by Louise Bay
“Deal,” he said, turning to kiss me.
“You’re wet,” I said. “And I need to leave.” He kissed me again and I headed toward the door, trying to bite back a smile. I knew it was only for a few weeks, but I’d never lived with a guy before if you didn’t count my father. I’d never even considered it.
Dexter, just like everything in London, was a whole new world.
“Move in this weekend,” he said. “And at some point, we’ll talk about what happens after the competition ends.”
I pretended not to hear him and headed out. Being with Dexter had me thinking about things in new ways, had me living a different life to the one I thought I was destined for. But the pull of home—of my sister—was a bond welded in hardship and struggle and wasn’t easily dismissed. Dexter was a dream come true, but at some point, I knew I would have to wake up and get back to the real world.
Twenty-One
Dexter
I prided myself on having laser focus at work, but today I was distracted. I had to approve the final bracelet for the competition, yet I was mulling over the brief conversation about my brother I’d had with Hollie this morning.
Hollie and Autumn were as close as two sisters could be. I wasn’t sure if it was because their parents didn’t seem capable of looking after themselves, let alone two children, that Hollie had taken on more of a mother role to Autumn. Maybe it was just Hollie’s intrinsically good nature. But listening to Hollie talk to her sister on the phone or talk about Autumn and how proud she was—I couldn’t help but think about David. Since he’d sold the business to Sparkle, I’d not only cut him out of my life but cut him out of my memories, out of my brain. I had done my best not to even think about him. But over the last few weeks, the unanswered questions I had for him were all clamoring for attention in my mind.
“Come in,” I called to the knock at the door.
Primrose came in together with Frank. I could tell by their expressions that the bracelet would be fine. If they’d not believed it to be perfect, they would be downcast and miserable. These two lived for their work just as I did. “You two look happy,” I said.
“Satisfied,” Primrose said. Frank just mumbled under his breath because Frank was never satisfied.
I sat back in my chair and Primrose set a black velvet tray in front of me that contained the fruits of all our labor. I took a breath in relief. The one thing I’d been worried about was the clasp on the bracelet, but I could see without touching it, it was perfect. I pulled out a pair of white gloves from my desk drawer and picked it up. “Very nice,” I said, seeing the changes we’d made to the setting of the diamonds. “It looks much cleaner.”
“I agree. This setting is the better option. But I thought we might put the original setting on the retail version.” If we won, we’d planned to do some limited-edition pieces inspired by the collection. We’d need to make them different but similar enough that people thought they were wearing something fit for a princess.
“Yes, that would work,” I said. “And we should bring in a different stone. Given that we’ve just gone with the diamonds and the Zambian emerald, we should steer away from that scheme and do sapphires and rubies with diamonds.” I checked over the bracelet—turning it in my hands, looking at it through my loupe—despite the fact I knew that Frank and Primrose wouldn’t have brought it to me unless it was perfect.
“I’m happy,” I announced.
Frank’s expression didn’t change. I swear if I told him he’d just won the lottery he would remain dour and serious. He was always focused on what wasn’t right and determined to make it better. That’s why I employed him.
“Good,” Primrose said. “Shall we go through our normal agenda?”
Frank stood and took the tray and bracelet from in front of me before leaving me with Primrose.
“I got your email,” she said as she closed the door.
“I can talk directly to the design consultants if that’s easier,” I said. I was surprised I hadn’t gotten a call from Primrose as soon as I’d sent her the email asking her to go and see a Knightsbridge property with some design consultants.
“No, I’m happy to go with Beck. From the brief, you want to know a rough outline of display space. To see if it’s financially viable . . . right?”
“Exactly,” I said, sitting back in my chair. I was waiting for the question Primrose would be dying to ask me.
“So come on, Dexter, why the sudden change of heart? Now you want to open in London? After all these years?”
“It’s time,” I said. I’d spent long enough trying to erase painful memories of my parents, and avoiding the city where they’d grown their business. “Being in this competition and seeing people my parents used to work with or compete against has been . . . Well, it’s not been as difficult as I expected.” I’d enjoyed hearing people’s stories about my parents. It was good to see familiar, if now older, faces.
“I’m so very glad to hear it,” Primrose said, shuffling forward in her seat. “You would make them so proud. Everything you’ve built—it’s quite extraordinary.”
“I did it for them,” I said.
Silence settled between us. Their death had been so raw at the beginning, the only thing I could do to survive was to push it away. But the edges had softened, and although I still missed them and wished I’d spent the last fifteen years being able to seek their advice and see their smiles, now I could just be grateful for what they’d given me.
“I want to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth,” I said. When Primrose and I first started working together, she’d made a number of attempts to try to talk to me about my brother. I’d been very clear if she ever brought him up to me again, not only could she no longer work for me, but I couldn’t have anything to do with her. I hadn’t wanted to hear any excuses about what he’d done. The actions he’d taken were unforgivable. Nothing could be said or done that could undo his betrayal, or even justify it. She’d agreed and from that day, had never mentioned him. From time to time I did wonder if she’d stayed in touch with him, whether they swapped Christmas cards or saw each other at all. “Are you in touch with my brother?”
