A Case of Extreme Mistaken Identity - Victorine E. Lieske Page 0,18
taxes and stuff.”
“Oh. Then it won’t even be that much.”
He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he had to nod. “Yeah.”
Staring down at the table, she said, “Then I guess I can’t get a manicure. I need other stuff more.”
“Like what?”
“Clothes. But if I’m only getting three hundred and twenty dollars, that won’t even pay for one outfit.” Her eyes filled with tears. “And how will I eat?”
“Wait, how much do you spend on one outfit?”
“I don’t know. Five or six hundred, if I’m watching how much I’m spending.”
Austin looked for any signs that she was joking with him, but she didn’t give him any indication. He balked. Growing up poor, he’d never spent more than twenty bucks on a pair of jeans. Most of his T-shirts were around that price as well. How could she even get up to five hundred dollars? “You’ll have to shop at a discount store for clothes.”
Dani took another bite, but frowned when she chewed. “My skin doesn’t react well to cotton blends.”
“How does it react to starving?”
Her gaze shot down to the pizza, and then her cheeks reddened. “It doesn’t like it.”
“Then you’ll need to compromise. Come on. After you get off work I’ll take you shopping.”
“I haven’t gotten paid yet.”
“My treat.” He smiled when her face brightened.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure you need some things. I’ll secure transportation, and we can run to a few places.”
She grabbed his arm. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you in my life, but I swear you’re an angel sent from heaven.”
He kind of liked being her angel. And then his stomach soured. Would she think he was her angel when she found out he wasn’t who she thought he was? The longer he allowed her to think he was a maintenance man, the worse it would be when she found out the truth.
He would have to tell her tonight. It was best to come clean. She’d understand, right? It wasn’t either one of their faults. It just happened. And he needed to correct the misunderstanding before it grew too big.
He stared out at the ocean. He should be feeling relief at finally making the decision to tell her. Then why was a dark feeling of foreboding coming over him?
Chapter 9
Dani shoved the last load of sheets into the dryer and turned the knob. She was ready to be done for the day. Half her nails were now broken and she pulled out the nail file another housekeeper had loaned her. She sat on the table in the laundry room and sawed at her jagged nails. She had never thought she’d be that kind of person. The kind who let things get so bad.
Her father still hadn’t called or texted. She’d sent him a photo of her in her new uniform and told him about her job. He hadn’t responded. She tried not to let it bother her, but she had to admit it stung. He had time to call and chew her out when she did something dumb. But when she did something he should be proud of, crickets.
The nail file flew faster as she thought about how unfair that was. Did she have to make national news in order to get his attention? Didn’t he care that she was working her butt off to meet his stipulations? When was he going to stop this angry tirade and give her back her credit cards?
She fumbled and the nail file slipped out of her hand, landing under the table. She jumped down and searched for it. It had landed almost against the wall. Of course. She had to crawl under the table to reach it.
On her hands and knees, she heard the door open and two other housekeepers enter. They walked in front of the table and stopped. “Man,” one of them said. “I’m tired.”
“No kidding. Kay has me covering half of some other girl’s rooms because she’s new and doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
“Is that the blonde? The one with an obvious boob job?”
Dani looked down at her chest. Were they talking about her? She’d never had any work done.
“Yeah. The dumb one. I heard she flooded one of the rooms with suds.”
Dani froze. They were talking about her. Who had told them about that? Hadn’t Austin been the only one who knew? Had he talked about her to the other housekeepers? Her throat swelled shut as she thought about the possibility.
“Really?” The woman laughed. “I can’t believe it.”