And they didn’t want you to come along?”
“I’ve heard the childcare on cruises is available something like twenty-four hours a day. I guess they figured if the boat is providing it for free, why pay to bring me along?” Paige said.
“Yeah, because the Hoffmans are definitely hurting for cash.”
She scoffed. “Ha. True. Whatever their reason, I’m not complaining. I haven’t spent two nights in a row with Reese in months. The next few days are going to be bliss.”
“You’re not with him now, though. Is that my fault?”
“No, he’s working. But he finishes his shift in an hour, so, you know, don’t dawdle back there.” She looked over her shoulder, angling her head to try and see what I was doing.
“Stop moving!” I tugged on the dress. “Unless you plan on walking down the aisle leaning sideways. I just need this hem to hang evenly.”
She sighed a dramatic sigh. “What if the Hoffmans took a different nanny on the cruise?”
I stood up straight. “What? Why would they do that?”
“Because I’m getting married. And they need to replace me, and maybe this is like a trial run.”
“So you’re for sure quitting after the wedding then?”
“Yeah, I have to,” she said. “It’s hard to give up the pay, but the commute from Reese’s place would kill me.”
“So what then, you’ll teach?” I dropped my pin cushion onto my sewing table. “You’re done,” I told her. “It’s perfect.”
“Probably. I mean, it’s about time I use the degree I paid for, right?”
I sank onto the arm of the couch. “The Hoffmans have been good to you. But I’m excited that you’re moving on. It’s fun to imagine you in your own classroom somewhere.”
My phone rang, interrupting our conversation. I looked around. “Do you see my phone anywhere?”
Paige picked it up from the sewing table. “It’s Sasha. You want it?”
“Really? What on earth does she need?” As demanding as my boss was during business hours, she wasn’t one to typically take her work home. For her to reach out to me this late was weird.
I stood and quickly crossed the room, answering the phone before it went to voicemail. “Hello?”
“Oh, Dani, darling, I’m so glad I caught you.”
Dani darling? “What can I do for you?”
“Actually, I’m in the neighborhood. Well, I think I’m in your neighborhood. You live above the pet shop, right? The one with the red awning?”
My eyes went wide. Sasha was outside my apartment. Why was Sasha outside my apartment? “It’s a clothing store for pets,” I said. Not particularly relevant, but it was the best my brain could come up with.
“Oh. How charming. You’re the red door? Can I come up?”
“Um, is everything all right?”
“Of course. I just have a quick question, and since I was walking by, I figured I might as well drop in and ask you in person. Besides, it’s past time I see the place where my favorite assistant spends her time away from the office.”
My brain kicked into hyperdrive. Sasha in my apartment. Sasha seeing my workspace, my designs. It wasn’t terrible, necessarily. And yet, it still felt like an incredible invasion of my privacy. “Actually, my roommate isn’t feeling great right now. I can come down to you if that’s okay. Are you here right now, as in, right outside?”
I crossed to the window and peeked down at the street, not wanting her to see me. “Oh, actually your neighbor just let me in—thank you, yes,” I heard her say to whoever had opened the door for her. “I’m on the phone with her right now, so I’ll just go on up. Okay,” she said back to me. “I’m coming up. See you in a minute.”
I dropped my phone onto the couch. And then proceeded to full-on panic.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Paige asked.
“Sasha’s here.”
“As in coming up the stairs here here?”
I froze and looked at Paige. “You’ve got to get out of that dress.”
“What, right now? Who cares if she sees the dress?”
I cared, but for a reason I couldn’t quite define. Sasha had been nosier than normal the past few days. When I’d returned from lunch earlier in the week, my sketchbook had been out and open on my desk, flipped to the drawings of Paige’s dress, even though I distinctly remembered putting it away before leaving. And Sasha’s questions had been pointed and unusually wedding dress themed. I’d rebuffed her inquiries as best I could. Ultimately, she had no reason to care if I was designing a wedding dress in my apartment.