Page 48 of Love Redesigned
“So you don’t have any plans to lure him back to New York with your weird girl magic?” Isaac said.
Alex chuckled. Possibly just at Isaac. But it also felt like maybe he was laughing at the idea of me luring him anywhere.
“Even if I did,” I said, “I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t work.”
Alex shot me a sideways glance, but he didn’t disagree.
“Oh.” Isaac reached for a bag of chips sitting on the counter and ripped it open. For how ancient the outside of the house looked—all historically appropriate and such—the inside was full of modern, clean lines. The kitchen was light and open, the appliances new, the countertops a shiny white marbled granite. It took me a minute to figure out what felt off about the room, but then it clicked. It was clean.Reallyclean. For a house full of bachelors, that didn’t seem right. “So whyareyou here then?” Isaac asked.
My eyes darted to Alex. “It’s kind of a long story.”
Apparently, it was all the hint Alex needed. “I’ll, uh, sorry. I’ll be in the next room.” I watched as he disappeared through the kitchen doorway.
As soon as he was gone, I glared at my brother. “Seriously? What was all that? Weird girl magic?” I crossed the kitchen and reached for the bag of chips. I was going on a bagel, after all. The second he’d opened the bag, the smell of the salt and oil had made my mouth water and my stomach rumble. Isaac pulled it out of my reach before I could get any.
“What else was I supposed to think?” he said. “You haven’t been home since before Mom and Dad left.”
“That’s not...” Okay, so it was true. But traveling was expensive—today had proved that, if nothing else—and our parents had been out of the country themselves for nearly a year. It’s not as if I’d been intentionally missing cozy Christmas dinners and Thanksgiving meals where everyone sat around and lamented my absence. There hadn’t been much to come home to. “Fine. But still. What was with all that stuff about Alex? Can you please share the chips? I’m starving.”
He rolled his eyes, then dropped them on the counter, nudging them my direction. He shrugged. “I thought with all your history and crap, you were...I don’t know. He’s been preoccupied lately. And he’s asked about you a billion times. I thought maybe you were getting back together.”
He’d asked about me? Why had he asked about me? “I haven’t talked to him since you were both in New York,” I said, my tone flat. “And I thought you said he was dating someone.”
Isaac raised his eyebrows but bless him, he seemed to know better than to ask why I sounded so disappointed. He waved away my question. “He went out with Jasmine Cooper. You remember her? But only once. It was nothing. You still need money for the cab?”
I shook my head. “Alex paid for it.”
“Sweet. So why are you broke?”
I took a deep breath, buying time with a handful of chips. Deliciously incredible, best-I’d-ever-eaten chips. “That’s a funny story.”
I expected sarcasm. Some sort of slanderous rebuke about my wannabe socialite lifestyle, or my pandering for attention from New York City’s fashion gatekeepers. Instead, he just stood there, a concerned look on his face. “Let’s hear it.”
I crossed the kitchen to where a roll of paper towels sat in the corner and ripped one off. I wiped the chip grease off my fingers then folded the square into thirds, creasing it over and over without looking up. I had to tell him. Ineededto tell him. I couldn’t exactly ask for help if he didn’t know what was going on.
I swallowed and finally looked up, meeting his gaze. “I lost my job.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s a long story, and not one I feel like telling right now, but I basically lost everything I’ve been working toward for the past four years. My dream job, my dream apartment. It’s all gone. And I’m pretty sure there’s nothing I can do to get it back.”
“Wow,” Isaac said. “Do Mom and Dad know?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. And I don’t want to tell them. Not until I’ve figured out what’s next. I don’t want them to feel like they have to come home and help me.”
“I’m sorry, Dani. That really sucks.”
The sincerity in his voice—and the fact that he’d called me Dani instead of Dandi—almost made me want to cry. Momentum had been carrying me forward the past few days, but so many emotions were close to the surface. Sympathy from my brother showed me just how fragile I really was.
He walked over and put his hands on my shoulders. “Maybe it’s a good thing. A chance to start out on your own. You’re finally free, you know?”
“But that’s just it. I don’twantto be free. I wanted to design for LeFranc and now I never will. I’m not ready to celebrate.”
His jaw tightened. “Whatever. You’re so much better than LeFranc.”
“Please don’t lecture me right now, okay? I need a place to stay.”
He froze. “Oh. So you want to stay here?”
