At Your Most Beautiful, Harper Bliss [books to get back into reading .TXT] 📗

sure could get used to the luxuries Maya’s condo offered.

When she arrived the doorman was already holding the door for an older man in a very colorful, debonair suit.

Before Quinn could say she was here for Maya Mercer, the doorman held up a finger and said, “Fifth floor. You and Mr. Levison are getting off at the same floor. I’ll ring up to Mrs. Mercer while you’re in the elevator.” So much for doorman discretion.

The elevator doors had barely closed when the man said, “You must be Quinn.”

Maya had mentioned the flamboyant gay living across the hall from her, but Quinn couldn’t remember his name. “And you are?”

“Angus from-across-the-hall.” He held out his hand. “Maya’s friend and… neighbor.” He put a strange kind of emphasis on the word ‘neighbor’—as if he was very much in the know of who Quinn was.

Quinn gave his hand a quick shake. The elevator stopped and Angus let her get out first.

“Maya, dear,” Angus said when he noticed Maya waiting in the front door. “Quinn and I have finally made each other’s acquaintance. About time.”

“Wonderful.” Maya sounded a little different when she spoke to her neighbor, making Quinn wonder again what the old man knew.

Angus didn’t get his keys out. He was clearly waiting to be invited inside Maya’s apartment.

Maya cast her gaze to Quinn. Maybe she’d had other plans for them this afternoon but she gave Angus a nod and apparently it was enough for him to understand that he was in. Again, he let Quinn go first.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Quinn,” Angus said formally. “To be able to put a face to the person Maya can’t shut up about.”

Maya shot him a look. “Coffee?” she asked.

Angus drew his lips into a pout. “I guess it’s a bit early for cocktails.”

Maya went into the kitchen and Angus walked into the living room as though he owned the place. Quinn dropped her equipment in the hallway and followed Angus, who had already taken a seat in the armchair by the window.

“So, Maya can’t shut up about me?” Quinn asked. She sensed that Angus was the type who welcomed a direct question.

“Girl.” He rolled his eyes. “Any fool can see how nuts she is about you. Any fool, but her.”

“I can hear you,” Maya shouted from the kitchen.

“I only ever tell the truth, my dear,” Angus yelled back. “And you can’t hear enough of that!”

Quinn believed she was in for an unexpected afternoon of gaiety. She might learn a thing or two about Maya along the way.

“I’m probably the only person on earth, apart from you two, who knows the full story.” Angus kept his voice low. “The whole shebang from ten years ago included.” He obviously believed this to be very witty because he leaned back, his gaze glued to Quinn, waiting for her reaction.

Quinn took an instant liking to the man and happily gave him an enthusiastic chuckle.

“How about you, Angus?” Quinn asked. “Anyone special in your life?”

Maya walked in with a tray of coffee cups. “Angus much prefers to stick his nose in other people’s business than to reveal his own,” she said.

Angus shook his head. “I’m well and truly over the hill,” contrary to what he’d just said, he sounded rather spritely. “But a lady never gives her age away.” He clasped a hand to his chest dramatically. “Let’s just say that, at my age, it takes a lot of effort to look twenty years younger than you actually are.” He sighed. “If I were to put that kind of effort into finding a man, I might very well succeed, but what would I have to offer him but this old and wrinkled face?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed”—Maya distributed cups—“Angus used to be in theater. Hence the flair for the dramatic.”

Quinn made a mental note to ask Maya if she knew how old Angus actually was. He looked late-sixties, early-seventies perhaps, which, in Quinn’s eyes, would hardly put him over the hill.

“Well,” Angus said, apparently taking Maya’s remark as a point of pride instead of a jibe, “I daresay that if it weren’t for me, you and Quinn might not be sitting here this afternoon having coffee with little old me.” He gave the kind of sharp nod that insinuated, “Just try to contradict me on that.”

“It’s true,” Maya said. “Angus saved me from myself and my many thoughts of doom.”

Quinn couldn’t tell if Maya was being serious or just putting on some sort of elaborate play of quips and banter with her neighbor. Either way, it was amusing. Quinn had never seen Maya interact with any of her friends—the times she’d been over at her parents’ house back in the day notwithstanding.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page about that.” Angus sipped delicately from his coffee. “I hear you have a fancy exhibition coming up next week,” Angus said to Quinn. “Might one invite oneself to such a glamorous occasion?”

“Of course,” Quinn said. “The more, the merrier. The opening’s next Thursday.” A flash of nerves coursed through her. Quinn had been sharing her work on social media for ages, but seeing people react to it in the flesh would be a very different experience. She’d gotten plenty of negative comments over the years, but, after the harsh sting of the first few, it had gotten easier to shrug them off. She suspected that a bad review of a real-life exhibition might be harder to shake.

“In that case, I’ll be there with bells and whistles on,” Angus said. “I’ve seen your work online. It’s nothing short of spectacular.”

“Despite being over the hill, Angus is all over Instagram,” Maya said.

“The things you see on there.” Angus sounded genuinely in awe. “It’s hard to believe half the time.”

“Better than Grindr,” Maya said, surprising Quinn with her knowledge of the app.

Angus waved her off. “I’m all for making it easy for men to get their rocks off, but I’m way too old school for a virtual meat market like that.” He shrugged. “Or maybe