoting, her steps slow. One of her navy bows was gone. I hadn't noticed until then.
Marcelo had stayed back with his father near the stairs. I could still hear the band playing low through the doors, and glassware clinking. I told him I needed a minute to get Lily water. He nodded, but his eyes didn't leave me.
"Mrs. Reyes?" The voice came from behind the counter.
Maya stepped out, the gray uniform still crisp, her name tag catching the light. She held the silver tray tucked under one arm now, empty. In her other hand she held a small navy bow.
"She dropped this," she said. "By the table. I picked it up before anyone stepped on it."
Lily looked up. I crouched, my gown pulling tight at the knees, and fixed it back into her curls. My fingers shook more than I wanted them to.
"Thank you," I said. "Thank you for earlier, too. When you stood there. You didn't look away from her like she was a problem."
Maya glanced down the hall toward the ballroom doors, then back at me. She moved the tray to both hands in front of her, like she needed something to hold.
"I helped you zip this," she said quietly. Her eyes went to my shoulder, to the lace sleeve. "Up in the suite, before the photos. You asked me to pull it up over the — over the straps. I saw them."
My breath caught. Lily leaned against my leg, her head against my hip. I kept my hand on her hair so I wouldn't have to look at Maya right away.
"I know," I said.
"I didn't say anything to the other girls," Maya went on. Her voice stayed low. "One of them asked why you needed help changing when you came in wearing it already. I told her the zipper stuck."
I stood slowly. The lace scratched at my wrists.
"You didn't have to do that," I said.
"I know Lily," she said. "Not know her, but I've seen her at the last two events. She sits under the table and lines up the sugar packets by color. She doesn't make stuff up."
"No," I said. "She doesn't."
A couple walked past us toward the restrooms, laughing, and we both went quiet until they were gone. The band started a new song. Maya shifted her weight.
"Mrs. Reyes, if someone asks me," she said, "the manager, or Mr. Reyes's family. Should I say I didn't see anything?"
It would have been so easy. I felt the words right there, how they used to come to me in the last few months. Just deny it. Just say the zipper stuck. I'd said smaller things than that to keep this going.
Lily tugged at my dress. "Mommy, I'm thirsty."
"In a second, baby," I whispered. I looked at Maya.
"Don't deny what you saw," I said. "If someone asks you directly, tell only what you saw. Truthfully. That's all I'm asking."
Maya stared at me for a second. Then she nodded once.
"Okay," she said.
She crouched a little, to Lily's level. "You want me to tie it tighter so it doesn't fall again?"
Lily nodded and turned around. Maya tied the bow with quick, practiced fingers, double-knotted it.
"There," she said. "Stays now."
Lily touched it and looked back at me for confirmation. I nodded.
"Say thank you," I said.
"Thank you," Lily said.
Maya smiled, real this time, tired around the edges. She stood and tucked the tray back under her arm.
May you like
"I hope it works out," she said. Then she walked back toward the ballroom, pushing through the side door where the waitstaff went in and out.
Lily and I stood there in the cooler hallway. I could feel the bow secure under my palm, the small knot hard against her curls. I hadn't bought anything. I hadn't fixed anything. But for the first time that night, I wasn't asking someone else to carry it for me.
