The phone rang.
Everyone stared at it. Even Etta, who was apparently there to answer the damn thing.
Roman, God bless him, started toward the desk, his intent to answer Sadie’s phone apparent in the way he moved. He nearly made it, too.
Etta, clearly remembering why she was there, fumbled with the phone before bringing it to her ear.
“Hello?” Etta said.
No. No. No. Nopers.
“Law Office of Sadie Howard, Etta speaking,” Sadie muttered under her breath. She held her hand out. “Give it to me.”
“One moment,” Etta said into the handset. She squinted at the buttons on the backlit panel near the number buttons. “How do I transfer it?” she asked.
“Who is it for?” Babushka asked.
“It’s for you,” Etta said.
“Oh.” Babushka snatched up the handset.
“I feel like you might need to Irish up that coffee.” Roman gestured to the paper cup with the siren logo in Sadie’s hand.
Sadie couldn’t have agreed more.
“Yes?” Babushka asked into the telephone. She paused.
Everyone, including Sadie, seemed to wait with bated breath to see what was going to happen next.
“Okay,” Babushka said. “Goodbye.”
Well, that was a letdown, wasn’t it?
She handed the receiver back to Etta who placed it carefully in the cradle.
“Who was that?” Sadie asked.
Babushka waved her hand. “It vas for me.”
Clearly. “Why are you getting calls at my office?”
“Because I vork here.” Babushka held her book up, licked the tip of her finger, and turned the page.
And that was pretty much how Sadie guessed her entire day was going to go.
Chapter Twenty
“Are you ready for me?” Sadie peeked inside Roman’s studio.
The muscles in his arms bunched as he moved one of the big lights with an umbrella over the bulb. He’d set up a tall chair in the center of a white background and placed lights at various intervals all over the room. “I’m ready.”
He was all business as he lowered one light and raised another.
Then he grabbed Louise and a light meter and went to checking whatever it was photographers checked.
Sadie sat on the wooden chair beside his desk.
“That should do it.” He flashed her a grin and waved her over. “I usually do a few full-face poses and then shoot from the chest up for business photos.”
