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“I might need some help, though,” Sterling said, turning her fiery gaze at Kai.

“I think I might be the perfect person to assist you,” Kai said, wiggling her fingers.

“Can you wait until I leave to do whatever this is?” I asked. “And not do anything in the outfit that I want to wear?”

Sterling darted toward the bedroom and Kai jumped up to chase her and I just sat there and hoped the outfit would be safe. A few moments later, both pieces of the outfit came sailing into the living room and then the bedroom door slammed. It was time for me to head to the van for the night.

* * *

Just to be safe, I threw the outfit in the wash before Friday night. All day I was nervous and forgetful and kept dropping things. Lacey noticed, but she didn’t mock me for it, which made me wonder.

“Next week we’ll be almost done,” she said as we washed out the brushes and rollers after an extremely long day.

“I know. It’s going to look like an entirely new house when we get everything in.”

“I’ll attack the yard too,” she said. “I’m also meeting with a real estate agent next week.”

I wished I could have handled the sale for her, but I wasn’t licensed in Maine, and I didn’t want to go through the whole process of getting my licensure for a state I didn’t intend on staying in.

“Do you want me to come with you? To meet the agent?” I asked. That was definitely going above and beyond my current job description, I wanted to make sure Lacey wasn’t getting screwed by a terrible agent.

“Sure, it would be nice to have someone who knows what questions to ask with me,” she said. “We can just leave from here.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said. I’d bring a change of clothes so I wouldn’t look like a complete disaster.

Lacey yawned and started gathering up her stuff to leave.

“I’m going to shower when I get home and then start dinner, so just show up when you’re ready,” she said, checking her phone. She’d been leaving it on silent for most of the day and that seemed to help with her not getting distracted with her family drama all day.

Lacey frowned as she read through her missed messages.

“Fucking Christ,” she said under her breath.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Just the usual. Family wanting their money and deciding I’m not moving fast enough. Or that I’m stealing shit, in spite of sending pictures of every single thing to them, including the trash.”

That sounded complicated and horrible.

“Fuck them,” I said, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Strong words,” she said.

“I think they’re warranted.”

Lacey laughed softly. “I guess they are.”

She let out a long breath and headed toward the door.

“See you in a bit,” she said, waving at me. I grabbed my bag and followed her out as she waited for me to start my car and pull out, like always. One of these days I was going to ask her why she did that.

* * *

I used Kai’s shower and bathroom to get ready in the outfit and do my makeup and hair. There wasn’t enough time to do something fancy, so I pulled my hair back into a clip and left it a little messy. I decided to go with a dramatic red lip and went simple with my eyes, but I used enough highlighter to make my skin glow. I wanted to look like I’d put in an effort, but not too much. This wasn’t a date, after all.

“You look fuck-hot,” Sterling said when I walked out of the bathroom.

“Thank you?” I said.