Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Hollie
It had been a tough week and I was looking forward to the weekend, but I’d never thought I could enjoy a job before working at Daniels & Co. I pushed through the doors to Dexter’s apartment building to find him pacing in front of the concierge desk in the lobby.
“Hey,” I said. “What are you doing home and what are you doing down here?” He normally didn’t get back until around eight.
He beamed at me and raced over, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the elevators. “It’s your birthday tomorrow,” he said.
“Did I tell you that?” I asked. I was sure I hadn’t mentioned it. The last thing I needed was to give Dexter an excuse to buy more expensive gifts.
“Sort of. You told me it was in a few weeks and I did some detective work.”
The doors to the elevator slid open and Dexter ushered me inside.
“Are we in a hurry?” I asked, and he grinned as wide as the ocean.
“So, I’ve been wondering what I could get you for your birthday. I realize you’re not a Chanel bag kind of girl.”
“More a pint of Rocky Road and Netflix.”
He leaned and placed a kiss on my lips. It started off as a peck before he slid his tongue between my lips and I slipped my hands up his chest. He groaned and pulled away.
Something must be wrong. Usually, I’d be half undressed by the time the elevator reached the penthouse.
“We were talking about your birthday. I’ve arranged an early gift. I hope you like it,” he said as we stepped out of the lift.
Oh gosh. I hoped he hadn’t bought me anything too extravagant.
I really would have liked to just spend the day in bed, watching movies with Autumn on FaceTime.
It was our long-standing birthday tradition, and while I was in no way sad to spend my birthday with Dexter, a part of me felt a pang of longing for my sister.
“I’m sure whatever it is, it will be lovely,” I said.
When we got to his front door, instead of pulling out his key, he stood behind me and moved me onto the mat, so I was facing the door. Then he knocked. On his own front door.
“What are you doing?” I asked, turning my head.
He pointed ahead of me as I heard rustling at the door. Who was in there?
The door flew open and Autumn was standing opposite me. Before I had a chance to react, she leapt into my arms, circling her arms and legs around me like she used to when she was a toddler. “I’ve missed you so much.”
She slid down my body as I started to cry. I couldn’t believe she was here. I turned to Dexter to see him grinning at the pair of us.
“Dexter,” I said, standing up on tiptoes and reaching up for a kiss. “I can’t believe—how did you—”
“I can explain the logistics later. Let’s get inside.”
“It gets better,” Autumn said, linking her arm into mine as we clattered into the hallway.
How was she here? How did Dexter know that Autumn being here was the only thing I really wanted for my birthday? How was it possible that I was in London with my two favorite people in the world?
“I’m in here,” Autumn said, pointing to one of the guest bedrooms.
“But I’ve set up a little something in here,” Dexter said, showing us into another of the guest bedrooms.
I gasped as we went in. The ceiling was covered in balloons of every color, and there was a huge Happy Birthday banner stretched across one wall.
“I know it’s not until tomorrow but I thought you might want to get a head start. Seeing as Autumn is here.”
Why had he set this up in the guest bedroom? I squinted at a weird-looking piece of new furniture in the corner. “Is that a fridge?”
“Holy shit, you’re going to love this,” Autumn said. She sprang across the room and opened the door, revealing a hundred tubs of ice cream.
“I got a few flavors,” Dexter said, nodding to the window. “And the TV is set up. You can watch Netflix, the Housewives. Anything you want.”
There hadn’t been a TV in here before. He must have set this up especially. “Are you serious?” I said, sliding my arm around Dexter’s waist. “This is insane.”
“I thought this was what you’d want to do on your birthday? Stay in bed all day, eat ice cream and watch TV with your sister.”
Dexter’s thoughtfulness was off the scale. It would have been easy, and very generous for him to buy me a Chanel bag. But this? This was a thousand times better.
“Oh,” he said, pulling away from me and putting his head into the walk-in closet.
“There are matching pajamas, slippers and robes in the wardrobe,” he said.
“If you get sick of ice cream, we can order in tonight. Tomorrow, I’ve arranged a chef for the day to make you anything you want.
I figured you wouldn’t want to go out if Autumn was here. ”
The last thing I wanted to do was go to a fancy restaurant. But having the fancy restaurant come to me? Who was I to complain?
