“There’s no need to apologize.” Isabel said with a smile on her lips, rushing both mother and daughter further into the apartment with a wave of her hand. “When you have to go, you have to go, right?” She asked the little girl as she guided them to the bathroom and chuckled softly as she opened the bathroom door for her and after Cara had rushed in, too, Isabel let go of the doorknob in case the girl’s mother wanted to go in too. She looked old enough to handle herself, but since Isabel wasn’t a mother, she couldn’t know for sure. Once everything was ready and the door was shut, Isa leaned back against the nearest wall, stretching her legs in front of herself and pointed to herself. “I’m Isabel. Nice to meet you, Maggie. You can call me Bel or Isa if you’d like. You’re the fashion designer, right? Carly’s talked a lot about you.” She said with a smile.
Maggie’s question caused Isabel to press her lips together into a thin smile as she shook her head because, as much as she wanted to, asking that of Carly almost felt like she would be imposing–since her friend didn’t pay rent. Even if she shouldn’t feel like that, after all, if Isabel asked, she was sure Carly wouldn’t mind letting her move in. “No, no… but I’m pretty much here all the time, so it’s almost as if I were? I mean… I have the key to her apartment anyway. How old’s your little one?”
Magdalena appreciated that the other woman was kind and spoke gently to Cara. Not everyone would allow a perfect stranger into an apartment, especially one that wasn’t theirs, even if the stranger in question was trailed by a rather adorable six-year-old. “Good to meet you too,” Magdalena returned, as she waited for Cara for to finish in the restroom. “I’m the fashion designer, yes.” It was still strange to her to think about the different ways people knew her. For so long, she’d been Mr. and Mrs. Brooks’ daughter. Then, she’d been Graham’s girlfriend. Then Cara’s mother. She was still getting used to being identified as something outside of those role markers, as something that was solely dependent on her rather than on her relationships with others, and she was a bit surprised that Carly had mentioned her. “Only good things, I hope.”
Maggie nodded as Isabela spoke. She had friends like that, who were always at her home and who she trusted with keys to her place simply because they were more family than they were friends. At the mention of the little one, the bathroom door opened and Cara exited hands still slightly wet. Magdalena bent to help her wipe them better as she answered the question. “She’s six. At least, for a few more weeks. We’re excited for the birthday. Aren’t we, Cara?” She smiled in the direction of the small girl, pulling her closer to her body. “Thank you so much for this. I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t been here. My poor child would have probably exploded.”