Chapter Sixteen

She was running late. Really late. She’d spent a little too much time in bed with Wilder that morning, and as a result, Bailey would be walking into the house a good fifteen minutes later than planned. After their awkward run-in with Renee at the store the night before—which Wilder assured her hadn’t been as big of a deal as it looked—they should have been more careful about watching their steps where work was concerned.

But Wilder had Virginia for the next couple of nights, and it had been all too tempting to agree to his request for an encore performance of last night’s big show.

It was getting hard to say no to him when it came to anything.

He was too darn sweet for his own good. That had to be the reason why she’d agreed to getting jalapeños on their pizza last night. (Though, in her defense, she’d just been thrilled he wanted pizza instead of a round of salads.) That had to be the reason why she kept agreeing to stay the whole night in his room—or have him in hers—whenever he didn’t have Virginia. Sleepovers weren’t something she’d considered part of the equation when they’d gotten together. But he liked having them, and, okay, she’d grown to like being the little spoon.

The sign signaling her exit flew by. She checked the dashboard clock again. She was only going to be about five minutes late. That wasn’t terrible. Plus, Waverly would get a fresh cup of coffee, which should make up for her tardiness.

Bailey merged into the right lane, about to take the exit, when she noticed a familiar car sitting on the shoulder of the road. And if the mess of tools spread out on the ground next to a spare tire were any indication, Waverly was having a bad start to her morning.

“Damn.”

Bailey was about to be even later to the job site.

Shifting gears, she brought her car to a stop behind Waverly’s and—after checking for oncoming traffic—she stepped out to help. Bailey followed the litany of expletives to Waverly, where she was crouched next to the front passenger tire. The gravel crunched under her boots, and Waverly spun in a flash, unleashing a piercing scream.

“Hey.” Bailey held up her hands. “I come in peace.”

Waverly dropped a lug wrench and let out a breath. “Oh my God. I thought you were someone coming to kill me. You hear about things like that.”

Bailey had seen something similar happen on TV, once. But telling Waverly she might be justified in worrying wouldn’t help the situation.

“Do you need some help?”

Nodding, she handed over a half dozen lug nuts. Bailey knelt to survey the damage and shook her head. Waverly hadn’t used the jack. How had she’d gotten this far without that first step? Bailey wordlessly went about jacking the car up, then switched out the blown tire for a donut. It didn’t take much time. She’d changed more tires than she could remember. Once word got out that you knew how, people tended to call you up whenever they were in a pinch.

Wiping the dirt and grease on a rag that had materialized, Bailey stood to face Waverly. “You’ll want to take the car in for a new tire, but this should get you to the shop.”

A sneer crossed her face. “Well, aren’t you just the perfect little miss fix-it?”

Wait, what? Bailey shook her head again, trying to register the bitterness in her boss’s voice. It made no sense. Bailey had saved her from having to figure out how to change a tire or call AAA—which apparently hadn’t occurred to her. Instead of gratitude, she was getting attitude?

“O . . . kay,” Bailey drawled out, still trying to make sense of it. “I—”

“You really are determined to prove you’re better than me. Aren’t you?” She crossed her arms and stood even more defiantly. “It wasn’t enough for you to take advantage of my book release to get on camera. Now you’re fucking my ex.”

Bailey sucked in a deep breath and counted to ten twice before saying anything that might get her fired. This was only temporary. It was her stepping stone. The one she needed for bigger and better. She could get through this. When she did, she’d be stronger and better than ever.

She only had to tell herself twice and take four deep breaths before she formed a response.

“I don’t know how else to say this, but I don’t want to pit myself against you.” Bailey placed her curled fists on her hips. “And I don’t want you pitting yourself against me. This isn’t a competition.”

Waverly chewed on her lips. “I don’t really want to fight you. But you’re intimidating.”

Bailey could do little more than stare at Waverly. Was she for real?

“I’m losing that edge I used to have. My passion. Then here you come in with both—not to mention how much talent you have in your pinky.” She ran a hand through her long waves of dark hair. “What would you do in my place?”

That was something she couldn’t answer. Truthfully, she didn’t know. She was still new enough to this business—new enough to having people listen to her ideas and value her opinion. She’d like to think she could be reasonable, but that wasn’t a given.