“You are a very special man, Dexter Daniels,” I said, grabbing his hand and kissing him.
“I’m going to leave you two to it. Gabriel’s going to stop by any minute on his way to a charity thing. He needs to borrow a bowtie.”
“Is he single and as handsome as you?” Autumn asked.
“He’s red hot,” Dexter said with a wink.
I turned to her as Dexter left us in the guest room. “I can’t believe you’re here. When did you get in?”
“Around lunchtime. Dexter arranged everything, Hollie. That man is gold, let me tell you.”
We headed into the closet and found matching silk pajamas, gorgeous robes and the most beautiful fluffy slippers.
“How did he even know how to get in contact with you?” I asked, kicking off my shoes and trying on the slippers. Of course they fit perfectly.
“He emailed me. Got my address from HR. You put me down as your emergency contact.”
“Sneaky,” I said, as I began to undress. I couldn’t wait to change into my jammies and catch up with Autumn face-to-face.
“But amazing.”
That was a good way to describe Dexter Daniels—amazing.
“How’s school?” I asked, slipping the pajamas on. Autumn was an adult, but part of me was a little concerned that once I’d taken off, she’d stop studying quite so hard or she’d get distracted by some worthless guy. Or even more likely, she’d end up spending her time sorting out Mom and Dad.
“Are these silk?” she asked. “Oh, and I made the Dean’s list this semester.”
I scrambled to grab her in a hug and ended up half falling over, tangled in lengths of silk. “Are you serious? That’s completely amazing.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty happy about it,” she replied.
“When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?” Now properly pajamaed, I held her at arm’s length as if I were inspecting her to see if she looked more intelligent since the last time I’d seen her.
“Because I wanted to tell you in person. I’ve nearly let the cat out of the bag a thousand times. It’s been hard to keep it from you.”
“I’m just so happy for you. Sounds like you’ve been studying extra hard this semester.
I was obviously a distraction.” I was so proud of her.
Dexter was right—she was a grown woman. Perhaps she didn’t need as much taking care of as I thought.
And that was great, obviously, but also . . . unbalancing.
“I didn’t want you to feel any more guilty about leaving than you already did.
” She crouched on the floor and slid on a pair of slippers.
“What can I say? Seeing you chase after what you wanted made me want to do the same. I haven’t found what I’m passionate about yet, but I will, and when I do, I want to be in the best shape,” she said.
She couldn’t have said anything that would have made me any happier.
The fact I could be some kind of role model for my sister was all I could ever want.
“And honestly, Mom still has that job at Trader Bob’s, which means they’ve had money and they haven’t been bothering me. ”
I couldn’t remember the last time my mom held down a job for three months. “I can’t believe she’s still there. What happened?” We pulled the robes off their hangers and headed back into the bedroom.
Autumn shook her head. “I don’t know. I think Jenny working there helps because she has someone she can ask if she doesn’t know what to do, rather than just quitting like she normally would. A group of them from the store went out for breakfast last weekend.”
I couldn’t ever remember a time when my mom had money for waffles. “She’s holding down a job, has money in her pocket and is socializing? What is happening to the world?” Both my sister and my mom were doing better than they ever had since I’d left.
“I know. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Honestly, I thought she was lying to me when she told me she was still working. But I was in there the other day to pick up some groceries and saw it for myself. She was showing a customer where the almonds were.”
No one could think this was anything but good news, but there was a drag at the pit of my stomach that made me feel uneasy.
“And she hasn’t been talking back to her boss or missing shifts because she can’t work the alarm on her phone?
” I collapsed on the bed while Autumn went to inspect the ice cream fridge.
“Apparently she loves her boss. Honestly, I was over at their place earlier in the week and she made lasagna for dinner.”
“She did not,” I said. “She can barely boil water.” What was happening? I’d half expected to go back to Oregon to find both my parents in prison.
“I know. She said Jenny showed her what to do.”
All the years I’d cooked for the four of us.
Even when we moved out, twice a week, I’d take food around for my parents.
“I can’t believe it,” I said. “It would have been nice if she could have made a lasagna once in a while when we were kids.” Of course I wanted her to be more capable, more focused, but I hadn’t expected it actually to happen.
Especially not when I was five thousand miles away.
“How’s dad?” I asked. “I bet he thinks aliens have invaded.”