Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (36 page)

Later, as everyone leaves to go home, Anthony hangs back. Serena has fallen asleep with all the other girls and he decides not to wake her just yet.

“So what are your plans next weekend?” he asks Natalie.

She hesitates before answering and he suspects she knows what he’s really asking her.

“Why don’t you come over to my place,” he says. “I’ll make you dinner.”

“Can you cook?”

“Of course, I’m Italian.”

Natalie gives him a skeptical look. “Talking to you, I get the impression that Italians are good at everything.”

“We are.” He lets his gaze catch hers.

“Is this . . . are you inviting me for a sleepover?”

He laughs at her description. “I’m not sure how much sleeping will be involved,” he says, stepping closer to her and lowering his voice, “but yes.”

They’re standing in the hallway and Natalie leans against the wall. She fidgets with her necklace. “Chloe is going to her dad’s on Friday and Lindsay will be at Oliver’s all weekend.”

“Does this mean you’re available?”

“I suppose I can fit you in somewhere.”

Anthony grins.

Natalie’s eyes widen at her choice of words. “I . . . uh, that didn’t come out exactly right.”

“Let’s count on next Friday night, okay?”

Tuesday morning Natalie is in her van driving to the bakery when she gets a call on her cell phone. It’s her one late morning, so it’s already almost eight o’clock.

“Where are you?” Blair asks.

“I’m on my way in. I should be there in a few minutes. Why?”

“You know that empty space next door?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s not empty anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Natalie wonders if she’s misheard.

“I’m saying there’s a group of contractors in there right now.”

“Seriously!” Natalie’s nearly swerves her van off the road with excitement. “Is Anthony finally giving us that space?” Her mind races through different scenarios. Maybe he wanted to surprise them? Give it to her as a gift?

“No, that’s not it.”

“It’s not?”

She can hear Blair let out a deep sigh. “Just get in here.”

Natalie parks in her usual space in the alley right behind La Dolce Vita. The air smells like diesel, and it’s cold and damp outside. The back door to the space next to the bakery is open.

Blair comes out to meet her. “I went over and spoke to them. The contractors said they were hired by the people who are leasing the space.”

“Somebody’s leasing that space?”

“Apparently so.”

“Who?”

Blair shrugs. “I don’t know. From the way they’re talking, it sounds like a clothing store.”

Natalie is shaking her head. “That can’t be right. Anthony would have told me—told us. I’m going to call him and find out what’s going on.”

She dials his number with Blair standing there. It goes directly to voicemail. Natalie leaves a message describing the situation. “Call me, Anthony, okay?”

“Maybe there’s a mistake or something,” Blair says, though it doesn’t sound like she believes it.

Natalie leans back against the van trying to make sense of the situation. There’s a knot in her stomach along with a growing sense of dread. She recognizes this feeling. The feeling of relying on someone, trusting them, and being let down.

I should have known.

“Are you okay?” Blair asks.

Natalie takes a deep breath. “I’m fine. Let’s just unload all this stuff from the back.”

They get Carlos to come out and the three of them carry in all the baking Natalie did that morning. Natalie goes out front to make herself a latte while Carlos unloads items for the pastry case. They have a new barista working the cash register and Natalie says a quick hello to her.

Finally, she sits down in their little office and tries calling Anthony again. There’s still no answer.

“It looks like someone else just arrived next door,” Blair tells her. “Let’s go talk to them.”

They head over and enter through the back. Natalie’s only been inside this space once, ages ago. She steps over rolls of plastic and other tools.

Natalie sees a couple of people with Starbucks cups and gets a bad feeling. It’s a woman and man, both talking to a couple of other contractors.

As Blair and Natalie approach, the group turns to look at them.

“Hi,” Blair says. “We’re the bakers from next door and just wanted to come over and find out what’s happening.”’

“Oh, hello!” An Asian woman with black hair and short blunt bangs puts her hand out. “I’m Amy and this is my business partner, Daniel. We’re going to be your new neighbors!”

Amy goes on to explain how they’re opening a clothing store. “Tasteful, but for the younger set. That’s why being near the university is such a perfect location.”

“And you’ve spoken with our landlord, Anthony?” Natalie asks.

“We signed contracts, but we haven’t met him yet. Just Graham, his lawyer.”

“So Graham handled the whole thing?” Blair asks.

Amy nods. “Yes, I got the feeling that was typical though. Is there a problem?”

“No, no problem.” Blair turns to look at Natalie.

“You’ll have to come to our grand opening!” Amy tells them. “We’ll hire you to help cater desserts!”

Natalie tries to smile, but feels queasy.

When they leave and walk back to La Dolce Vita, she stops Blair. “I have to go find him.” She doesn’t need to say who she’s talking about.