She sat back in her chair as if I’d hit her.
My heart began to thud as I waited for her reply. I wasn’t sure what I wanted her to say. Did I want her to have stayed in touch with David? What did it mean if she had? Would I be pleased he still had a connection to our parents through Primrose?
Primrose’s gaze was in her lap. “Dexter, I don’t want this to be an issue between us.”
“It won’t be,” I snapped. Primrose could make her own decisions. “I never asked you not to see him. It’s none of my business. I just specified that you were never to speak to me about him. I was wondering whether you saw him—whether you see him still.”
She cleared her throat. “I do.”
I wanted her to elaborate but she stayed silent, no doubt honoring the request I’d made of her. It said something that Primrose had maintained a connection. I couldn’t help being curious as to what kept her in contact with David. “Okay,” I said, changing the subject. “I’m not in a rush to open in London, but if the Knightsbridge property works, we should be ready. Let’s work up what Daniels & Co would look like in London. Are you okay to liaise with the team?”
“Certainly,” she replied. “I’m really happy you’re—”
“It makes good business sense,” I said, shattering any kind of emotional lens she wanted to see this through.
“How are you and Hollie?” she asked. “She’s getting on very well in the role. She’s got a real eye—an instinct.”
I tried not to grin and agree too readily. “I’m pleased. No special treatment though. She’d hate that.” Hollie never expected anything she didn’t work for, and it was one of the things I liked most about her.
“No, she gets treated like an intern. But I like her. That’s all.”
“Good,” I said. “I like her too. In fact, sh
e’s going to be staying with me for the rest of her time in London.” We’d not talked too much about the future, but I couldn’t see a time when I didn’t want to be with Hollie. “It makes sense.”
“I think that’s wonderful, Dexter. You deserve someone worthy of you.”
It was an interesting phrase to use. “I surround myself with good people, Primrose. Same as you do.” I just wasn’t sure how her relationship with my brother fitted.
“I just wonder if historically, there’s been a gap,” she replied. “Things have shifted for you in recent months, Dexter. You’re thinking about opening in London. You’re facing things from your past and investing in your future.”
I’d opened the door to this conversation but it was getting drafty. I wanted to put my shoulder to the wood and press it closed.
“I’m pleased for you,” she continued. “You might want to consider whether it’s time to hear the whys of the past.” That was cryptic. “Good people don’t suddenly turn bad, Dexter, but sometimes they’re put in a position where they have to make a choice and every option is dreadful.” Without saying his name, she was talking about David, trying to make excuses for his betrayal. She stood, leaned across the table and pressed her hand over mine before heading out.
I wasn’t about to accept he was a good person, but lately I’d become more curious about the why.
Twenty-Two
Dexter
I’d thought Hollie was underestimating how much stuff she had. But she was true to her word when she said she had two suitcases.
“Can you put it in a guest room?” she asked me as I pulled the large suitcase into my hallway. She’d insisted on towing the smaller one.
“You’re not going to put things in the master bedroom?” I asked.
“Yeah, I just don’t want to mess it up in there. You’re always so . . . neat with everything.”
I’d left her a gift in the second bedroom, so I supposed now was as good a time as any to give it to her. “If you say so.”
“You know that girls fart, right?”
She’d been hitting me with all these stupid bits of information since we woke up. “Will you stop trying to sabotage you moving in?” I said as I set her suitcase in the walk-in wardrobe.
“Why do you need all these bedrooms, anyway?” she asked. “Oh,” she said, looking at the rails where I set out her gifts, still wrapped in garment bags. “Do you want me to put my things somewhere else?”
“Yes, I want your things in the master bedroom,” I said. “But you insisted on me bringing the suitcases in here.”
“To unpack and put things I don’t use so much. Am I still okay in here or shall I use another closet?” she asked, nodding at the rail that had been empty.
“You’re okay. And these,” I said, running my hand along the four hangers, “are for you. Well, for you to pick between. Moving-in gift.”
You’d have thought I’d told her it was time to pull her fingernails from her hands, given the expression on her face. “For me? Dexter? You’ve got to stop doing that.”
“No, I really don’t.” I found I quite enjoyed treating her. Although I had hoped the gesture would elicit a smile rather than the grimace I was actually faced with.
She rose from the floor, abandoning her suitcase, and moved toward the rail. “What are they?”
“Dresses. For the final ceremony of the competition. I picked out four so you can choose one. Or if you want to keep all four, that works.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, hoping she wasn’t going to be pissed off.
“You bought me dresses?” she asked, glancing between me and the rail. “Dexter,” she whispered, then stepped toward me and slid her hand around my waist. “You really shouldn’t have. It’s too sweet.”
“You’ve not seen them yet. You might hate them.”
She squeezed me tighter. “Impossible. I know your taste. And anyway, I don’t even care. I just can’t believe you would do that for me.”
“You deserve it.”
The sound of her deep breath filled the space between us. “I don’t think—”
“Let me do this, Hollie. I enjoy it. I like seeing you happy.”
“I don’t need gifts to make me happy,” she said. “You’ve already done so much for me.”
