“What do you do?” Nadine asked him, a dreamy look on her face as she stared at him.
“I run a sustainability-focused venture capital firm.” When he glanced up from his phone and saw her expression contort with confusion, he added, “We find people who have great ideas about how to save the world and give them the means to succeed at it.”
Her brow relaxed as her eyes widened. “Wow. That must be a lot of work. My parents tried to get their town to start a recycling program and just that was almost impossible.”
Knightley grinned. “So what are you studying?”
“Oh God, don’t tell him, Nadine,” Emma said, lifting her wineglass to shield her view of Knightley’s face. “Unless you want to be totally shamed about your career choice and the future you have designed for yourself.”
Knightley turned back to Nadine. “Getting your master’s in art history, too, I take it?”
“Yeah, with a concentration on international sales.” Nadine’s cheeks flushed. “I know, it’s not really applicable to the real world.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Knightley said, leaning forward on his elbows again. “It’s very applicable, particularly now with collectors trying to make sense of new international laws regarding art sales, and museums facing questions about pieces in their collections that were acquired through imperialist channels. I think it’s smart.”
Nadine beamed, as Emma’s mouth fell open.
Seriously?
“Exactly!” Nadine replied, suddenly giddy. “I’m hoping to geta position with one of the big auction houses after graduation. My nana used to take me to these auctions in Cleveland where there were all these antiques. I just love the idea of all these people coming together over these things that have a history already attached.” She paused and then gave him a lopsided shrug. “But I don’t know. My boyfriend is still back home. I miss him a lot, and he really doesn’t want to leave. He’s helping run his dad’s HVAC company, and I don’t think…” Her chin began to wobble, and she shrugged helplessly.
“Stop making our guests cry, Knightley,” Emma said, waving him off and leaning over the table toward Nadine. “What did I say earlier, Nadine? At this moment you are in the best city in the entire world. And you have me to show it to you. No boyfriend necessary.”
Nadine smiled, her tears abated, and Emma sat back feeling very pleased with herself.
Then she glanced at Knightley.
His easy smile was gone and his expression was unimpressed, as if he knew exactly what she was up to.
CHAPTER 5
“Brown?” Nadine asked, her eyebrows knitted together. She was staring straight ahead into the salon mirror at the clear plastic cap over her head.
“Not brown,” Emma said patiently, even though this was the fourth time they had been over this. “Balayage.”
Nadine mouthed the word to herself again,Baa-lee-ahge.
Emma nodded. “Mateo is bringing back your natural color—which is gorgeous, by the way—and painting in some soft highlights to add some more…”
“Blonde?”
Emma’s head cocked to the side. “… dimension.”
“Dimension.” Nadine repeated, though her brow didn’t relax as her attention went back to the cap.
Jolie Salon was a gleaming cathedral of hair care at the corner of Lexington and 83rd, furnished almost exclusively in white marble and chrome. Fridays were usually busy, but it was late in the day, so there were only a couple of other people seated in the sleek white leather chairs lining the wall.
Still, Nadine would have had to wait weeks for an appointmentif Emma hadn’t called herself, begging Mateo to fit her friend in. And of course he had. Emma had been coming here ever since she tried to go platinum right before high school graduation. She had walked in armed with only a picture of Kim Kardashian’s recently bleached locks and the naivete of a woman whose thick dark hair had never seen a developer stronger than thirty. Thankfully, Mateo talked her out of it, and she left two hours later with some well-placed amber highlights. From that moment on, Emma knew that Mateo was a man she could trust.
As if on cue, he appeared beside Nadine again. His white T-shirt was stretched tight across his chest and biceps, showing off an array of tattoos on his arms. His usual smile was missing as he pulled back the cap and considered Nadine’s hair for a moment. “God, your hair takes color so well,” he murmured, and then he grinned. “This is going to be gorgeous.”
Emma clapped her hands. “I knew it! You’re going to look phenomenal.”
“As if there was any doubt.” Mateo put back the cap and leaned down to Nadine’s eye level, giving her a wink in the mirror. “Five more minutes and we’ll rinse.”
She nodded, barely biting back her smile as he turned, leaving them alone again.
“He’s so hot,” Nadine whispered to Emma a few moments after he was gone.