Bailey almost hated to ask, but she needed to know. “You don’t have a problem with Wilder and me, do you?”

“God, no. That ship has long sailed.” Her lips pursed together. “If you saw my boyfriend, you wouldn’t have to ask.”

Bailey didn’t want to see her boyfriend. She didn’t particularly want to prolong this conversation. She just wanted to go to work. Reaching into her car, Bailey handed Waverly one of the coffee cups and said they should get on their ways.

What a day. It hadn’t even really started and already Bailey couldn’t make sense of it. Then again, she might never be able to figure out the way Waverly exploded one minute and was sweet as a peach the next.

She wondered if a chiropractor or physical therapist could help with emotional whiplash. Because if this carried on, she’d be in serious need of some kind of treatment. She couldn’t keep up with Waverly and the different sides of her personality. Bailey never knew which version of her boss was going to be around on the days she actually showed up for work.

Okay, she needed to nix that kind of thinking. It wasn’t her place to judge her boss’s work habits. This is a stepping stone. Bigger and better.

It was a strange thing to both admire and fear her boss at the same time. On the one hand, Waverly was a brilliant designer who had built an empire and brand even Martha Stewart would envy.

On the other hand, she was kind of unhinged and unpredictable. And she had a nasty streak that seemed to pop out when you least expected it.

Someday, when she was in charge of her own business, Bailey would make it a point to keep her emotions in better control. She’d also make sure she didn’t tear down her subordinates.

Maybe she should take a business class or two when this was all done. Something that focused on being a good and effective manager and not a total psychopath. She really hated to use that word. As a policy, she tried not to call other women crazy, but there were exceptions for every rule.

She should say something about Waverly’s mood swings to someone. And if that wasn’t a vague plan, she didn’t know what was.

There was always Wilder, but she didn’t want to put him in that position. Besides, after years of knowing and working with Waverly—not to mention raising a child with her—he was an expert at dealing with her back-and-forth. (Or at least he was used to it.)

There was Renee. Like Wilder, she had the years of experience. Still, after bumping into her the other night, Bailey didn’t feel like she was in a position to ask favors of their producer. Besides, Bailey didn’t want to look like a whiner. They might be well into filming the season, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t fire her and bring in someone else. As important as she liked to think she’d become to the crew, her name wasn’t in the show’s title. They could take or leave her with zero qualms.

That left actually confronting Waverly. She’d come close today on the side of the road. But no matter how frustrating she could be, Waverly was her boss. Like Renee, she had the power to terminate the contract. Bailey had invested too much in these houses—too much in this season—to walk away from it now.

No, for now she needed to toughen up and deal. Taking the high road sucked.

Her mind was still spinning when they arrived at the job site minutes later. Wilder gave her a curious, questioning look, but she’d waved him off. She could tell him about the flat tire later, when they were away from Renee’s watchful eyes. In all fairness to the producer, she had every right to be concerned about the arrangement. If the wrong person found out—if it leaked the press or even an industrious blogger—there would be massive fallout. Not just the shitstorm that would happen in the news. No, the network would be pissed, and they’d all be fired.

Much as she didn’t want that for Wilder, she didn’t want it for herself or the rest of the crew. She’d finally found a job she enjoyed—even if it was only temporary—and most of the people on the crew had mortgages and families depending on them. Losing this job wouldn’t be just the loss of a chance to be part of something special, it could potentially destroy their livelihood.

Renee had to think about things like that. The poor woman was in a tough spot. She had to serve the interests of the studio and meet the demands of the stars all while looking out for the little guys. And that was on top of her actual job: keeping track of the shoot, making sure they were on time (and budget), and ensuring the finished project was worthy of the gold standard the Design Network expected.

And here Bailey was, making that task even more challenging. She really should have fought the urge to scratch the itch that had started with Wilder. If she was smart, she would have.

Renee said nothing when Bailey stepped into the dining room, which she had set up for her office today. Barely glancing up, she gave an easy “good morning,” then “thank you” as Bailey handed her a cup of coffee.

After that, they began their daily confab and discussed everything they needed to finish before sundown. Before their coffees were finished, they completed the meeting and set out to do their specific tasks.

