Page 81 of Mr. Dangerous

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Naomi

"What about this one?"Alice asked that afternoon, as she turned Rob's borrowed iPad around to show me a dress. A dress, of all things, atthistime.

The two of us sat on the sofa in the den together, feet curled up beneath us. I was depositing checks electronically and balancing our books. I had thought Alice was studying for school. But apparently, no, she was studyingNordstrom.

“It's pretty, butreally?Now?"

"If you're not going to cancelthegala..."

"I'm not going to cancel the gala. Even overprotective Robagrees."

"It's sweet, I guess."Alicesaid.

"Don't," Iwarned.

"Don't what? Don't acknowledge that the boy likes you?" Alice's lips turned up mischievously. "Or that Rob’s grandmother said to me, you might want to avoid the studyuntilit’s—”

I shushed her. Shaking my head, I said, "Shopping feels so frivolous when Rob's family is havingtrouble."

"Well, maybe it's not frivolous to Rob, because it's importanttoyou."

"Ha." I had more that I wanted to say to my sister, but I couldn't figure out how to put it into words. I didn't want anyone pushing me along in my relationship with Rob when he was so obviously desperate to put the brakes on it. But if I told Alice that, the wild sex we'd had in the study wouldseemweak.

I was definitely weak where Rob wasconcerned.

My phone, perched on the chair arm next to the stack of endorsed checks, began to warble. Saved by the bell. I checked the number—one of our clients— and answered. "Lightspeed Cleaning, Naomi speaking. How many Ihelpyou?"

"Hi, Naomi." The voice on the other end sounded high and apologetic. "I'm calling aboutrescheduling."

"Oh, okay." The Baxters had standing weekly appointments on Mondays and Thursdays. "Is this a permanent change or justthisweek?"

"It's permanent, Iguess."

"When do you want to change to?" I sounded cheerful, but reshuffling the calendar was a pain. Except that I had three workers now who didn't have anythingtodo.

"I... don't know. I'll call you backwiththat."

"Okay," I said. I was never getting a call back from the Baxters. "Is there something wrong? Something I can helpyouwith?"

"No, Naomi, your service has been great. Oh, I have to go -- have a good day! I'll callyousoon!"

"You too," I said. I set the phone back down, staring through the doors at the rustling willow trees outfront.

Alice nudged me with her foot. "What'sup?"

"We lost anotherclient."

"Bigone?"

"Not commercial, but twice a weekresidential."

"Okay. That's too bad, but why are you looking allmeanmug?"

I pulled a face. Alice said, "I'm your sister. If anyone is an expert on your mean mug, I am. You think this is something more than a family that can no longer afford to have someone else fold theirlaundry..."

"It seems like it strains coincidence." The phone rang again. I looked at the caller ID and gave my sister a meaningful look. My anxiety felt like a stone in my belly as Ipickedup.

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