The worst part of it all, the thing that absolutely grated? Sadie actuallylikedthe fish. And shelikedtheir names. And the new arrangement actually felt more open and made the small space feel larger. The pink wasn’t totally intrusive, either. Not totally. Only slightly.
Sure, Sadie would now be meeting clients only in the conference room down the hall, but this room looked so much more festive. And happy.
Sadie scooted around the edge of her desk, dropping her purse on the top. She looked up and there on the wall in her direct line of sight was an eight-by-ten photo of Roman in a pink frame. Her blood pressure seemed to pause, the blood just taking a short break on its way through her veins.
Roman followed her into the space with a low whistle. “This is different.”
Sadie pointed at the photograph.
Roman choked on air. “That’s not subtle at all.”
“So far, not much your grandmother has done is subtle.” Sadie wasn’t even certain his grandmother understood the meaning of the word.
He nodded. “It’s true.”
“What do you have on your agenda today?” she asked, toying with the edge of her desk.
He lifted a shoulder. “You know, the usual.”
“I have no idea what that is for you.”
Aside from the way he liked his middle-of-the-night blow job, Sadie didn’t really know anything about his day-to-day life. That realization made her stomach hurt.
Roman seemed to sense the shift in her. “I’ve got a few studio clients this morning, lunch with a new buddy who didn’t have as great of a weekend as I did, and then a meeting with a new bridal client. You?”
“Client calls. Client meetings. I need to schedule some photos for my business cards. Then I’ll probably fire Babushka again. When she won’t leave, I’ll buy her lunch.”
“That’s the problem.”
“That she won’t leave?”
“If you feed her, she’s yours.”
“She’s your grandmother, Rome. She’s not a stray cat.”
“I think you might be wrong about that,” he said with that sparkle in his eye. “Photos this afternoon? I have a gap around three.”
“That’d be great.”
The phone rang in the reception area.
Sadie hurried back to get it before Babushka could pick it up.
Babushka held a book in her hands titledAll My Friends Are Dead, totally ignoring the ringing telephone.
“I’ve got it,” Sadie said, lunging toward the desk.
“Okay.” Babushka didn’t look up from the book. She did, however, nudge the edge of her dead husband’s photo frame so it was more in line with the center of the desk.
Sadie snatched the receiver.
“Law Office of Sadie Howard, Sadie Howard speaking.” Sadie channeled her most badass inner attorney.
“Is Nadzieja Dvornakov available?” asked a deep male voice with an extra helping of Russian accent on the other end of the line.
Um.
“Yes? Hold please.” Sadie held the phone to Babushka. “It’s for you.” Because of course, it was.
