Read Online Betsy Wickwire's Dirty Secret by Vicki Grant - Free Book Online

finished. Aren’t you?” She gave the bathroom a quick scan. “Guess not. Boy, you ever slow.”
    I tried to think of some suitably withering response but by the time anything came to me, Dolores had squirted a stream of cleanser into the toilet, given it a quick swish and said: “Done. What’s left? … Oh. These.” She flicked the guy’s boxer shorts up with her toe and into the hamper. I didn’t know whether to thank her or smack her.
    â€œHere,” she said, throwing me the broom. “You sweep, I’ll deal with the shower.”
    That was my shower. I’d been looking forward to doing the rest of the tiles—not that I’d even tell her that.
    Dolores took the shower head off the handle and sprayed down the walls. The five clean tiles stood out as if they were backlit. She moved her lips around her face and stared at them, then took a bottle of foundation off the counter and began to dab some beige liquid onto the clean tiles.
    â€œHey!” I went. “What are you doing?”
    â€œJust scuzzying them up a bit. Can’t leave them like that. They make the rest of the shower look dirty.”
    â€œIt is dirty.”
    Dolores stopped and folded her arms. “Lesson Number One. Dirty is relative. People don’t necessarily want their houses clean. They just want them to look clean. That’s our job. To create beautiful illusions. We’re set designers.”
    She thought she was so bold and clever. It was sad, really.
    She turned back to the tiles. She tilted her head this way and that, then wet a paper towel and dabbed off some of the foundation. She took a step back, checked it out again, and wiped off a tiny bit more. A true artiste .
    â€œThere. Perfect. She’ll never know the difference.”
    I didn’t have the strength to argue. I just went, “Oh, yeah. Perfect.” I didn’t care if I sounded childish. “Let’s get going, then.”
    We were almost to the stairs when the second door on the right opened. The guy stepped out. I jumped back.
    He was only a little older than me by the looks of him and fully clothed now, so he shouldn’t have scared me, but he did. He was extremely tall. I hadn’t noticed that in the bathroom. I guess I was looking at other things—or trying not to.
    He put his hand on his chin. A muscle in his neck twanged. He said, “Look. Uh …”
    Dolores said, “Wow. How tall are you?”
    The guy said, “Six–eight,” and just the way he said it you knew everyone asked him that. He scratched his head and his thick dark hair kind of bobbed up and down. “I just wanted to say sorry. Like, for back then.”
    â€œThat’s okay.” I shrugged and kind of laughed as if it was nothing.
    â€œI just woke up. I didn’t think anyone was home.” Two red spots, more or less the shape of pork chops, began to throb on his cheeks.
    â€œReally. It’s okay.” Frankly, I wanted to forget about the whole thing.
    â€œI didn’t see you,” he said. “I just sort of staggered in. You know. Like, half awake. I didn’t mean it. Sorry.”
    I nodded away. I had the sick feeling neither of us knew how to end this. I was almost glad when Dolores broke in.
    â€œI bet you’d like to have these back,” she said, and held up his glasses. Before he could take them, she sighed on the lenses and wiped them on her T-shirt.
    â€œThanks.” He put them back on, then looked at me, then looked at Dolores and blushed some more. We’d obviously just been shapeless blobs to him up to now.
    He turned to slip back into his room but Dolores was too fast for him. She leaned against the door jamb. “So, Big Boy, what did your mama name you?”
    It was so embarrassing. I felt myself liquefy.
    â€œMurdoch,” he said.
    â€œMerrrrr-dock.” She rolled it around in her mouth, then clicked her tongue. “Well,