HOMELAND: Falling Down (Part 1 of the HOMELAND Series) by R.A. Mathis

Author:R.A. Mathis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2016-02-29T03:00:00+00:00

4

EDUARDO

“Hello, Mr. Garcia. Welcome back.” The hotel doorman greeted Eduardo in front of his luxury apartment building. “I see you have a guest.”

The immaculately dressed man nodded to the gorgeous twenty-something at Eduardo’s side. “Welcome. Enjoy your stay.”

She didn’t answer, her attention focused on the smartphone in her hand as her thumbs nimbly danced across its face.

Eduardo answered. “Thanks. I’m sure we will.”

Another night. Another intern. He couldn’t deny the convenience of working at a place with a continuous supply of beautiful young women. Picking one up on the way home was easy as stopping off for a six-pack. One stop shopping at its best.

“It’s a clear night. You’ll have a beautiful view of the city.” The man opened the door for Eduardo and his date, giving Eduardo a sly wink. “Lucky dog.”

Eduardo and his date crossed the extravagant lobby to the elevator. The centerpiece of the space was a fireplace topped by a massive mirror and flanked by ornate murals that Eduardo guessed to be Greek revival. The regal scene was crowned by a gigantic round crystal chandelier that sparkled as if it was enchanted.

He said, “Not bad, eh?”

The girl never looked up, her digits continuing their Fred Astaire impersonation on the electronic dance floor of her phone.

Eduardo guessed she didn’t even know who Fred Astaire was. “Don’t your thumbs ever get tired?”

No answer.

A family walked up beside them as they stood at the elevator. The parents were around Eduardo’s age with two kids. The oldest, a teenage girl, had her nose glued to the screen of her cell phone.

The father looked at Eduardo’s date and back to his own daughter. “These kids and their phones. Makes me wish for the old days when she was still Daddy’s Little Girl. Am I right?”

Eduardo smiled awkwardly. “Uh. Yeah. Good old days.”

The intern’s phone rang, playing some annoying hip-hop ring tone Eduardo had never heard before.

The girl put the device to her ear and jumped into juicy gossip “No way!” She said so loudly that everyone in the lobby could hear. “What did you say? I never liked her. You know that’s not even her real hair.”

Eduardo tapped her on the shoulder. She put up a perfectly manicured finger, turned her back, and continued to dish.

“I heard she was having a fling with her boss. What? Oh!” She laughed. “You’re so bad!”

It was no use.

The father chuckled and said, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and phone service will go down. Maybe then we could get to know our little girls again.”

“Yeah.”

The elevator door opened.

“You take this one,” said the dad. “Good luck.”

Eduardo blushed. “You too.”

He led his date to his place like a shepherd herding an absent minded sheep. He tossed their coats onto the overstuffed velvet couch as he took in the view from huge picture window that stretched from the floor to the nine-foot ceiling.

The doorman was right. The icy New York air was unusually clear tonight.

The country was going to shit, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at Manhattan.

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