9! Better Than Good!

MABEL

“What do you mean you are here to stay?” Hailey asked, blinking her eyes multiple times.

“Exactly what you heard,” I said with a smirk. “do you need me to repeat myself, speak a little bit slow?”

“Wow, wow…look at you,” she clapped her hands twice. “You have gone from the naive bitch you were years ago to an even more naive bitch.”

“Call me a bitch one more time and I'll put you on the ground in front of these women and in front of your son,” I spoke directly in her face and she took a step back.

“You made a mistake coming back here, Mabel,” she started to walk away.

“The mistake you made was thinking you could spread lies about me and get away with it,” I said and she scoffed.

“I'm a Hoss,” she flashed her engagement ring and wedding band across. “I can do whatever I want and get away with just about anything.”

I looked around, most of the women seemed to have a confused expression on their faces while the rest had angry expressions and they were all directed at me.

“Well, I might not have a rock on my finger, that's because I don't need to,” I said to her.

“I don't need a man or his name to get what I want. I'm Mabel James, and I'm fucking resilient.”

I turned to walk away and my eyes caught Jason sleeping on the shoulder of his nanny.

He still looks the same when he sleeps. With his eyes lids, blinking multiple times and he is still asleep.

I looked back at Hailey and she was on her phone, speaking to someone but throwing angry daggers at me.

Not like I care. I have a lot of things to do. Like returning to Vanessa and telling her I would be happy to take up the job of her stylist, while I transferred my entire business from Los Angeles to New York.

“Wow, that looked intense,” Rose said to me as soon as I got inside the car.

“You have no idea. Drive,” I said to both her and the driver.

“But you are okay, though?” She asked.

“Oh, I'm good,” I said with a smile. “I'm better than good. I'm great!” I yelled.

“Okay,” she chuckled. “What brought about this change?”

“I thought if I saw Hailey, or even Jason that I would fall apart ... .that I wouldn't be able to stand to see them together…. being mother and son,” I said.

Rose turned to me, taking her earpods off her ear and asked. “So, how did you feel seeing them together?”

“That's the thing they weren't together,” I said. “I mean Jason got hurt and it took Hailey about five minutes to get to him.”

“That doesn't mean anything, Mabel,” Rose said.

“It means everything, Rose,” I held her hands. “You should see the way he held on to me when I picked him up.”

“Wait, hold up,” he raised her hands up, close to her head. “You picked him up?” She asked.

“Yeah…” I stretched my answer.

“Are you trying to get sued or worse?” She asked me and I scoffed.

“No, I'm not,” I said, calmly. “But I have decided that I'm not going anywhere, anymore.”

“Wait, what?” She shook her head, and a smile came on her lips. “You have decided to stay in Los Angeles?”

“Well, if I'm going to dominate the New York fashion scene, find out more about my son, and debunk any lies the Hoss has spread about me, before they pester.”

“Well, girl…I'm with you all the way, but I'm glad you changed your mind,” she said as the car stopped in front of a hotel.

“Of course you are,” I said to her as we got out of the car. “You were born and raised in Los Angeles, won't you miss the beach and the heat.I know I will.”

“There are beaches in New York,” we walked into the hotel with our bags in hand.

“Are they though?” I asked, giving her a look.

“Well, the heat is overrated sometimes…. most times people just want to feel a little bit cold. I do,” she said.

“I don't,” I shook my head and she laughed.

“Reservation for Mabel James and Rose Edison,” she spoke to an attendant over the counter.

I looked at him really well, and suddenly my stylist's brain kicked in. He was wearing all kinds of wrong clothes.

I looked around at the other attendants and their dressing attracted a lot of attention to them, and honestly if Rose and I were engaged with our talks we wouldn't have come to him.

“I'm sorry, there are no reservations under those names,” he said and I looked at Rose.

“Are you sure?” She pulled out her tablet from her bag. “I made the reservation two weeks ago, look here,” she showed the attendant her tablet.

“I'm seeing it on your tablet but not on my system,” he said. Well, at least he is polite.

“Is there anything you can do?” Rose asked. “we just got out of a flight and we will really….”

“I'm so sorry,” he cuts her off. “But there is nothing I can do.”

“Oh damnit!” Rose cried out.

“Uhm, I'm sorry, Dave,” I read the name pinned to his shirt. “But I think a blue shirt will really go with that blazer,” I said with a smile and he gave me a confused look.

“Look, I have been standing here for about five minutes and there is nobody standing behind me, but look at your colleagues…. there is a long line on their desk,” I said and he looked shocked.

“And you think it's because of my choice of shirt color?” He asked.

“Not necessarily,” I chuckled. “But this is a very prestigious hotel, and it's filled with a lot of people from various walks of life and most take life a little bit seriously.”

“Oh my gosh! No one told me,” he gushed almost in panic.

“Well,” I walked towards the desk and placed my hands on his desk. “Until now.”

He looked at me and nodded. “Well, thank you,” he said and I nodded.

“You are welcome, but can you….”

“Yes, I can see what's exactly wrong with your reservation,” he said and I nodded with a smile.

“Oh wow,” I turned to Rose. “look at you, being a people person.”

“I have always been a people person,” I said to her.

“Okay, I'll bite. What's the name of the driver of our deliveries back in Los Angeles?” She asked

“Uhm, Diego,” I said with one of my eyes closed.

“Oh wow, you just assumed he is Latino,” she said and I shook my head.

“No, no, Rose….I didn't…” I stammered.

“You see, not a people person,” she laughed hard and I rolled my eyes.

“We don't have a delivery person, do we?” I asked her.

“No, because it just gets delivered to the office. We don't know who drops it. They are all automated,” she said and I nodded.

“Which is a good thing since I'm not a people person,” I said and she shook her head.

“And that's going to change in New York.”

I was about to respond to her when Dave the attendant spoke.

“Uhm, that's strange,” he said.

“What's strange, Dave?” I asked.

“Your reservation was pulled just twenty minutes ago,” he said.

“Wait, what?” Rose sounded shocked, but I wasn't. I knew what exactly was going on.