Bailey kept waiting for Renee to pull her aside. Maybe it was because she was looking to see some sign of a change—because her senses were so heightened to the possibility that something might be amiss—but Bailey only noticed that Renee seemed to be watching her a little more closely than usual. Then again, she could be reading into it because she wanted to see some sign that their dynamic had changed.

It wasn’t until Felix and his crew was packing up for the day that Renee appeared at her side. “I thought I’d take a walk around the property before calling it a night. Join me?”

She’d said it as a question, but Bailey understood that it was not a request so much as a command. As they set out for the backyard, Wilder again eyed them curiously, but she shook her head. They’d talk later. Besides, she didn’t want him to leave Virginia hanging for too long.

They walked in companionable silence for a few minutes until the last of the trucks pulled away.

“You’ve done a good job,” Renee said. “We’ve worked with a lot of design assistants over the years, and you’re definitely the best.”

“Thank you.”

“You have a good eye and even better instincts. Besides that, you’ve won over the work crew—which isn’t always an easy task—and you’ve found a way to collaborate with Waverly without freaking her out too much.” She flashed a quick look, silently telling Bailey what she’d already figured; that Renee knew all too well how often their star shifted from hot to cold. “And Wilder likes you. Of course, he always likes everyone. He’s just that kind of a guy. But you’re different.”

Again, without saying it, she’d conveyed an even deeper meaning. Bailey felt the weight of it on her chest.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“I know you didn’t.”

“I tried to fight it, really, I did.”

“You did.”

“But . . .” Bailey shrugged, unable to find precisely the right words. “When it comes to Wilder and me . . . there’s just . . .”

“A spark. It’s there. I can see it. Everyone can. Not that they maybe understand the full extent. You have great chemistry on camera. Everyone can tell. Everyone.”

She wondered just how far that went. Was it contained to the crew, or did anyone at the network have suspicions?

“I know what’s at stake. The show. People’s jobs. Wilder’s relationship with Virginia. I know all of that, and I promise I’m not here to jeopardize any of that.” She wished she’d been a stronger woman and fought off that attraction. “I know that when we get the last shot, and y’all leave, that’s it.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

Bailey nodded. “I’m not looking for anything long-term.”

“You might not be looking, but—”

“I’m not built for anything long-term. Trust me.”

Surprise registered on Renee’s face. “What makes you think that?”

“Some people are made for marriage, kids, mortgages, but that’s not me.”

“It’s not?”

“If you knew my family better, you’d understand.” They paused beside a tree that needed to be reshaped and loved on a little before reveal day. The tall oak had seen better days. Some people might be tempted to rip it down, but it had good roots. That’s why Bailey had fought so hard to keep it. “When this is over, I’ll be grateful for the paycheck and the opportunity, but I’ll be looking for my next job. Not a boyfriend.”

“Are you sure? You might say that now while it’s new, but we still have months to go. You’ve seen the dailies. You could practically melt butter with the sizzle between the two of you and—”

“Renee. I know what I want. I’ve depended on myself most of my life, and I don’t plan on changing that. Not even for someone like Wilder.”

Chewing on her inner cheek, Renee took a moment to consider what she’d said. “What do you want to do when it’s over?”

“I want to keep designing. Wherever that happens.”

“Do you think you’d want to find another show?”

That possibility had never crossed Bailey’s mind. While she’d considered a few options—applying for a job at the firm where she’d interned years ago, starting up her own small shop, sending out blanket résumés—she’d never thought of looking for another crew.

“I’m not sure. This has been fun, but this is another thing I’m not sure I’m built for a lifetime of living.”

Renee nodded, and for the first time, she seemed to visibly relax. With the possibility of Bailey trying to manipulate Wilder into leaving the show—or her using it as leverage to land her own show with the network as payment for staying quiet—off the table, Renee didn’t look so worried.

“I know we haven’t talked much outside of the job, but . . .” Renee hesitated, then reached forward to place a hand on her forearm. “If you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here.”

“I appreciate that.”

She truly did. With all the ways this conversation could have gone, it was the best possible way to end. The least Bailey could do in exchange for Renee’s kindness was be more careful where Wilder was concerned.

Of course, it would be better if she put an end to it now, before anyone else suspected anything, but realistically, she understood it wasn’t an option. Like Renee had said, there was just too much sexual tension between her and Wilder if there wasn’t any avenue for release.

She’d be more careful all the same. There was too much at stake.