Maid for Each Other

by Lynn Painter

“You are stunning,” I said, my eyes drinking in a sight I hadn’t been prepared for.

I wanted so badly to open a discussion about Taylor Swift’s song “The Story of Us,” just to irritate him, but he was actually right.

Instead, he used his elbow to pull me even closer, nearly putting me in a headlock as he moved his mouth to my ear. To anyone watching, it looked like he was telling me the dirtiest of secrets. But he said in that deep, deep voice, “You really are a little shit, you know that?” When he pulled back, I met his gaze and grinned. “I do.”

“So,” I said, looking down at my red toenails. “I’ll do it on one condition.” “Name it,” he said. I kept my eyes on my feet as I blurted, “I’ll need forty thousand dollars.” Silence. I’d expected a laugh or a gasp, but not silence. “Did you hear—” “You better look me in the eyes when you’re saying things like ‘forty K,’ honey.”

“For the most beautiful girl in the room,” I said, meaning that part of it. She was just so fucking alive that she very nearly glowed.

“I kissed you because I wanted to. You look beautiful, I like your mouth, you kiss like a goddess—and we both liked it. That’s it. So maybe let’s not overthink it…?”

I chose “22” by Taylor Swift for my first song, mostly because what song was easier to sing along to than that? And I didn’t give a shit about anything other than winning that prize; I sang my ass off. But I quickly discovered that even if I lost, it was a win because Abi was having a great time. She cackled while I sang, which was the greatest sound in the world and I was kind of becoming addicted to it, leading to me going even harder the next time it was my turn.

So it had finally happened to me in real life. I stood there in the doorway as Declan carried our bags into the hotel room—the hotel room with only one bed.

Do you feel this, too? Are you as terrified as I am? Can you kiss me for the rest of your life?

You have bewitched me, body and soul

“I don’t want to steal lines from your movie Darcy, but my brain can’t help but plagiarize when I look at you. It seems that you have bewitched me, little Abi Mariano.”

“I love you,” I said, feeling like I couldn’t go another second without saying it. “I love you, too,” she said, and something about hearing her say those words made me weak. I kissed her mouth, a small kiss that would’ve been appropriate all the times we attempted to pull that off, but I quickly pulled back. Because I needed to hear her utter those words one more time. “Say it again, Mariano.” “I love you,” she said, her face glowing in complete happiness that I fucking adored. “Again,” I said, lowering my mouth, and I knew what she was going to say before she even said it. “You’re not the boss of me,” she said, biting my bottom lip. “But I’m saying I love you because I want to say I love you.” “Fucking thank you for that,” I said, then I went in for everything.

“No, I made a deal with a devilish maid,” I corrected, “and it cost me my whole entire heart.”