Claimed as the Wrong Bride

Chapter 9 Part 3: Mona Lick Returns

The Meridian on a weeknight had its own particular rhythm, lower in volume than the weekend, more consistent in temperature. The regulars came on weeknights. Men with established patterns, familiar faces, who knew the rules and followed them and came because this was part of the structure of their lives rather than an occasion. She understood this. Structure was something she had built for herself from nothing and she did not judge the forms other people's took.

She was early enough to have the dressing room mostly to herself. She changed into the red set, checked the garter straps, hung her bag in the locker with the practiced efficiency of someone for whom this sequence was as automatic as breathing, and sat down at her mirror.

Priya came in while she was starting her eyes, dropping into the chair two seats down with the specific quality of someone who had been waiting to say something and was deciding how to say it.

"You were off," Priya said.

"I had things."

"Three days of things."

"It was a busy week." She picked up the flat brush and loaded it with the deep plum. The one that needed a light hand on the first pass or it went too dark too fast. "How were the shifts."

"Fine. Busy Friday. Slower Saturday than usual." Priya was watching her in the mirror with the particular attention she used when she thought something was being withheld. "There were men in here Wednesday night asking about you."

Occy kept her hand steady on the brush. "What kind of men."

"The kind that ask questions like they're used to getting answers. Very polite. Very well dressed. One of them had a watch that cost more than my car." A pause. "They asked Harlan if Mona Lick was scheduled this week. Harlan told them the schedule wasn't public information."

"Good."

"Good." Priya's reflection looked at her reflection. "Occy. Are these men a problem."

She blended the plum toward the outer corner, pulling it up along the socket line. "They're a situation. I'm managing it."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the answer I have." She looked at Priya in the mirror properly. "If they come back tonight, if anyone asks about me or about Mona Lick or about my schedule, tell me immediately. Don't engage with them beyond that."

Priya held her gaze for a moment. "Okay," she said. Then, quieter: "Is this about the VIP thing. The guy whose finger you bent."

"No." That was true. The man with the bent finger was a different problem, one she had largely stopped thinking about in the context of larger problems. "This is separate."

"Alright." Priya nodded once, the nod that meant accepted and filed and I'm going to worry about it quietly and not say so. She turned back to her own mirror. "The roofline piece. Sol sent me a photo. It looked incredible."

Something loosened slightly in Occy's chest. "It'll be better finished."

"What happens when it's finished."

She thought about the black canvas waiting on its easel. The gold leaf. The brass filament paper in its sheets. The specific problem she had not yet solved about the adhesive in the lower left quadrant where the light hit differently than she had calculated.

"Something you have to be in the room to understand," she said.

Priya smiled. "You say that about everything."

"Because it's always true."

Andrea was behind the bar when she came through, deep in conversation with one of the floor hosts about a licensing compliance inspection scheduled for the following month that was generating more paperwork than anyone had anticipated. Occy filed this without acting on it. The Meridian's licensing situation was not her problem. She had enough problems.

"Mona." Andrea caught her eye as she passed. "Good to have you back."

"Good to be back."

"There were some men in here Wednesday asking about your schedule." Andrea's voice was level, informational, the tone she used for things she wanted communicated without drama. "I didn't tell them anything."

"I know. Priya told me." She stopped at the bar. "If they come back tonight—"

"I'll find you." Andrea was already nodding. "Same as always."

"Same as always."

She went to find Harlan.

Harlan was at his station, where Harlan always was, and he looked at her when she arrived with the expression he used for things that had been noted and filed and were waiting to be addressed.

"Wednesday night," she said.

"Two of them. Professional. They asked about your schedule, I told them we don't share that information, they thanked me and left." A pause. "They tipped well on their way out."

"Why does that matter."

"Men who intend to come back tip well on the way out. Goodwill investment." He looked at her steadily. "They're going to come back."

She had already assumed this. "If they're here tonight, I need to know as soon as they come through the door."

"Understood."

She went to get ready for her first set.