Part 16
"Pack your things. Quickly." Miranda barks the order and then disappears into the closet. Andy remains just inside the door, blinking at the sharpness in Miranda's voice. "Now, Andrea. Please." The last word comes out softer and makes Andy move.
Andy travels safely, which in this case is a double blessing. She has also a tendency to be neat with her belongings, which makes it even easier to just push everything into her carry-on, which is all she brought. Fetching her toiletries, she pushes them into their designated compartment, double-checks that she has taken everything, she goes back to the living room area and finds Miranda waiting, only carrying her messenger bag and a small, black backpack.
"But…your things?" Andy knows she probably sounds stupid, but how can they be in this much of a hurry, that Miranda leaves her clothes behind?
"No time." Miranda looks up from her cell phone, which isn't the same as before. This one is smaller. "I've bought tickets for us on the train to London. You'll fly back to New York from there." She opens the door after tucking the phone away in her inner pocket. "Come on. Another uber waiting."
Andy walks into the corridor and has to lengthen her stride to keep up with Miranda as she rushes toward the elevator. "What do you mean, I will fly back? What about you?"
"I'll explain more on the train." Miranda presses the button to summon the elevator.
"No. Now." Andy feels enough is enough. She's gone along with crazy shit for long enough now and she's not going anywhere until Miranda levels with her. She takes a step back, for emphasis.
"Andrea. You have to trust me."
"Why? You have me jumping through hoops without trusting me with any information. You know I care about you, and you're using that to get me to just trot along. No more. You have to tell me something." Andy leans her back against the wall, folding her arms.
Miranda glowers, but then she sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "I apologize. I've never had to worry about another person when I've had to depart quickly."
"Depart quickly? You're joking. Depart quickly is what you do if you're late for the damn movies. This is like you're trying to run from the cops."
Miranda gapes for a moment and then snorts. "You have a point." She walks over to Andy and takes her by the shoulders. "All right. Someone, and don't ask me who, because I don't know, has been writing Rosalee in a menacing way. This person now sent her candid photos of you and me as well. I can't risk anything happening to you, so we're leaving. So is Rosalee." Miranda presses her lips to Andy's in a brief, hard kiss. "And I promise to tell you more when we're able to sit down without being overheard. Please, Andrea. Trust me."
Not sure if it was the kiss, or the please, or the unfathomable fact that someone seems to spy on Miranda and having caught them on camera. Shuddering, Andy merely steps into the elevator when the door opens. Miranda joins her and seems a little less stressed.
"You destroyed your sim card." Andy sucked her lower lip in for a moment. "Should I do the same?"
"I don't want you not to be able to call for help if you need it. Why don't you just remove it before we get into the uber, and tuck it away?" Miranda stops Andy from walking out of the elevator and exits first. "I hate not knowing whom to look for," she mutters as she heads for the south entrance of the lobby.
Andy gives the handle of her carry-on bag to Miranda and then removes the sim card. Placing it behind her driver's license, she puts her wallet and the phone back in her small cross-body bag.
The uber is there, this time a large SUV, and the driver looks baffled when they hardly have any luggage. "Mais, vos bagages, mesdames?" he says, looking behind them as if they'd hidden it from him.
"Pas de bagages, monsieur. Gare du Nord, s'il vous plaît. Nous sommes pressés."
The driver made a gesture that Andy thought looked very French, though she realized it might be her biases talking, and merely pushed open the sliding back door for them. Miranda hoisted Andy's bag in after her and climbed inside. "There."
As the uber driver zigzagged through the busy Paris lunch hour traffic, Miranda took Andy's hand, squeezing it. "You're being more than patient, all things considered. I'll do my best to explain later, but it'll be difficult for you to understand."
"Difficult?" Andy knew Miranda didn't think she was slow on the uptake, which suggested she meant 'difficult' as in hard to grasp. "No matter what, I'm not sure sending me back to New York and staying behind alone to deal with things, is the best choice."
Miranda sat in silence for a while, still holding onto Andy, and then the softest smile grazed her lips. "You say that now, and I know you mean it. Only yesterday, and even this morning, everything was still manageable. Now, it isn't." She raises their joined hands and kisses the back of Andy's hand. "The truth is, I could never forgive myself if something happened to you, because of me."
Andy doesn't care of the uber driver has them in his back mirror, she pulls her hand free and grabs hold of the lapel of Miranda's coat, tugging her close. She hears Miranda gasp as she hugs her tight.
"Andrea!" Miranda clings to her, and though it's only for a few moments, the fervor with which she pulls at Andy as if she's trying to merge them.
"No matter what, I'm here now." Andy tips Miranda's head back and kisses her, and there's nothing remotely chaste about this kiss. Their tongues meet, caressing and tasting, and Andy knows she whimpers…or it might be Miranda.
After they end the kiss, they sit back, not even looking at each other, but they're still holding hands.
xxxxx
Continued in part 17