Page 122 of Embracing the Change

“I agree.”

“The front room, darling, let’s go there to feel the space and brainstorm.”

She grinned at me. “Awesome.”

We came up with some ideas, decided to share those while we interviewed a few interior designers, and we headed out.

Dru was a flautist, a talented one, and as such, she was quite busy with session work, and she was booked to be at a studio soon.

An aside, to augment her income, on days she wasn’t booked, she was a substitute teacher. She had, I noticed, not shared this with Nico and Felice the Sunday before, and since she didn’t, I didn’t either. However, she’d seen Felice’s behavior with Alyona, and I didn’t need to crawl into Dru’s head to know she worried that Felice, a full-time educator, might look down on Dru doing it for extra cash.

We headed down the steps to the car I’d hired for the day, but Dru paused before getting in the back, her attention aimed across the street.

“What is it?” I queried.

She turned her head my way. “I just…got a strange feeling that man was watching us.”

I looked across the street. “What man?”

“He’s gone. He took off when I looked at him.”

Considering Hale was a billionaire, Genny was a famous actress, Tom was a retired tennis star, and Elsa was an up-and-coming celebrity interviewer, and frankly, all of us were very photogenic, our group had no small amount of attention from gossips and the media, so I asked, “Was it a paparazzo?”

“He didn’t have a camera.” She shook her head. “Maybe I was wrong. It’s not a big deal.”

She ducked into the car.

I watched her do it, standing on the sidewalk, unmoving.

Something was off with her, I just didn’t know her enough to know what it was.

But I didn’t like it.

“Ma’am, is something wrong?” my driver of the day (today, the agency sent David) inquired.

“No, nothing,” I murmured, and folded in beside Dru.

David closed my door and got behind the wheel.

He took Dru to her session.

He then took me to Mika’s so we could have a drink and a gab before I headed home to have dinner with my Jamie.

As we were wont to do, Mika and I lost track of the time.

So I was late arriving home that evening.

Alyona opened the door for me, and I wasn’t sure I understood the look on her face.

“He’s in the bedroom,” she murmured.

I felt my brows draw down in confusion, but she took my bag and jerked her chin to the hall.

Swiftly, I walked down the hall.

When I entered our bedroom, I saw Jamie in a position I’d seen him in before, but it was much different this time.

He was sitting on the French Provincial bench at the end of the bed, leaned forward into his elbows at his knees.

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