Page 46 of Designed for Disaster

Bonnie looked dumbstruck. “Girl, I would have throttled him.”

“Oh, we broke up immediately. There was definitely no coming back from that.” Blew my whole life apart in the process. No job. No boyfriend. No home. And then I’d lost my parents shortly after. The one and only good thing about that period was meeting Stacy, who befriended me, helped me find work,andgot her landlady to rent me the brownstone’s basement apartment.

“Good,” Bonnie said. “He didn’t deserve you.”

“I know that,” I said, smiling at her. I liked that it felt like we were becoming real friends. “Now.”

“I guess compared to that, the Paris girl doesn’t sound all that bad,” Shay said, clapping Erik on the shoulder.

He laughed. “Yeah, she was a gem.”

“Back on topic,” I said. “How are the latest designs going? Bonnie, you got my email with the updated desk designs?”

She nodded. “Those have been finalized. There was a supply chain issue with the wood for the desks, but we’ve sourced a new supplier.”

“One that still meets our sustainability requirements?” I asked.

“Yep. All good on that front.”

“Perfect,” I said. “I talked to Javi last week, and he said we’re on track to have a couple of the new pieces set up in showrooms stateside. They should be ready before the show.” Saunders was preparing to present a few pieces from the new line at the High Point Market—the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world—in North Carolina at the end of the month. We were on a bit of a time crunch to have the pieces ready, but rushing now was better than waiting until the next trade show in April. And marketing wanted to build off the press for the launch before going overseas. “These are the latest designs I’m toying with,” I said, flipping through my slides. “What do we think?”

“I like that one,” Bonnie said as a bookshelf flashed across the screen.

Shay nodded. “Oh, me too!”

“What about…” Erik said, getting to his feet. He took the remote from me, flipping between two designs. “And just hear me out…We take the top of this shelf and combine it with the desk?”

“You’re still drunk from the weekend,” Bonnie said.

Erik laughed. “Yes. But maybe just enough for this to make sense.”

“Huh,” I said, watching as he flipped back and forth between the screens, the images blurring into one. I could totally see what he was getting at. “You know what? I kind of love it.”

Erik fist pumped. “Score.”

“Don’t encourage his hungover delusions,” Shay said.

“What can I say?” Erik smirked. “When you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”

I laughed as he strutted around the table, shaking my head at his antics. For the first time in forever, the ground finally felt stable under my feet. I loved my job, I was making good money, my living situation was stable, and I had what might be the start of something good with Trent. It might not be a safety net, but there was still a sense of security I’d been craving. Maybe it was okay to let go of the constant fear that everything was about to fall apart. This was a good place to be. A soft place to land. So maybe it was time to drop my guard and let myself enjoy it.

14

NATASHA

“Iswear it’s literally the most adorable thing I’ve ever made!” Stacy gushed as she led me through what I’d dubbed as the costume emporium.

“I’m sure it is.”

“I really hope she likes it because I want to make about ten more.”

“How many princess dresses does one girl need?”

Stacy whirled around, concerned. “Was that an actual question?”

“Umm…” I laughed. “No, of course not. What was I thinking?”

Stacy rolled her eyes before marching off. “Honestly, Natasha.”

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