“Be right there.” She hoped it was Manny.
Mary looked at the bulletin board with notices for children advocates. She’d heard of these volunteer opportunities. It was where you could provide legal aid, helping families know their rights, especially when child services was involved. Starting there could lead to representing parents or children in court as part of her pro bono commitments to the firm.
“You’re back!” Manny came into the front office, smiling. “It’s great to see you again. Mary, right?” They shook hands again. She hoped he felt the same spark that she did, the one that had been missing from her date with Ricky.
“I’ve been thinking about making my law degree worth something.”
“That’s amazing. Let me get Rafael—he organizes all the volunteers.”
Mary felt her cheeks flush, and she did a little turn in her heels. She imagined taking him home for Sunday supper. She was getting ahead of herself, but she had a feeling he’d fit in perfectly.
Manny returned a few minutes later with a slim man in a stylish and well-cut navy suit and a white shirt unbuttoned at the collar.
“Mary, meet our volunteer coordinator, and my boyfriend, Rafael Hernandez.”
“Hello, Mary. It’s nice to meet you. I love your outfit.” Rafael shook her hand and gave her suit the once-over. “Red is your color.”
Boyfriend?! Mary felt mortified. So, that wasn’t a spark she’d felt. That had just been ahandshake. She’d cut herself off from serious dating for so long that her romantic instincts were way off.
“Oh, thank you,” she stammered, trying to recover her composure and praying Manny didn’t realize the mistake she’d made. “I’d love to do this—but I’ve just got a text and need to get back to my office. Can I come by another time?”
“Anytime. You’d be a great addition, and we could use you.”
“Great. Great. Okay, um, bye. And thanks.” She hustled out of the office, face now red with embarrassment.
She rushed back to the office, head down, feeling low.
Why did she keep stepping on the dating rake and hitting herself in the face?
Chapter 10
That same morning in the West Village, Harper was in the bathroom putting on mascara before work when she felt a drop of water on her head. She glanced up and didn’t see anything.
“That was weird.”
Another drop fell. And then another. She stepped to the side and looked up again.
“Oh no.”
The drips turned into a steady stream of water as the apartment bathroom above flooded into theirs. Her sleeve got soaked as she tried to rescue her phone before it got deluged.
“I can’t deal with this today!” she thought.
“Help!” she called out to her two roommates, praying one of them was home. Libby was a graphic designer into marijuana and her tuxedo cat Eliot, and Megan was a production assistant who worked overnights at CNN. Harper and Libby rarely laid on eyes on her. Megan was like a ghost roommate—the best kind.
Harper ran to get their one big spaghetti pot to catch the water. “I need towels!” she shouted.
Finally, Libby emerged from her room, taking her AirPods out as she realized what was happening. She scrambled upstairs and banged on the neighbor’s door to get them to turn off the water. By the time she got back, Harper had gathered all the spare towels into the bathroom to soak up the mess.
Once Harper had mopped the floor, she replaced the pot with the large kitchen garbage pail to give her some time to think through this disaster.
“How is this my life?” she asked herself. She really needed to get it together and move to a decent apartment.
Libby looked at her. “Laugh or cry?”
“Cry.” To Harper, this was no laughing matter.
Since Libby worked from home for a composting rights initiative, she agreed to call the super and try to get things sorted out. Harper thanked her, changed into dry clothes, threw her ruined hair into a bun on the top of her head, and headed to Van Buren. Her class was readingGreat Expectations.How ironic, she thought.