Her dad returned to Laceland at six o’clock that night. “Hey, Cookie. I saw Marjorie in the lobby. She looked wiped out. She said Charlie took off, too.”
“Yeah, he needed to get home,” Emma mumbled through several straight pins sticking out of the corner of her mouth. “We got through a lot, but I still have more to do. Thanks for coming back.”
“No problem. Your mom and I didn’t have any big plans for tonight. And I have some things I need to organize around here for tomorrow anyway. I’ll order up some pizza for us.”
Three hours and two large slices of veggie pizza later, Emma finally had constructed all the linings. She felt as if she’d hiked to the summit of a mountain. She needed to stretch her leg, which she worried might permanently vibrate from so many hours pressed to the sewing-machine pedal.
As she walked through the warehouse, she heard her dad grunting and groaning. Then something slammed to the floor.
She raced around the corner. “Dad? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” he answered, rubbing his lower back. “Just moving some of these boxes. Or trying to.”
“Do you need help?” she asked.
“Nah, I got it. You keep working on your stuff. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to go.”
“Okay.” She took the long way back to her work space, making the most of her stretch break. Back at her sewing machine, just as she was about to press down on the pedal again, she heard a buzz and looked up. It was her phone, buried deep inside her bag on the worktable.
She pulled it out. Two missed calls and four text messages—all from Holly. That’s strange, Emma thought. I guess I didn’t hear the phone with the machine running.
Wanted 2 make sure u have Kayla’s address. I’ll b there early so come whenevs! Can’t wait 2 c ur costume! U wont believe mine! xoH
R u coming? Everyone’s here already & totally in costume, including JC, but dont want 2 ruin the surprise. Come soon! xoH
Em! Why rn’t u picking up ur cell? Where r u?
Fine. Don’t come. C if I care.
Emma sunk her head into her hands. She had forgotten all about Kayla’s Halloween party…and Jackson!
She looked down at the clock on her phone. 9:17 p.m. There’s still time, Emma thought, whipping around in her chair. I can still figure out a costume and get over to Kayla’s. She began to stand and then stopped.
She wasn’t going to any party tonight. She was grounded. And she certainly wasn’t crazy enough to prance over to her dad and ask him to change his mind.
She fingered the long strip of sequined material she’d cut out for the belt. She turned it back and forth, amazed by the patterns of light that played off its shimmery surface. At every angle, the color changed.
She didn’t feel like leaving right now anyway, she realized. Even though the possibility of getting together with Jackson made her lungs forget how to take in air. What she wanted to do, most of all, was sew. She was so close to seeing the dreams from her sketch pad become real. There was no putting the brakes on now. Especially not for a Halloween party.
Holls: So sorry! U wldnt believe what happened 2day—
Emma groaned and deleted the message. This wasn’t the kind of thing you texted. It made her sound like she didn’t care. After everything that had happened between them, Holly would think her not showing meant she didn’t want to be friends.
She needed to talk to Holly face-to-face. She tucked her phone away. It would be better to beg Holly for forgiveness tomorrow. As for Jackson, well, she could only pray to the God of Coco that this hadn’t been her one and only chance.
But Sunday morning Holly wouldn’t answer her cell or respond to Emma’s emails. Emma kept count. Three calls directly to voice mail, four unanswered texts, and two emails sent into the netherworld. Holly obviously wanted nothing to do with her.
Emma had gotten up early that morning to tackle the mountain of homework. Her mother kept walking into the living room with the excuse of needing this book off the shelf or that folder from the desk, so Emma had no choice but to plow through. By lunchtime, she was almost caught up—or at least closer than she had been in two weeks. She tried Holly again. Silence. Total freeze-out.
Then, after lunch, disaster struck.
Emma and her father rode up to Laceland in the empty elevator. The ancient building was eerily silent on a Sunday. Emma’s fingers itched to feel the hum of the machine under them again. She was so close now. Almost done. She practically sprinted to the front door, hopping from one foot to the other as she waited for her father to unlock it.
“It’s open,” he said. “Leo—you know, the building maintenance guy—is here with his team to do some repair work. But they shouldn’t be in your way at all.”
Emma pushed through the door and raced straight back to her work space. She froze, blinking several times. And screamed.
Chapter 14
Flipped Out!
She couldn’t believe her eyes. Paint!
White paint…splattered everywhere.
A dirty canvas tarp was draped haphazardly on her worktable. The floor of her studio was littered with cans of open paint, metal trays, and wood mixing sticks. And on her dress forms…oh, God…she couldn’t bear to look.
“No! No! Please no!” Emma screamed. “Dad! Come quick!”
Her father burst in. “What’s wrong?”
She pointed with a shaking hand at one of the dress forms. Her vest. Her beautiful, smooth cotton-sateen gray vest with the silk aquatic-watercolor-design lining had two huge white paint splatters. “They
“I don’t understand it.” Her father stared, horrified. “They weren’t supposed to be back here at all!” He balled his fists, his anger apparent. “Where is Leo? Leo! I paid him to supervise the painters just so something like this
Emma slowly walked over to the other two dress forms. She had left all three of her girls, as she had taken to calling them, here last night dressed in her nearly finished creations and looking beautiful. She had said a special good night to each one almost the same way her dad used to do when he tucked her in when she was younger. Wishing each one dreams as sweet as cotton candy. And now…now…
She examined the fabric as if under a microscope. She nodded slowly. The other two were unharmed. The third, oh God. She scrunched her eyes closed.
“I’m so, so sorry, Cookie,” Noah said, shaking his head. “This is awful. Leo has never let me down before.”
“What am I going to do?” Emma choked, as she tried to pick a glob of paint off the outside of the vest with her fingernail. But the paint was already dry. Even if she could scrape off the top layer, the fabric had already absorbed most of it.
