I thought for a moment of Serena, her hand on mine, her flirty words. But in a second she was gone, replaced by the idea of seeing Franny again. And then suddenly a text alert popped up on my phone. I swiped over to messages and glanced at the screen. It was Perrine. It simply said, Take it or leave it.
And then, before my brain could fully process just what she meant, a contact card followed.
Franny Doyle
917-555-5535
Chapter Eleven
Franny
The city was already wide-awake when I got to the front of Cleo’s apartment building at 9 a.m. on Saturday. I’m here, I texted, and then sat down on her stoop until she popped out through the front door, her hair still wet from the shower.
“Let’s do it!” she exclaimed, with way too much energy for this early on a weekend morning. We were headed uptown to hunt for something for me to wear to the black-tie gala her mom cochaired every summer, because the secondhand shops on the Upper East Side were always restocked on Saturday mornings. It was either this or renting a dress. But I liked the idea of something all my own—vintage, timeless, and most importantly, cheap.
The plan was for me to tag along with Cleo, try to meet the design team who produced the event, and schmooze with the fancy uptown ladies, see if they’d hire me to decorate one of their many bathrooms. Cleo had even gotten her mom involved, and Mrs. Kim, like her daughter, loved making the impossible happen.
We’d barely made it on to Houston Street when my phone rang.
“Franny, hi, it’s Hayes Montgomery. From the train.”
“Hayes who hates sugar?” I said without thinking, and Cleo’s mouth dropped when she heard his name.
She tucked her arm in mine and leaned close to try to hear the call through my phone. I gave her a playful push away.
I heard him let out a nervous laugh. “Yes, it’s me. Hayes who hates sugar.”
We stopped in front of Cleo’s favorite coffee shop so she could grab us Americanos to jump-start the day. I paced the sidewalk as she blew me a kiss and walked inside.
“Um, so here’s a funny thing that happened to me recently,” he continued. “The interior designer we’d hired to do our new office space quit on us, and we need someone to step in ASAP. It’s been a big fiasco.”
“Ugh, that’s terrible,” I replied, cringing at what a nightmare he must be dealing with. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I know you’re busy with your own work stuff, but Lola was at my place last night with Perrine, my cousin—”
“Oh, I remember her,” I said with a chuckle.
“That’s right.” I heard him laugh softly through the phone. “Well, she mentioned that your schedule’s opened up, and I was wondering if you might be interested in meeting about the position.”
“Well, that…” I trailed off for a minute, processing. “That was not what I was expecting you to say.” Relief, joy, nervousness: a bunch of feelings burst inside me all at once.
“Is that a bad thing? I know it’s an insanely quick turnaround, so if you already have too much—”
“I would absolutely love to put some ideas together for you,” I said calmly, trying not to sound too eager. But inside I was screaming, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” My severance pay from Spayce was about to run out in a few weeks. God, I needed this. “I can have something to you in forty-eight hours.”
“Seriously?” He sounded both surprised and relieved.
I nodded confidently, even though he couldn’t see me. “One hundred percent.”
“Wow. Okay, thank you. Can you text me your email, and I’ll get this over to you, then?”
“Of course.” I was bouncing in my Vans, unable to control the excitement. “Oh. And, Hayes…”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry about that sugar comment from before,” I said. “I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“I promise you, I do eat sweet things,” he replied. There was a playfulness to his voice that hadn’t been there before, a slight purr that was undeniably sexy. “Occasionally.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” I said, smiling.
“Okay, well, we’ll have to eat dessert together sometime.”
“I’d love that!” Ugh. I sounded way too excited. Tone it down, Franny. Tone it down. “That’d be fun.”
“’Kay. Well, I’ll text that info.” Hayes’s voice shifted. Mr. All Business was back. “Thanks for considering this.”