Wynter is curled up on the sofa, cross-legged, a pencil in one hand and a notepad balanced on her knee.
“What are you doing today?” I ask.
She glances up. “Nothing much. I was just going to stay here.”
I frown. “All day?” She shrugs and looks back down at the page. “Don’t you have people to see? Places to go?”
She shrugs again. “Not exactly.”
“What about friends?”
“They’re in Stamford.”
I fold the newspaper in my lap. “You’ve been here six months. You haven’t made any new ones?” She shakes her head. “Don’t you think you should?”
She huffs out a small breath then her eyes fix on me. “Ray, I can’t exactly nip to the shops and buy a new friend. It’s a bit more complicated than that.”
I smirk. “Well, you’re not going to find one sitting around here.”
“Not strictly true,” she says. “I’ve got Sebastian.”
Despite myself, I smile. She’s really taken to him. “But he’s at school.”
She smirks. “I can wait six hours.”
“Or . . . you could do something for me.”
Christ.The words are out before I’ve thought them through.
Her brows lift. “Like what?”
I glance down at the newspaper, pretending this is casual. Like I’m not making this up as I go along.
“I’ve got Holly doing me a favour today,” I say. “She’s going shopping for a few things. You could help her.”
Wynter studies me. I don’t miss the suspicion in her eyes.
“She’s nice,” I add, keeping my tone neutral. “And I imagine she’d appreciate the company.”
I noticed the two of them talking the last time we were downstairs. Wynter needs people here. Proper people. Not just me, Anika, and Sebastian.
And definitely not Dale.
Wynter nods. “Okay, sounds good. I’ll get dressed.”
She disappears down the hall before I can say anything else. The second she’s gone, I pull out my phone and call Holly.
She answers on the third ring. “Hey, boss. Everything okay?”
“I need a favour.”
She pauses. “That sounds ominous.”
“Wynter needs to get out for the day. She’s got no one here and apparently her plan was to sit around the penthouse doing nothing.”
Holly is quiet for a beat, then, “Right . . .”
“If I give you my card, can you take her shopping?”