Blair nods. “I’ll cover for you. Do you want to drive Isadora? You’ll need her today. Let me get you the keys.”

Natalie is so furious she can’t even enjoy driving Blair’s amazing car. Her hands grip the steering wheel as if it were Anthony’s neck. She finds a parking spot near the Astronomy-Physics building, remembers where his office is, but when she gets up there only finds Maya.

“Where is he?”

Maya looks at her with surprise. “Anthony? He’s in class. What’s wrong?”

“Where is this class?” Natalie asks, trying to control the anger in her voice.

Maya gives her instructions. “Do you want me to write it down for you?”

“No, that’s okay. I’ve got it.” Anthony’s not the only one with a good memory. She remembers things too, very well, in fact. She remembers how he told her he’d lease them that space. He said they only had to prove to him they could afford it, but apparently, he forgot about that.

Natalie finds the room number that Maya gave her. It’s another lecture hall, but when she pulls the door open to go inside she discovers it’s empty. She hears voices though and down near the front she can see a few people. Some are sitting at a table while Anthony is standing in front of them writing on a whiteboard.

As she makes her way down, a couple of the people at the desk turn to glance at her. Anthony is still writing and doesn’t seem to notice she’s entered the room.

Taking a seat behind the group, Natalie stays quiet. Anthony is talking as he writes, something about the Schwarzchild radius—whatever that is, and his voice carries authoritatively. His blue shirtsleeves are rolled up and reveal the dark hair on his forearms. He’s not wearing a watch or any other kind of jewelry, not that he should. It would only distract from his blinding appeal. Even now, she’s still drawn to him. It angers her further. He should look like an ugly toad with warts all over, but he still looks like the handsome prince.

One of the students asks Anthony a question. He still doesn’t seem to notice that she’s sitting there.

Finally, after he answers the question and still doesn’t notice her, she speaks up.

“I have a question, Professor Novello.”

He turns to her, pushes his nerd glasses up on his head. His expression changes from confident to surprise. “Natalie?”

“Maybe you can explain the hypothesis of keeping a promise.”

Anthony is confused. “Natalie, I’m in the middle of class. Could you wait and we’ll talk afterward?”

“What I have to say won’t take long.” She leans forward. “This has to do with an empty space that now contains matter.”

“What?”

“The matter is a group of contractors setting up a clothing store right next to a certain bakery.”

Anthony grows still. She can see understanding wash over him. He opens his mouth. “Wait . . .”

She pushes herself up and wishes she could kick something, kick him, kick herself for being such an idiot. “Don’t,” she says, putting her hand out to him. “Just,
don’t!
”

And then she leaves. She hears him excusing himself to his students, hears his footsteps running up behind her, but she doesn’t slow down. Finally, his hand is on her arm.

She shakes him off. “Don’t touch me.”

“Stop, Natalie, let me talk to you. I need to explain this.”

They’re at the top of the stairs and she turns around. Up close, his expression is worried and she can see that he’s rattled.

“How could you, Anthony?”

“I’m sorry. I meant to tell you sooner.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Things were just starting to get good between us. I didn’t want to screw it up.”

Natalie is incredulous. “Are you kidding me? You signed contracts! You couldn’t have maybe mentioned that?”

“You’re right. I should have. I was planning to tell you this week, actually.”

“How could you rent that space out when you know how much we wanted it?”

He plows a hand through his hair in frustration. “Look, you and Blair don’t have the income.”

“Yes, we do. But you didn’t even give us a chance. Your stupid program is wrong and so are you!”

“No, I’m not.”

“You think you know everything, don’t you? Poor Anthony, always the smartest person in the room.”

“I don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be able to add and subtract!”

“Why couldn’t you have waited just a little bit longer? Why?”

He’s silent.

“That’s all we needed to prove it to you.”

“I just admitted it was a mistake not to tell you, but I doubt more time would have made any difference with your financial information. It wouldn’t have changed anything. Your rent would have doubled. You and Blair can’t afford that.”

“You don’t know that for sure. We would have extended our hours. That extra space would have been a deal changer for us.”

Anthony shakes his head. “And I thought you said you never gambled?”

“That’s not gambling!”

“Nothing you’re saying changes the fact that you don’t have the income and I have bills to pay and mouths to feed just like you do.”

“You never should have told us you’d give us that chance, then.” Natalie hugs herself in frustration. “How could you not tell me what was going on?”

Anthony lets out a deep breath. “You’re right. I admit I made a mistake there. I should have told you sooner, but it doesn’t change the facts.”

“Well, it looks like I made a big mistake, too. I thought I could take you at your word, but I was wrong!”