“Fair enough. But he took your side over Isabella’s. No one ever takes anyone’s side over Isabella’s. Maybe he’s not so bad. He’s letting me visit now. And he’s going to replace all the clothes. He’s at least trying. He seems kinda nice.”
Nice? He’d immediately blamed her for destroying my clothes. But I bit my tongue. Mr. Pruitt was trying. I knew that. And yet…I was still uncertain about him. But maybe if I could convince him not to fire Anderson. If he took my side on that, then maybe I could finally let my walls down. Because he was trying. He did care. He was acting like the father I never had. And I was pretty sure that was a good thing. Maybe I’d just been fighting it off because Uncle Jim had felt like a father to me too. And as soon as I’d let him in, I’d lost him.
Tiffany, the timid server, rushed into the room carrying some black trash bags. “Mr. Pruitt said I needed to clean up…” her voice trailed off as she looked at the mess. “Oh my. I’ll get right to it.” She hurried over.
“I can help,” I said and started putting clothes in the plastic bags before Tiffany could stop me.
“This was probably cute,” Kennedy said as she started helping us too. She was holding a pink dress that would have looked amazing on her. I made a mental note that when Justin replaced it, I’d give it to her.
“It smells so gross.” I shoved another jacket into the trash.
Tiffany laughed.
“What the hell happened in here?” Miller said. My mother’s dress was clutched in his hands.
“Isabella,” I said as I grabbed a pair of pants by the leg where there was no pee.
He shook his head as he stared at the now stinky ruined clothes. He looked beyond pissed.
“Oh, you’re so lucky that you had a dress at the dry cleaners,” Tiffany said.
I guess she didn’t realize that the dry cleaner’s bag was years old and not from New York. Which was good. Because there was no other excuse for Miller to have my dress.
“Let me grab that so I can steam it for you,” she said and pulled it out of Miller’s tight grip. “You’re wrinkling it.” She laughed.
“Sorry,” he said.
I stood up as I put one of the torn pairs of leggings in the trash bag. “Who’s Anderson?” I asked.
Tiffany pulled my dress out of the dry-cleaning bag and turned around. “That’s me.”
What? My face fell. She was so sweet. And polite. But up here she’d laughed at our jokes. She didn’t complain about the dog pee. She was wonderful.
“Why?” she asked.
I swallowed hard. Why did Mr. Pruitt send her up here to help with this mess if he was just going to fire her? “No reason,” I said. “I actually need to run to the bathroom real quick. I’ll be right back.” Mr. Pruitt wasn’t a nice man. He was a monster just like his legitimate daughter. And I was going to give him a piece of my mind.
I practically ran into Justin as I beelined for the door.
“Careful, darling,” he said as he adjusted two large plastic containers in his dainty arms.
“Sorry, I need to…”
“What in tarnation happened here?” Justin asked. “All my clothes! And is that urine I smell?”
“Miller will fill you in,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Well I certainly have no problem with Miller filling me wherever he pleases,” Justin said and handed off the plastic containers to him. He winked at Miller. “But we don’t have much time to get ready for the dance. And it’s my understanding that I need to give two makeovers in the time I’d allotted for one.” He looked over at Kennedy.
“Great,” I said. “You can get started on Kennedy and I’ll be right back. It’s a bathroom emergency.” It seemed like no one had any intention of letting me get away. But adding that it was an emergency silenced the room. Awesome.
Yes, it was nice that Mr. Pruitt had asked Justin to help Kennedy get ready too. But that didn’t take away the fact that he sent Tiffany up to clean up a mess she hadn’t made. Right before he was going to fire her for that very same mess. He had some explaining to do. I hurried out the door before anyone else could stop me.
Chapter 25
Saturday
Miller caught my wrist right after I made it into the hallway. “There’s a bathroom attached to your room, Brooklyn.”
God. Stupid rich people with fancy bathrooms in their bedrooms. I’ll never get used to this stuff. “Oh. Right. Well, I’ll just use the downstairs one now since I’m already on my way.” I actually didn’t even know where the downstairs bathroom was. But there were probably several. I’d eventually find one.
He looked down the hall to see if the coast was clear and then pulled me to his chest. “You can tell me the truth. You know that.”
I breathed in his familiar scent. “Isabella said it was Tiffany’s fault for not watching Sir Wilfred better. Mr. Pruitt is going to fire her.”
“Who is Sir Wilfred?”
“Isabella’s stupid new dog. But that’s not even the point. Isabella did it. The clothes weren’t ripped by a dog. They were cut with scissors.”
Miller shook his head.
“But I’m going to go fix it. I’m going to go talk to Mr. Pruitt now.”
Miller tilted his head down to mine. “You’re amazing, you know.” It looked like he wanted to kiss me.
I smiled up at him. “I’m not amazing. But I am going to try to save her job.” I looked down the hall to see if anyone was looking, but Miller grabbed my jaw and kissed me. Every now and then when I’d climb in his bed and talk his ear off, he’d kiss me. Maybe to make me stop talking so he could sleep. Maybe because sometimes he just wanted to be closer to me. I didn’t know why sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t. Maybe it depended on what I was talking about. But this kiss didn’t feel sleepy. Or convenient. It felt a lot more real than all the others. He pulled away far too soon.
“I want to make sure you know how I feel,” he said. “I’m not a grand gestures kind of guy. But I’m here for you. I know you’re confused right now. But I’m not.”
“You’re not?”
He smiled. “Not even a little.”
“You’re going to get yourself fired,” I said with a laugh.
“Maybe so. But I don’t care as long as you come with me wherever I go afterwards.” He pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear.