Chapter Two

Ella

“I can’t believe that you volunteered me without even asking me first.”

I finished scrubbing the last of the breakfast dishes and rinsed it, tucking it away in the drainer positioned beside the sink. Resting forward on my hands for a moment, I watched as the soap bubbles and water swirled down the drain. The sink would look fresh and perfectly clean, giving a sense of order to the house, for all of about an hour before it started filling again with dishes from snacks, lunch, more snacks, and supper. I did my best to keep them in submission, and these moments of soapy perfection were among my favorite in the day.

“I didn’t volunteer you,” Molly said from where she sat at the kitchen table sipping coffee from the first of the new wave of dishes that would fill the sink. “I told them that you were my partner.”

“Your partner in a company that doesn’t exist.”

“It does exist!” she protested.

“Having one rich old man hire you to do his bidding doesn’t make you into a professional assistant, and making sure that one afternoon tea with his mother went through without her judging the china doesn’t make you an event coordinator.”

“Thank you for your words of support and love.”

I turned toward her and took the now-empty mug from her hand, deciding I would wash it before she had a chance to add it to the sink.

“I’m sorry. I love and support you and am very happy for you that you have fulfilled your life’s dream of being a professional assistant and event coordinator even though two weeks ago your life’s dream was to join the rodeo circuit.”

“I’m still holding out on that one.”

“I’m sure you are.”

“Look, Ella,” she said imploringly, joining me at the counter. “I’m sorry I’m kind of blindsiding you with this, but I didn’t really have a choice. He asked me if I had someone else to help me because he wanted to recommend me to his friend for an event that he’s hosting, and I didn’t even think. I just said yes.”

“That’s the problem. You didn’t think.”

“What would you have wanted me to do? Say no? Admit that I’m flying by the seat of my pants as it is and let him just find someone else? It’s not like either of us can really turn up our noses at the money.”

I sighed. I didn’t really know how to answer that. The truth was, I couldn’t even begin to think about turning up my nose at any money. The savings I’d had when I lost my job a few months before had been meager as it was, but even living with Molly to cut down on expenses hadn’t been enough to keep it from dwindling away to near-nothingness. Soon I was going to be without any money and while there was a time in my life when that wouldn’t have bothered me so much and I would have known that I would have found a way to pull through. But then again Branden would have been by my side. He had died before he even got to see Edmond born. Now I was alone, and I wasn’t just worried about myself. I was thinking about my son and he deserved more than the struggles that I had been putting him through since his father died.

“So, what is it that you’ve signed me up to do as your apparent partner?”

Molly’s face brightened a little as she saw my resistance starting to fade.

“Mason Dupree is hosting a party tonight.”

“Mason Dupree?” I asked, shocked. “The Mason Dupree who owns the Manhattan Showstoppers basketball team? The Mason Dupree who invented the app that essentially runs society, sold it, invested the absurd cash he got from it, and now has more money than God? The Mason Dupree who is single-handedly working toward bringing clean energy into all of the cities throughout the country, quite literally changing the modern landscape and transforming the nation’s carbon footprint? That Mason Dupree?”

Molly stared at me blankly for a few seconds.

“Did you go to a briefing or something before I got up?” she asked.

“I read the newspaper,” I told her. “You should really try it some time.”

“Well, did whatever form of outdated information transmission you chose today tell you that Mason Dupree of the Everything in the World is having a party to celebrate a new player who just signed? And that that party is going to be held in his apartment in The Avalon?”

She sounded almost breathless with excitement at the idea, but I only felt like a rock had taken up residence in the pit of my stomach.

“The Avalon?” I asked. “That ridiculous apartment building by Central Park?”

“It’s not ridiculous,” Molly said. “It’s opulent. It’s also home to the wealthiest men in the city. There’s a lot of opportunity there, Ella. This could be our chance.”

“I just don’t know what it is that I’m supposed to do,” I said. “It’s not like I’ve ever done something like this before.”

“You’re making it sound like I’m asking you to be his personal exotic dancer.”

I reached up into the cabinet above my head and grabbed the cookie jar that I had taken to keeping there rather than on the counter because Edmond’s four-year-old hands were becoming more and more adventurous and I didn’t want to see what would happen if the century-old jar decided to slip off the edge of the counter toward my son’s head.

“Are you sure that’s not another specialty that you’re going to add to your list of services?”

There was a hint of teasing in my voice, but a part of me was a bit worried that she was going to get inspired by my statement. I pulled out a cookie and bit into it, reveling in the simple deliciousness of the chocolate chips.

“Are you eating cookies for breakfast?” Molly asked.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“I’m an adult,” I said through the crumbs that were falling between my lips.

“Elegant.”

“See?” I said, sighing as I wiped my mouth and sagged back against the counter. “I can’t possibly do this.”

“Because you think being an adult justifies you eating chocolate chip cookies for breakfast while standing over your kitchen sink?”

“No,” I said, “because I’m just not the type of adult who can fit in in a place filled with exorbitantly wealthy men.”

“That’s the thing. You don’t have to fit in. You aren’t going to the party. You are doing preparations for the party. You aren’t going to have to interact with anyone. Mason isn’t even going to be there.”

“Mason?” I asked, shooting her a sideways glance. “You’re on a first-name basis with this man?”

“I’d like to think that if he met me that we would be.”

“I’m sure you do,” I said.

Mason Dupree’s face showed up in the newspaper on a frequent-enough basis that I knew why even without his billions he would be considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the city. He was gorgeous in a dark, smoky way, with eyes that seemed to cut out of the page and into me.

“It’s just decorating,” Molly said, going back into her appeal. “We’ll just go to the apartment, decorate it, and leave. He’ll be at work and we’ll be gone well before any of the guests get there. You probably won’t even have to talk to anybody but the doorman, and he’s a sweetheart. That’s all. Just think of the money.”

“How much money?”

“Enough to not have to worry about finding a job for a few more months.”

“How did you pull off something like that?”

“I told my client that as a boutique company our services come at a premium.”

I gave a deep sigh and looked back at the sink. Those last lingering bubbles wouldn’t be putting food on the table or paying for clothes for a child that was growing faster than I could keep up with. I looked back at Molly and nodded.

“Alright,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Molly squealed happily and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, nearly crushing me in the process.

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you. You’re not going to regret it. I promise. By this time tomorrow you’ll be counting your cash and getting a pedicure.”

“Probably not on the pedicure front, but I might be trying to find a tiny T-shirt with a talking dog super hero on it.”

Molly gave me a quizzical look and I shook my head dismissively.

“Never mind.”

At that moment Edmond came wandering into the kitchen, his little eyes still sleepy as he gripped his blanket to his face.

“I just need to find Edmond a babysitter.”