First Day

Stacy went down with him.

Sam hadn’t asked her to come along, but she offered naturally, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. She even adjusted the collar of his shirt a little before they left the apartment.

“Come on, let’s not be late on your first day.”

Victor was downstairs in his office, completely absorbed in managing his business. The couple waited on the landing while Stacy, who was walking ahead, rang the bell. A buzz unlocked the door and Victor’s voice came through the video intercom:

“Come in, I’m just finishing something. I’ll see you in the living room.”

Stacy went in first. She did it without hesitation. She left her bag on a piece of furniture in the entryway with complete familiarity and walked toward the living room. Sam followed a couple of steps behind.

The apartment was spacious, modern, and spotless. It smelled clean, expensive, masculine. Stacy moved through it as if she knew by heart where everything was.

Victor appeared through a doorway a few seconds later. When he saw them, he smiled with that calm of his.

“Punctual. Good.”

Stacy walked up to Victor and started talking about some detail of the studio. She opened a cupboard without asking, took something out and handed it to him. Then she laughed at a comment of his that Sam didn’t quite catch. Sam immediately felt like he was in the way.

There was a moment, while the three of them were in the living room, when Victor and Stacy exchanged a quick look. It wasn’t long, but it wasn’t casual either. Stacy lowered her eyes a little and smiled. Victor gave a slight nod, as if they were confirming something that didn’t need words.

Sam pretended not to notice.

“We’ll start with the common areas,” Victor said at last, addressing Stacy more than him. “Lobby and stairs. There’s a lot of work out there to begin with. We’ll take it slow. The rest—the apartment and the studio—later. First let’s get him used to the stair routine.”

Stacy nodded and turned to Sam with a bright smile.

“Pay attention, honey. Victor explains things very well.”

The two of them stepped out onto the landing. Stacy began closing the apartment door, staying inside as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“I’ll leave you to it. I’ll wait for you up here.”

Victor turned toward her.

“Perfect. I won’t be long.”

Stacy gave them both a smile, though her gaze lingered a second longer on Victor. Then she closed the door softly.

Sam and Victor were left alone on the stairs.

For a while Victor limited himself to showing him the areas he was supposed to maintain. His tone became drier and more imperative. He showed him all the facilities like a king displaying his domain to a vassal. They ended up at the building entrance, in a locked room that held all the cleaning supplies and a small laundry area with a dryer.

“As you’ll understand, I have no idea which product goes with which surface,” Victor said. “I know the last cleaning girl had everything that was needed. I’ll leave you here. Once you figure out how everything works, grab the broom and the mop and start from the top down. Here are the keys to the cleaning room. This shouldn’t take you more than two hours.”

At that moment Victor’s phone vibrated. He took it out, looked at the screen and gave a half-smile. He replied quickly with his thumb and then looked up at Sam, with an expression somewhere between amused and resigned.

“Sorry. Clingy girlfriend. Insatiable, more like.” He made a small gesture with his head, almost a wink. “Seems she wants a bit of attention.”

He put the phone away and picked up the previous tone as if nothing had happened.

When he finished the practical explanation, he stopped on the landing and took out a cigarette. He didn’t light it. He just turned it between his fingers.

“Stacy trusts you a lot,” he said suddenly, without looking at him. “She wants you to stay busy. To have a routine. She’s worried that too much free time doesn’t sit well with you.”

The phone vibrated again. Victor glanced at the screen, let out a low laugh through his nose and typed a short reply without stopping his speech.

“She has a promising future. A talent for certain things. She’s always had it hidden, undiscovered…”

Another vibration. This time he didn’t even try to hide it. He read the message, raised an eyebrow and muttered more to himself than to Sam:

“So persistent…”

Then he put the phone away and continued as if the interruption had never existed:

“Some people need more time to adapt… others simply find their true place sooner.”

The sentence hung between the two of them. It wasn’t cutting. It wasn’t entirely innocent either. It carried some kind of double meaning.

Victor put the cigarette away and looked upward.

“Today the lobby and the stairs will be enough. Later on I’ll show you in more detail what needs doing in the studio and in my apartment.”

He turned to Sam and placed a hand on his shoulder, brief and heavy.

“You can call my place when you’re done. Your wife will be waiting for you upstairs… in my apartment.”

He smiled slightly.

“Chin up, nephew.”

Then he turned and started climbing the stairs at a leisurely pace, leaving Sam alone on the landing with the cleaning bucket still in his hand.

Sam stood there watching the steps Victor had just climbed.

The door to Victor’s apartment sounded in the distance, leaving an ecclesiastical silence in the lobby.