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I pick up my phone to call her when the intercom buzzes from downstairs. Christopher and Marilyn are gone. Annika’s upstairs, and I’m not expecting anyone.
I walk to the intercom on the wall next to the elevator and push the button. “Yes?”
A pause. Then, “You… You’re supposed to be in New York.”
Skye. Skye’s voice.
Skye is here.
“Skye? What are you doing here?”
“I dropped off some treats for Sasha, and I think I lost an earring. I just wanted to come up and look for it.”
She’s not that good a liar. I smile, shaking my head. She came back for some reason, though, and it’s not to see me because she knows I’m out of town. Except now I’m back.
Curiosity wins me over.
“All r
ight. I’ll send the elevator down.” I push the button.
A few minutes later, the elevator doors open. I stand in the entryway. Skye’s hair is tumbling out of its ponytail, as if she ran over here. For some reason, it makes her look all the more delectable.
“Good evening, Skye.”
“Hi.” Her voice cracks.
“Thank you for the treats for Sasha. I just saw the basket in the kitchen.”
“You’re welcome. I got it free at a shoot, and of course I have no use for it.”
So that’s how she got it. She wasn’t so presumptuous as to go out and purchase a gift basket for my dog. It fell into her lap. I’m both relieved and disappointed.
“Nice of you to think of her,” I say.
“Why are you home so soon?”
“I was able to complete the business early.”
“In one day?”
“Does that seem implausible to you?”
It should. It’s damned implausible to me, and it’s also untrue. I didn’t complete the business. I delegated it.
She doesn’t reply right away. She twiddles her fingers together and darts her gaze around the room a few times.
She’s nervous.
“Braden”—she clears her throat—“I didn’t lose an earring.”
“Oh?” No surprise there. I can’t resist a tiny smile. “Why are you here, then?”
“Because I…” She draws in a deep breath and holds it a few seconds.
“Spit it out, Skye.”
A moment passes in silence before she pulls a crumpled envelope out of her purse then thrusts it at me. “To return this.”
