Chapter 2: LIGHTER WORK

I woke up before the sun again because old habits die hard and when you’re sick you learn to love the quiet hours, the ones before everyone else is awake where the pain is duller and the house doesn’t feel like it’s watching you.  

My side still hurt.  

Not sharp anymore but dull and heavy like someone was sitting on it.  

I took my pills with tap water from the sink that tasted like pennies.  

Two white ones. Same as yesterday. Same as every day.  

I put on the uniform. Black dress, white apron.  

Braided my hair tight so nothing would fall out and so I didn’t look as tired as I felt.  

Downstairs the kitchen was already warm and smelled like tea and Mrs Delaney was at the counter wiping the same spot over and over.  

She looked at me. Up and down. Like she was checking for cracks.  

"How are you"  

The question threw me because nobody asked that here.  

"Fine maam."  

"Hm."  

She pushed a cup of tea toward me and it was steaming. "Drink Then eat Doctor’s orders."  

I didn’t ask whose doctor because I already knew.  

I drank it. It was too sweet and it burned my tongue but I didn’t say anything.  

"Today you’re on light duty," she said.  

"What"  

"You heard me No lifting No stairs more than twice No laundry You’ll do dusting and folding That’s it."  

My chest got tight right away. "Maam I can work I need the hours I can’t afford"  

"You’ll get paid for full hours Mr Romano said so."  

Sal.  

The name hit me in the stomach like a punch.  

I wanted to argue I wanted to prove I wasn’t weak but my side throbbed and I was so tired of pretending so I just nodded. "Yes maam."  

The other maids were watching. Carla whispered something to the other girl and they both looked at me then looked away real fast when I caught them.  

I pretended I didn’t see.  

My job today was the library in the west wing. Big room. Floor to ceiling books that nobody ever read and dust everywhere like it had been sitting for years.  

I worked slow because every time I reached up my side pulled and it made me dizzy.  

I’d stop and breathe. One. Two. Three.  

Try not to fall.  

The door opened and I didn’t look up. "Yes maam" I said automatically.  

Footsteps. Heavy.  

Not her.  

I turned.  

Sal.  

He had on a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and his hair was still wet from a shower and god he looked younger like this. Less like a Don. More like a man who was just tired.  

He looked at the shelves then at me. "How’s the pain"  

The question threw me off. "Better sir."  

"Don’t call me sir."  

"Right Sal."  

And my voice shook when I said his name and I hated that it did.  

He walked to the desk and picked up a book and put it down again like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. "You shouldn’t be up on that ladder."  

"I’m fine It’s just dusting."  

"You fell yesterday."  

"I didn’t fall I got dizzy."  

"Same thing."  

He took the cloth right out of my hand. "I’ll do it."  

I blinked. "You"  

"Is that a problem"  

"No I just you don’t dust."  

"And you don’t collapse But here we are."  

He climbed the little ladder and started wiping the top shelf and his shirt pulled at the back and I could see the outline of a gun under it and my mouth went dry.  

"Stop staring," he said without even looking down.  

"I wasn’t"  

"Yes you were."  

I stared at the floor and my face was burning.  

We worked in silence for like ten minutes. Just the sound of cloth on wood and his breathing and mine and it was weirdly loud.  

"Why are you doing this" I asked before I could stop myself.  

He didn’t stop dusting. "Doing what"  

"Being nice To me."  

He came down the ladder and stood in front of me and he was too close, way too close, and I could smell soap on him.  

"Who said I was being nice"  

"Light duty Paid hours Doctor."  

He shrugged. "Don’t like people dying in my house Bad for business."  

"Oh."  

That hurt more than my kidney did.  

He saw it on my face and his jaw tightened. "That’s not the only reason."  

"Then what is"  

He didn’t answer. He just handed me the cloth back. "Finish the bottom shelves Then take a break One hour Eat something."  

"Yes... Sal."  

He left and the room felt bigger without him.  

I sat on the floor after with my back against the bookshelf and ate the sandwich Mrs Delaney left for me and it tasted like nothing.  

Why did he care  

Men like him didn’t care. They used people and threw them away when they were done.  

