“I could almost—almost—understand it,” Rachel went on, “if I had found the rest of your clothes in the dining room also. That kind of makes sense. But no, it was just the bra. Which means, you came home, entered the dining room, took off your top, your bra and who knows what else but then only left the bra behind while taking the rest of your clothes to the bedroom. As a woman, that sequence of events does not make any sense to me!”
Ainsley, her face red either from blushing or being angry—Rachel didn’t know—cocked an eyebrow.
“Are you done?” she asked.
“About the weird juxtaposition of bra on the dining room table, yeah.”
“Fine,” Ainsley snapped. “I’ll have you know that on that day, before I left for the hospital, I had put on that bra, went to the kitchen to make coffee, decided I didn’t want to wear that bra to work and took it off in the dining room before changing into another one.”
“An explanation which only marginally makes more sense than my scenario!” Rachel exclaimed. “In fact, it just makes me want to ask more questions! For example, why not wait until you got to the bedroom to switch bras?”
“I don’t know, Rachel! People do weird things from time to time! Have you never taken off your clothes in odd rooms before?”
“Of course I have!” Rachel said. “But then I put them away! Like an adult! You, on the other hand, leave these things around as if you expect a maid to come pick up after you!”
Ainsley’s eyes suddenly darted to the side guiltily. She tried to hide it by flicking them quickly back to Rachel but Rachel had caught it and immediately, comprehension dawned on her.
“Oh my god!” she blurted out. “You grew up with a maid, didn’t you?”
“Housekeeper!” Ainsley snapped.
Rachel barked out a dry laugh.
“Oh my god, that fucking explains everything!” she said. Then she put her hands back on her hips and glared at her girlfriend. “Well, Dr. Janowicz, there is no housekeeper here, understand? So, please, pick up after yourself and stop expecting your girlfriend to do it for you!”
“I never expected that!” Ainsley said through clenched teeth.
“Then who did you expect to do it? Magic housekeeping gnomes? Or did you give your childhood housekeeper a key to my place so she could come in once a week and tidy up after you?”
“Do you want me to leave?” Ainsley asked.
Rachel huffed in frustration.
“Of course I don’t want you to leave!”
Ainsley quirked an eyebrow.
“You’re acting like it.”
“No…” Rachel said, beginning to feel like she was talking to a character from Downton Abbey, “I’m acting like a grownup who is tired of picking up after another grownup.”
“And I can understand that,” Ainsley said. She took a deep breath and then said in a softer tone, “Really, Rachel…I can understand that. Okay? I’m sorry. I know I can be a slob.”
Rachel, feeling her own iciness begin to thaw, mumbled, “It’s okay.”
Ainsley went on.
“The only reason you ever saw my condo look as neat as it did was because I would obsessively tidy up the place if I knew there was even the slightest chance you’d be coming over.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Ainsley stated glumly. “And for the record, a bra on the dining room table is nothing. I once found one on my Peloton. It wasn’t even, like, a workout bra.”
Rachel laughed.
“Anyway,” Ainsley said, “I’m sorry.”
Rachel approached and the two women embraced.