“Somehow I think you’ll persuade them.” Braden grinned the cocky grin of a man used to getting what he wanted. “Who can turn down free?”
I snorted and nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll see what I can do.”
Hopefully by the day of the wedding, when Maia said “I do,” it would be as real for her as it will be for me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MAIA
For the umpteenth time that morning, I found my mind drifting to Baird, the dress in my hands blurring before me.
I missed him.
He was doing as promised and hadn’t been in touch all week. We had a promo shoot tomorrow, so I knew it would be better if we had a chance to talk before then.
However, now my heart was causing my brain to do emotional, mental gymnastics. Like … was the reason Baird hadn’t texted because he’d decided with some space that he didn’t want to be with me for real after all? Rationally, I knew I was most likely wrong since he’d explicitly said we wouldn’t talk again untilIwas ready to talk about us. But I wasn’t feeling very rational about Baird, which also scared me.
I was spiraling. See me spin in descent.
“Maia. Maia?”
I blinked rapidly, the vivid, color-blocked, calf-length tea dress coming back into focus. Looking up, I found Eli peering at me.
“Are you all right?” they asked, waving a long-nailed hand at me. “You completely spaced out there.”
“Sorry.” I winced. I needed to focus on my job. We were supposed to be curating a special summer collection for next year’s Ascot to be sold in our London stores. Lifting the dress, I grimaced. “I think it’s all wrong. Nay for me.”
“Agreed.” Eli pursed their lips. “It’s giving me Lady Gaga rather than Lady FitzRoy.”
Nodding, I placed the dress on the rack for the products we had discounted. Designers sent us samples from their upcoming collections, and we decided what we wanted to sell in store. However, we were pulling the Ascot feature together from clothing we’d already decided to sell in store next summer, which meant going through the entire wardrobe of samples we’d collated for the next year.
“Knock, knock.”
I tensed at the sound of Becky’s voice but turned to watch her walk into the room. She beamed at Eli, gesturing to their platform mules. “You bitch. You beat me to the Gucci!”
Eli grinned smugly. “I told you I would, Becks. Don’t they look fabulous?” They twisted their ankle so “Becks” could get a better look.
“So fabulous. You wear them better than I ever could,” she said with apparent genuineness.
It wasn’t a shocking interaction. Becky was always friendly to Eli and Liza. As she focused on me, there was a barely perceptible chilly transformation.
“Sorry to disturb you, but Hilary has asked to see you. It’s urgent.”
Eli made anOshape with their lips.
A sense of dread took over as I instantly began to worryif Becky had done something else to fuck me over. “Is anything the matter?”
She gave me a shrug, but I didn’t like the spiteful gleam in her eyes. “She needs to talk in five.” She threw Eli another smile. “Drinks. The Dome. Seven o’clock. Liza too.”
“We’ll be there, darling, Gucci and all.”
“Not even a hint?” I asked Becky’s back.
She glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll see,” she replied in a singsong voice before strutting off.
And I knew.
She was up to something.