“I keep saying this—it’s a two-way street. You make me happy and I want to do the same for you.”
She reached up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my neck. “I actually have a little something for you.”
“Hollie, I don’t need—”
“Hey,” she replied. “You don’t get to give me stuff and then complain when I do the same. This is a two-way street, remember?” She grinned at me as if she had me bang to rights.
She dived into her suitcase and pulled out an envelope. “I haven’t had time to wrap it. I had Autumn send it because it was something I was experimenting with back in Oregon.” She produced a woven, brown leather bracelet with a silver clasp.
“Wow, that’s beautiful,” I said, examining the silver.
“It’s meant to be like the trunk of a tree or a log or something. Like I said, it was a bit of an experiment.”
I didn’t wear jewelry. Ever. I always thought there was something very wrong with men who ran out of ways to spend their money so decided that jewelry was the way to show off. But this I’d make an exception for. It was gorgeous, and there was nothing Hollie could give me that I wouldn’t wear. I loved that her hands had crafted this, and she wanted me to have it.
She opened it and put it around my wrist. “You don’t have to wear it, of course. But it’s yours anyway. The clasp reminded me of you. You know—solid. Steadfast.”
I caught her by the waist and pulled her against me. “Thank you.”
She shrugged. “Less about you, let’s move on to my gift!” She grinned and pulled out of my arms. “No one’s bought me clothes since I was about twelve.”
I didn’t like to pry into Hollie’s upbringing, but it clearly wasn’t a privileged one. She seemed to have raised herself and her sister. I loved to treat her.
“If you don’t like any of them, we can send them back and start again. I didn’t think you’d picked a dress for the finals yet.”
“This is crazy,” she said, moving the hangers on the rail.
“You know you have to unzip the bags to see what’s inside, right?”
She glanced at me, then started to undo the first bag.
There were lots of Oh wows, This is gorgeous-es and Jiminy Crickets as she unpacked and examined all four dresses.
“Which is your favorite?” she asked. They all seemed nice to me, and Hollie would make anything look gorgeous.
“I like them all. You could video call your sister and ask her opinion.”
She held the navy-blue sequined dress against her body and swung her hips. “I don’t think so.”
“She doesn’t have good taste?” She and her sister shared everything. I would have thought that trying on clothes would be a classic sister bonding activity.
“I don’t want to make her feel bad.”
“Feel bad? Why would she feel bad because you have something nice?”
She hung the dress back on the hanger and took down the black halter-neck Tom Ford. “She’d be completely happy for me. But the Sunshine Trailer Park is a long way away from your Knightsbridge apartment. And I would hate it if she felt a little sorry for herself when we got off the phone. This is . . . a lot.” She swept her hand around, so I wasn’t sure if she meant the gift was a lot or my apartment or London . . . or our relationship.
“Too much?”
She shook her head and slid her hands around my waist. “Of course not. You’re amazing. I’m bursting at the seams to show her these dresses and your apartment, where I’m actually staying. My life is like some kind of fairytale at the moment. But hers isn’t, and she doesn’t need to be reminded of that.”
Hollie was such a beautiful human being that she was prepared to put a lid on her
own happiness just in case it created a shadow over her sister. “You’re a good sister.”
“It’s my job,” she said.
I wish David had felt that way. I’d found him with just a Google search, still working back office at a bank. I didn’t know if he was married or if he had children. Maybe if he had, he’d regret what he’d done to me. Maybe he understood the value of family now.
“But you know I’ve made plenty of wrong decisions in my time,” she said. “When I first got the trailer and moved out of my parents’ place, I left Autumn with Mom and Dad.” She shook her head and a curtain of shame fell across her face.
“You were fifteen and your sister was eleven. You were a kid, even if you were old enough to forge your parents’ signature on a lease, from what you’ve told me. There’s nothing to feel bad about.”
“I know. I try to make up for it. And Autumn didn’t hold it against me, which I’m grateful for.”
“Have you ever fallen out?” I asked. Their situation wasn’t enviable, but their relationship certainly was.
“Yeah. We argue a lot when we’re living together.” She took the red Valentino dress off the rack—it had a big, floaty skirt and she twirled around, the fabric lifting as she turned. “I mean, there’s not much space and she’s so messy she drives me crazy. But our differences have only almost broken us once.” She turned away from me and put the dress back on the rail. “I told her I wasn’t going to pay tuition for her if she went to some community college in Idaho.” Her shoulders lifted and her head bowed. “She hated me. But I knew she’d picked the place because her boyfriend was going there. And she had an offer from Oregon State, which is a really good school. And she could still live at home and commute, which would save so much money.”
I nodded, trying to be encouraging. She was clearly just trying to do the best for her sister. “I’m sure she gets it now.”
“I hope. She still brings it up every now and then.” Her voice rose an octave as she said, “It was hard because my parents took her side. I wanted to cave in so many times but I knew that guy would end up dumping her and she’d end up dropping out and she’d have lost her place at Oregon State . . . but I couldn’t say that to her.” She pulled the next dress from the rail. “That red one was really pretty,” she said, sounding like her dog had just been run over.