"Shh!" she said, jokingly pressing the pillow onto his face but half terrified someone would hear him. She'd snuck him in late last night when he'd gotten off from work and she'd come back from drinks with the girls, but Assignment: Expiration Date hadn't quite gone as planned. Jeremy had spent the whole day planting Japanese maple trees and was so tired he could hardly keep his eyes open. They'd barely gotten to second base before Jeremy began snoring.
Eliza thought they could try again this morning. She was counting on her dad leaving early for his golf game and her mother for her charity committee meeting. Then she and Jeremy could have the rest of the house to themselves. She had meant to
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discreetly slip out of bed, brush her teeth, change into the lingerie set, and slide back under the covers so she could look perfect before he awoke. But she hadn't counted on an early-morning wake-up call from her least favorite person throwing her off schedule.
"Eliza!" a frantic voice exclaimed.
"Paige? What is it?" Eliza asked, immediately sitting up.
"It's an emergency!"
"What's wrong?" Eliza asked, her heart beating rapidly. Numerous dire scenarios filled her head: Sydney had changed his mind, he hated all the outfits she'd styled. Or the clothes had arrived and all the spray-painted parts had stained parts of the fabric that weren't meant to be painted. The paint had dried the wrong color.
"An outfit is missing," Paige said with panic-stricken urgency. "The one Vidalia is supposed to wear for the finale. I'm here at the boutique on Main Street with Sydney and we've unpacked everything, but we can't find it. It's not here."
"But I packed it myself," Eliza argued. "It has to be there."
"Well, it's not and Sydney's having a heart attack. You know it's the most important outfit in the show. The whole thing is ruined without it."
"I know. I know."
"You need to fix this. You packed that box," Paige insisted. "It's your fault if it's not at the show tonight. . . ."
"All right, don't worry. I'll take care of it," Eliza promised,
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trying not to panic herself. She clicked off the phone and sat pensively by the side of the bed. All thoughts of early-morning seduction were completely dismissed.
Think, Eliza, think, she admonished herself as she tried to remember the details of the previous night ... the chronology of events ... and tried to figure out what had happened: she'd asked Vidalia to remove the dress and put it in the hanger to be wrapped, but in all the frenzy, Eliza had forgotten to check whether the model had done so. She remembered Vidalia saying how she was going to some fancy dinner party that night and needed something fabulous to wear so the cosmetics executives at Estee Lauder would take her seriously and offer her an exclusive contract.
Eliza gasped. The damn model had snuck out in the outfit! She'd worn it to the Lauder dinner! Eliza was sure of it.
"What's happened? Everything okay?" Jeremy asked.
"Everything is going to be fine," Eliza said just as a Black Hawk helicopter thundered overhead. She looked out the window and wondered about the two-fingered logo painted on the side. It disappeared into the clouds, blasting hip-hop music.
Eliza picked up her purse from the side of the bed and fingered her titanium AmEx card. . . .
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is there such a thing as an early-life crisis?
SHANNON WAS ALREADY IN THE SCREENING ROOM WHEN
Jacqui arrived that morning. The new au pair was sitting at the head of the gaming table, chatting happily with Anna Perry.
"Oh, Jacqui, there you are. You know we do try to run these things on time, dear," Anna said, waving Jacqui toward the nearest seat.
Jacqui glared. "The, uh, hot water was out at the cottage," she explained.
"I should have warned you," Shannon said, an innocent look on her face. "I have to take really long showers because of my back condition. ..."
Jacqui nodded curtly. That morning, she had woken up to find the bathroom door locked for a solid hour. She had decided to give the kids breakfast without the benefit of bathing and had returned to fi
nd only cold, freezing water coming out of the pipes for her own shower.