Page 5 of Brooke
11:45 pm Sleep
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Okay, so today wasn’t her craziest day, filled with back-to-back appointments. She’d purposefully scheduled her meetings online because none of them knew when Axel Erikson would show up. Part of his process was to drop in, unannounced, and see the house as it was—not as it had been prepared to be. They knew he’d be here this week, but not when.
Brilliant, she thought, even though the constant waiting was driving her crazy. And sure, she’d tried to prepare anyway, because not trying wasn’t part of her makeup. She’d also arranged to be at home all week. No lunches or coffees or in-person meetings during the day. Thank God she worked at home and could manage her own schedule.
Her other roommates were sticking close to the house as well, per her request, since they needed to be involved in the process if the design was to reflect everyone. But that wasn’t hard for most of them. Thea mostly worked on her recipes at their house since she was still waiting to take possession of her new bakery after the renovations were finished, hopefully in early December. Madison cooked at the house in the mornings and evenings, saying she couldn’t get a thing done at the new restaurant with the reopening training underway in the afternoon. Dean and Kyle worked at home. And Sawyer painted in hisatelierupstairs.
She was the only person going a little crazy because of the need for flexibility.
Of course that wasn’t the only reason her insides were in knots. She had to be at the top of her game to help Axel decorate their house. Axel had already secured an eight-pagespread in Paris’ famous decorating magazine,Maison Style,that would feature their project. Like her father had told her,Princess, you’re in the big time now.
The feature had to be perfect. Absolutely perfect. Because the media exposure would help put her on the map in interior design circles, her original goal before going into fashion, something that had happened so easily she’d taken it as a sign and run with it.
Because she did love fashion too…although she was super tired of the cattiness.
Now she had years of honed expertise and connections in both areas, because fashion and interior design had never been more intertwined as they were now due to social media and digital content. Fashion trends started interior design trends, and she’d been the go-to writer about that crossover. She couldn’t be better poised to make the leap.
Her old dream was back in reach, and working well with Axel was the key. He had never collaborated with anyone before, but he’d agreed to the arrangement because he wanted to expand into fashion and create an interior design line for retail. He would teach her, and she would teach him. They could help each other go from grasshopper to master.
Ever since the arrangement had been made, Brooke had filled her day planner with meetings with fashion designers who had expanded into design as well as copious hours of research into everything from comparable companies to budget line items. She even had an article inTRENDSplanned for next month about it. Win-win.
The press would also help the roommates’ new hospitality company, PRG, as they were coming to be known around town. Their motto was play hard, work harder, it seemed, from all of their ambitious projects in the pipeline. Reopening Nanine’s restaurant in four weeks and starting two new businesses, Thea’s bakery and Dean’s brainchild with his fiancée, Jacqueline. All in the next four months.
She eyed her dear friend and business partner as he continued the slowest bird bath in history. Dean was brilliant, no doubt about that, but on days like today, she questioned whether he could tie his own shoes. Thank God she could rely on Jacqueline to keep him on track.
She glared at him for good measure when Pierre splashed around again under the water’s spray, trying to escape. Thea curled forward, a human shield for the rising bread loves.
“Could you hurry up?” Brooke said with a sigh. “I have things to do.”
Dean only batted his dripping eyelashes playfully. “Don’t pull the busy routine, Brooke. You love busy like I love Thea’s bread. Would you please, please, please hold Pierre still? He still has some dirt caked into his feathers from our visit to the park.”
Pierre’s wing sent an arc of water Dean’s way. His jaw went slack in shock as water dripped down the sides of his thick sandy hair. He sent her a pointed look when she sputtered out a laugh.
“I’m doing my best, Dean.” She gave one of her famous dragon breaths for emphasis. “I wouldn’t say he’s as hard to hold as a greased pig since I’ve never tried to catch one, but heiswiry.” She winced as another splash of water hit her this time. “Pierre,s'il te plaît!”
“Je le deteste!”he replied with another squawk.
“Buddy, baths are supposed to be good for you.” Dean wiped water from his broad forehead as Brooke did her best to gently restrain the parrot from flapping his wings. “You know you want to look your best for the interview. Being The Paris Roommates’ Group mascot and all.”
“This is the last time we’re giving him a bath,” Brooke declared, gritting her teeth. “I will bribe a pet grooming store if I have to.” She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it before.
“Leave it to you to contract out a bath,” Dean said with a laugh. “You plan to do that with your kids?”
Her muscles tensed. Kids? It had been six months, and she’d barely recovered from her breakup with the guy she’d thought was her one and only. The sting of him cheating with a nineteen-year-old model still needled her, making her wonder if any man was worth a long-term investment. She’d given him two years of her life—an eternity to her mind.
“I remember you paying the waiters from the café down the street to take your suitcases up the stairs when we came back to Paris three months ago,” Dean mused with a laugh, not realizing he’d triggered her with his kids comment.
“Because you faked a bad back.” There was always an easier way to do things. Clearly Dean had not gotten the memo this morning.
“You had eight suitcases!” he finally confessed, all but admitting to the ruse.
