At Your Most Beautiful Harper Bliss (classic reads .TXT) 📖

just too old in general.” He shot Quinn an unexpected wink. He downed his coffee and put his cup down. “Now, I’ll leave you ladies to it. I’m sure you have things to get on with.” He pushed himself out of his chair energetically. “I'll see you both very soon.”

Chapter 37

Quinn had been in the tub for almost an hour—she did seem extremely fond of Maya’s bathroom. Maya suspected she was scrolling through Instagram again. Whatever she was doing was distracting enough for her not to notice that the water was getting cold. Maya decided to go and have a look. Upbeat pop music blasted from Quinn’s phone and she was humming along as her thumb scrolled and scrolled. She hadn’t heard Maya walk up to the open door.

Before Maya could make her presence known, the doorbell rang. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday. Maya wasn’t expecting anyone. She hurried to the intercom.

“Mrs. Mercer,” the doorman said, “your daughter-in-law is on her way up with your grandson.” He sounded very jolly. Usually, an announcement like that would make his jolliness infectious, but today it was hard for Maya to get excited about having an impromptu visit from Ethan and Beth.

Maya quickly thanked the doorman, even though she wasn’t pleased with how he’d handled this. Of course, it wasn’t the poor guy’s fault that Quinn was lounging in her bathtub in the middle of the day and that Beth was about to ring her bell. Damn. There it was already.

The super-fast elevators in her building were mostly a blessing but today Maya wished she’d had more time. Not that her brain was functioning the way it should. She was already walking toward the front door when she thought about asking Quinn to stay sequestered in the bathroom until Beth left—what difference would half an hour extra in the bath make to her, anyway? Maybe Quinn had heard the bell and would be wise enough to hide herself. Maya hoped she could count on Quinn’s common sense, because there was no time to run to the bathroom. She heard Ethan crying outside the door already. She quickly opened the door, trying to look cool.

“Beth? What a surprise!”

“I’m so sorry, Maya.” Beth looked flustered. “I was out walking with him and we were having a great time.” She pushed Ethan’s pram into the living room. “Until we weren’t. I think he urgently needs his diaper changed. I was two blocks away from here so I thought I’d check if you were home. Thank goodness, you are.” She picked up Ethan and started for the bathroom. “Can I quickly change him?”

“Sure, but, um…” Before she could finish her sentence, or come up with a viable reason for Beth not to use the bathroom other than her secret lover was soaking in the tub, Quinn appeared in the hallway, dressed in nothing but a towel, her hair dripping wet.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Beth said. “I didn’t know you had company.” Meanwhile, Ethan was crying as if, in his own tiny universe, the third world war had just broken out.

“Oh my god.” Quinn clasped her hands to her mouth, making the towel almost slip off her. She quickly reached for it. “Beth Robbins!”

“Nice to meet you…” Beth said.

“Quinn,” Quinn said. “Bathroom’s free.”

“Thanks.” Beth hurried inside with Ethan.

Quinn looked at Maya wide-eyed. “Beth Robbins,” she mouthed.

“Quinn,” Maya whispered. “Please.”

“I’ll put some clothes on.”

Maya followed Quinn into the bedroom because she didn’t know what else to do with herself.

“Damn it,” she muttered under her breath. “What am I going to tell Beth?”

“Tell her my shower broke down.” Quinn toweled off her hair.

“And you came all the way from Brooklyn to use mine?”

“I was in the neighborhood for a shoot. That’s not even a lie. And compared to your bathroom, mine might as well not work, that’s how inferior it is.”

“This isn’t a joke, Quinn.” Maya pointed at the wall beyond which Beth was busy with Ethan.

“It’s not the end of the world either.” Quinn rummaged through her bag for clean underwear. She’d come prepared for a sleepover.

Ethan had stopped crying. Beth would come out of the bathroom soon. For a split second, Maya considered telling Beth who Quinn really was, but it was inconceivable.

“Maya?” Beth had exited the bathroom.

“Yes.” Maya hurried out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

“Do you want to say hello now that he’s all cleaned up?” She thrust Ethan into Maya’s direction.

Maya held her grandson in her arms and his plump weight against her shoulder calmed her down. She walked him into the living room.

“I don’t mean to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but, um, who’s that woman using your bathroom?” Beth’s job was to ask direct questions and she didn’t shy away from doing the same in personal situations.

“That’s Quinn.” Maya tried to sound matter-of-fact. “Our old neighbor from Milbury. We’re, um, friends, and she… her shower broke down.”

“Okay.” Beth sounded as though she had no reason to doubt that explanation—or maybe Maya was just doing some hard-core wishful thinking.

Maya didn’t know if Tommy had told Beth about Quinn. He’d been so tired when Maya had mentioned running into their former girl next door again, he might well have forgotten. But Beth would certainly tell him about the young woman dressed in nothing but a towel she’d come across at her mother-in-law’s apartment. How would Tommy react to that? Maya had to get ahead of this but she didn’t know how. If she asked Beth not to mention Quinn to Tommy, it would only raise more suspicion.

Then again, neither of them knew that Maya liked women, so there was a good chance they wouldn’t put two and two together. But then what would it look like when Maya did eventually tell them? Long-term, Maya couldn’t win. She could spin a short-term lie to keep some sort of peace, although peace of mind would be impossible for her to find as of now.

This was her