But his hand on my forehead yesterday had been warm and when he yelled for the doctor his voice wasn’t cold.  

I didn’t trust it.  

But god I wanted to.  

Lunch was quiet and I sat alone like always and Carla walked past and "accidentally" knocked my tray and soup went all over my apron.  

"Oops" she said and smiled. "Sorry Didn’t see you there Invisible girl."  

The other maids laughed. Low.  

I cleaned it up and didn’t say anything because crying would just make it worse.  

That afternoon they told me to fold laundry in the big room off the kitchen. Piles of white shirts and black suits and towels.  

My hands moved on their own. Fold. Stack. Fold. Stack.  

The door opened.  

Sal again.  

This time with two big guys behind him in suits and guns. His underboss and some guard.  

"Leave us," he told them and they left and he shut the door.  

Now it was just us and the laundry.  

He picked up a shirt and started folding it and he was terrible at it.  

I watched him. "You fold like a child."  

He looked up and one side of his mouth lifted. Almost a smile. "I’m not paid to fold."  

"Then why are you"  

"Because you’re in here alone And I don’t like that."  

"Why"  

He stopped folding and set the shirt down. "Because yesterday when you went down nobody else was there Just me And if I wasn’t there"  

He didn’t finish.  

The air felt heavy and my hands were shaking so I picked up another towel and folded it.  

"Don’t be scared of me Maya."  

"I’m not."  

"Liar."  

"Okay A little."  

"Good You should be a little scared Of what I do Of who I am."  

He stepped closer. "But not of me Not when it’s just us."  

I nodded because I couldn’t talk.  

He reached out and brushed something off my cheek. Flour or dust I don’t know. His fingers were warm and they stayed a second too long.  

Then he dropped his hand like he remembered who he was. "I have a meeting Don’t overwork yourself."  

"Yes Sal."  

He left and the room felt empty after.  

That night I couldn’t sleep. The pain was back. Not bad but there. A reminder.  

I took my pills and stared at the ceiling.  

Then a noise. Glass breaking.  

I sat up heart pounding.  

Another noise. Shouting. From outside.  

I got up and went to the door and opened it a crack.  

Red and blue lights. Cars in the driveway. Men with guns running.  

One of Sal’s guards ran past my door. "Stay inside" he yelled.  

I shut the door and locked it and my hands were shaking.  

Not from pain.  

From fear.  

What if they came in here  

What if they hurt me  

What if Sal  

Don’t think about it.  

I sat on the bed and pulled my knees up.  

Ten minutes. Twenty.  

Footsteps outside my door. Stopping.  

A knock. Soft.  

"Maya"  

Sal’s voice.  

I opened the door.  

He was there. Jacket gone. Shirt torn at the shoulder. Blood on his hand.  

Not his I hoped.  

He looked me over fast like he was checking for injuries. "You okay"  

I nodded. "Are you"  

He let out a breath. "Yeah It’s handled."  

"What happened"  

"Rival crew Stupid They won’t try that again."  

He stepped in and closed the door behind him and now we were standing too close in my tiny room.  

"Did you get scared" he asked.  

"Yes."  

"Come here."  

I didn’t move.  

"Maya Come here."  

I did.  

He pulled me into a hug and it was tight and his arms were around me and my face was against his chest and I could hear his heart going fast like mine.  

"You’re okay," he murmured into my hair. "Nothing’s going to happen to you Not in my house."  

And for that minute I believed him.  

Then he let go and stepped back and the Don was back in his eyes. Cold. Distant.  

"Get some sleep Tomorrow same rules Light work."  

"Okay."  

He opened the door and paused. "And Maya"  

"Yes"  

"Thank you For not screaming For staying quiet."  

Then he was gone.  

I shut the door and sat on the bed and my hands were still shaking.  

But different now.  

Not from fear.  

Because for the first time in my life someone told me I was safe and made me believe it.  

Even if it was a lie.  

Even if it couldn’t last.  

I lay down and closed my eyes.  

Outside the house was quiet again.  

Inside me it wasn’t.  

Because I knew the truth now.  

He noticed me.  

And I was starting to notice him back.  

And that was dangerous.  

For both of us.