He quickly shook his head. “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
I took a giant step back. “Then who did?”
He shrugged, almost dismissively. “Maybe you should look around a little more.”
I ran back to the studio and climbed the stairs two at a time, looking again at the furniture. It was all new, stuff I’d never seen. But there, on the top of the dresser, was a stack of books I’d somehow missed before. I crossed the room and ran my hand across the spines. They were mine. Books from my old bedroom, probably boxed up and stored in the garage before Mom and Dad had left for Europe.
“Do you like it?”
I spun around.
Isaac stood sheepishly in the doorway.
“You did this for me?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess, when I saw how much time you were spending up here, I just figured . . .” His words bled into each other, tumbling out one after the other. “I realize the guys are probably hard to be around all the time and you’ve been a good sport about it and the food has been really good the past few weeks and I guess, just, I wanted to say thank you. It’s actually been nice having you around.”
Tears welled up. It was the nicest thing Isaac had ever done for me. And the nicest thing he’d ever said to me. What had gotten into him? I crossed the room and hugged him tightly.
“Thank you,” I said, with a sniff. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“I wasn’t sure if you had furniture and stuff in New York; at first I thought I could bring it all down, but then I called Paige and she said your place up there had been furnished and so there wasn’t much to move, so I figured I’d buy new stuff.” He pressed the heel of his hand into his eye. I recognized the gesture from when we were kids. He was nervous. “I’m not much of a designer, but the lady at the furniture store said she thought this would work for a girl. Oh, and sorry about Steven,” he added at the end. “I hope he didn’t pester you too much.”
“Wait, you told Steven to go running with me? He tried to ask me out!”
Isaac’s face fell. “He did? I told him to keep you out of the house for a while, not to hit on you! You didn’t say yes, did you? Please tell me you didn’t say yes.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I didn’t. But why would it matter if I did? Am I not good enough for your co-star?”
Isaac balked. “What? No! Dani, he’s not good enough for you.”
“He has a master’s degree in British literature,” I said, my voice all smug-like.
“Yeah, and he uses that master’s degree to bait all kinds of women he brings back to the house in excessive numbers. He’s nice on the surface, and he’s great on camera, but the dude’s a total player.”
Oh. Well then.
It kinda made me happy to hear Isaac being all big-brother-like and protective.
We stood there a moment longer until I reached up and gave him another hug. “Thank you for the bedroom,” I said. “It’s perfect.”
He took my hand and led me to the bed where he sat, his hands propped up on his knees. He took a deep breath. “I can tell you’ve been sad, Dani.”
I sat beside him, wondering where this was going. This version of Isaac was foreign territory.
“I don’t know everything that happened in New York,” he continued, “and I won’t pretend to understand fashion or how important it is to you. But if a place is toxic?” He shrugged. “It’s a good thing to move on. I know it stinks that moving on meant coming here, having to live with—” He made a sweeping motion with his hands to the studio below us and out toward the main house. “But you’re going to be okay.” He looked at me, right in the eyes. “You’ll get through it. And if I’ve learned anything about Alex in the year we’ve been working together? It’s that you can totally trust that guy. He’s honest to his very core, Dani. If something were to happen between the two of you? I wouldn’t be telling you you’re too good for him.”
“So, what, he’s too good for me?” I said, a grin on my lips.
“Absolutely,” Isaac said. “But he’s got all kinds of money. If he’s willing to support your fabric habit, I think you ought to grab on and not let go.”
I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the gut. “I can support my own fabric habit, thank you very much.”
“Right. Which is why you’re living here. Because you’re rolling in all kinds of cash to blow on fabric.”
I scooted back on the bed and grabbed a throw pillow, pulling it onto my lap. “Don’t remind me.”
“Why don’t you try designing on your own, Dani? You know you’re good enough.”
“I don’t know that,” I said. “I’ve never sold anything. I love you for saying so, but it’s nearly impossible to break into the fashion industry alone.”
“It’s definitely impossible if you don’t try.”
“I did try. I went to New York—”
“You went to New York because you wanted to work for LeFranc,” Isaac said, cutting me off. “That’s different. You’ve never tried designing on your own.”
I shook my head, my fingers playing with the edging on the pillow in my lap. “It’s more complicated than that.”
Isaac stood. “Nah. It isn’t. You just have to go for it.”
He was at the door before I finally spoke. “Like you?”
He turned back, his hand resting on the door jamb. “I knew what I wanted, Dani. And I knew I wouldn’t find it getting a normal education, working for some cookie-cutter company somewhere.”
My phone buzzed from where I’d dropped it on the dresser, pulling my attention away from Isaac. He crossed the room and grabbed it, tossing it to me before heading back toward the door.
I glanced at the screen long enough to see a text from Chase. His message was brief—he’d only reached out to check on me—so I turned off the screen and dropped the phone face down on my bed. I looked at my brother one more time. “Isaac, thank you. I don’t think I’ve been very fair to you.”
“Well, no,” he said with a grin. “But I don’t always make it easy, do I?”
Late that night, well after midnight, nestled into the covers of my very own beautiful bed, I called Mom. I’d eventually texted, letting her know I’d moved back to Charleston and was staying with Isaac, but I’d spared her all the gory details of what had happened at LeFranc and with Paige’s dress. Now that I’d been home long enough to feel settled, she more than deserved an update.
I caught her in the middle of her early morning walk along the banks of the Rhone in some remote French village. “It’s perfect, Dani. You’d love it here. It’s our favorite place by far.”
I half-wondered if my parents would ever return home. They’d saved long and well for their retirement, but they’d only planned on a year abroad. I wouldn’t be surprised if a year turned into two, or more. It might take grandchildren to actually get them back in the states. After a few more minutes of chit-chat, I launched into an explanation of everything I’d been through. I spared no detail as I talked through Sasha’s betrayal, and Paige’s dress, and Alex, and my sudden move back home, finally ending with Isaac and his totally unexpected room renovation.