He sets his pen down and cracks his knuckles. “So, you two are close then?”
“As close as two siblings might get. But enough about us, Giovanni,” Daniel says in a bright tone, clapping his hands together. “Tell me, why are you perpetually angry with my sister?”
My jaw drops. Giovanni’s does, too.
“Uh… I…” he stammers.
I glower at my brother. “Daniel Thompson, I swear to?—”
“Kidding, dude,” he says with a grin. “But can you lighten up? All she does is complain about you.”
Is my brothertryingto kill my career? I scramble, attempting to salvage whatever working relationship I had with The Tailor of Terror.
“It’s notallthe time?—”
“How often would you say she complains about me?” Giovanni interjects, like a political pollster completing a constituent survey. He scratches his chin, waiting for an honest answer, which he certainly won’t get from me. I hope Daniel doesn’t?—
“Only on days that end in the letter ‘y,’” my brother replies solemnly.
“Daniel!” I admonish.
Giovanni shifts his attention to me. “You talk about me?”
I can’t tell if he’s upset or delighted; maybe a little of both. I’m not sure where he dug up the nerve to be offended, as if he didn’t tell me that a design I worked on two months ago with Lamont was the “bare minimum” I could do.
“Yep!” Daniel responds cheerily on my behalf, and my skin starts to feel itchy. He glances at his watch, then back at Giovanni. “Listen, I have a call with Gracie soon, but be nicer to Tess, yeah? Lighten up on the critiques. I’m pretty sure she’s one harsh comment away from moving back to Ohio.” He stands up and brushes invisible lint off of his pants. “This has been enlightening. Gracie’s gonna eat this up when I tell her. Gotta run. Love you, Tessie.” He pecks me on my cheek and leaves, abandoning me to clean up the rubble of the bombshells he dropped.
I stare at the ceiling like it contains the passcode required to unlock the best excuse.
“He was exaggerating. I don’t really?—”
Giovanni frowns. “You’d move back to Ohio?”
Word vomit rises in my throat. I try to push it down, but my effort proves futile. I must be shaken up from the paparazzi, because I can’t find one good reason to end this conversation. “I… honestly don’t know. I’m not making any progress on getting a staff role. I’m eons away from showing my own collection. And even if I had all the plans in place for my future line, I don’thave enough money to afford high-end tailoring or photography. Esme said she’d take pictures for free, but I don’t want to take advantage.”
Giovanni raises an eyebrow. “Does your brother gamble or something? How in the world would you not have enough money?”
I scowl. “I make my own way. I don’t take his money.” A formidable thought occurs to me. “Oh my God. Please don’t tell Lamont about this. I’m begging you. Not only would he be on my ass for the unprofessional nature of our exchange today, but I don’t want anyone to know my relation to Daniel,” I plead.
Sighing, Giovanni starts saying, “I wouldn’t ev—” He quickly cuts himself off, bringing his thumb to his chin. “I’d like to cash in my favor now.”
I swallow nervously, squinting. “What is it?”
“Be my girlfriend.”
Chapter 6
Giovanni
Did I just ask Tessa to be my girlfriend? My pulse roars in my ears as a wave of heat rushes up my neck.
Tessa touches her temple. “Sorry, I think I was concussed by the fall. What did you say?”
She’s oddly calm. I think Tessa genuinely believes she misheard me. This is my moment to take it back. I wrack my brain for plausible words that sound like “girlfriend.”
Hurl-friend? No.
Pearl-lend? Maybe. I could always ask her to fetch me more pearls for the appliqué.
