What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,59

each other here. See you downstairs.”

Valentine hesitated for a moment after he left, then she turned and headed back into the house. Went up the back stairs to the employee area and grabbed her burner phone out of her backpack. She frowned when she saw there were no messages from Ari. Just as she was about to put it away, though, it vibrated, and she opened the screen excitedly. But it wasn't a message from him.

It was from Ralph, the guy she'd stood up for their dinner date a couple nights ago. He was trying to reschedule. She grimaced and tried to think of how best to respond. She didn't particularly want to go out with him, but she'd rescheduled on him several times already. If she canceled altogether, he'd probably think all the other girls were flakes, like Del had said. He might even stop coming to Caché, which was a big deal. The monthly membership fees weren't cheap. Del would be pissed if she lost them a client.

It's just dinner. Just show up, make him feel good about himself for two hours, then never ever accept another dinner invitation again.

Val banged out a response, promising to meet him at a restaurant of his choice, tomorrow night around seven. Then she turned her phone off and went back downstairs.

It's only one in the morning, maybe Ari will still show up.

He never did.

12

Valentine spent her Sundays at home. Nurse Grace didn't come on Sundays, so all the work came down to her. She considered it a minor victory when she got her grandmother into the shower, even though it only lasted about five minutes.

When Gam-Gam finally went down for her nap after lunch, Valentine cleaned the house and did all the laundry. Sat down at the table and figured out the schedule for the coming week. Organized her grandmother's weekly pill box, then sorted which prescriptions needed to be refilled, and made notes to call the different doctors to renew other ones.

Ari never texted. Was probably living the life of luxury up in his penthouse apartment, doing whatever it was filthy rich people did on their weekends.

Ralph texted, though, and gave her the name of a five star restaurant in the heart of downtown. She groaned when she read the message, then hurried to get everything else finished around the house so she could start getting ready for the date.

“You sure this is okay?” Valentine asked, hopping around on one leg while she fought to get a shoe on her other foot.

“Yeah, totally,” Bailey grunted around a mouthful of pizza. Normally, Valentine spent all day and night at home taking care of her grandma on Sundays. But Bailey had agreed once again to sub for the evening.

“She's had dinner,” Valentine explained, finally getting the shoe on. Then she went about putting on earrings. “And she's gone to the bathroom. I've got a 'Murder, She Wrote' marathon playing, so she should be set for hours – I'm hoping she'll just fall asleep. Don't hesitate to call me if anything happens.”

“Val, I have done this before, you know,” Bailey reminded her. Valentine grimaced.

“I know, I'm sorry. I always get nervous, and I feel like I'm putting pressure on you by asking you to do this when it's not your night,” she groaned. She had an appointment at a agency Monday afternoon to hire a new nurse, all bills directed to a Mr. Aaron Sharapov, Esq., so hopefully a new nurse would start soon and she wouldn't have to take advantage of her roommate anymore.

“Do I look pressured?” Bailey asked. While Val looked at her, a stray piece of pepperoni fell off her shirt and onto the floor.

“Right. Okay. I won't be too long, back by ten at the absolute latest,” Val assured her as she headed towards the front door.

“Seriously, don't worry about us, take your time,” Bailey told her.

“Ug, no, trust me, I don't want to be out any later than that,” she laughed, then she turned around and held out her arms. “How do I look?”

“Uh, amazing. Like a different person.”

Valentine was never sure whether or not to take that as a compliment. Did day time Val really look that bad?

One thing was for sure, though – night time Valentine was looking good. Her dress was a deep claret color, and clung to her body before the skirt fell loosely from her hips, a high slit in the side showing her leg from the top of her thigh down. The