As she stood, she noticed the small light flashing on her phone.
"A message?" she muttered. Her heart leapt. She grabbed the phone, thoughts already racing ahead of her. Maybe Savannah had a change of heart...
1 message from HB (work):
> Helloooo??? Sadie??? Do I call the police or what???
Sadie winced. She hadn't gone back to work after she'd stumbled across the paintings in the alley, unable to face the inevitable barrage of questions from Holly Blue or Jeannine's smug, lipglossed smile. She hastily dialled Holly Blue's number.
Her coworker picked up immediately. "Christ! Look who finally decided to look at their phone," Holly Blue said, before Sadie could even get a 'Hello' in. "Where the hell did you go yesterday? I thought you got kidnapped or something!"
"Sorry. Things got crazy," she said. It was only sort of a lie.
"So? Did you meet whoever you were going to see?"
Yesterday's events flicked through her mind, bringing with it a sharp wave of frustration, regret. Sadie sucked in a sharp breath. "Uh...yeah. Yeah, it was good." She scrambled to change the subject. "What did Jeannine say after I left?"
Holly Blue hummed a couple of notes. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"
"Uhh...short version."
"Yeah, you're fired."
"Shit." Sadie leaned back against the wall, fingers tensing around the phone. Shit, shit, shit.
"You were supposed to come back, remember?" Holly Blue said. "Should have at least left a cardboard cutout of yourself if you were planning to ditch for the whole evening."
"Yeah, I know. Something came up."
"You and Savannah really hit it off, huh? Just don't forget to mention me after you get internet-famous, okay? Promise?"
Sadie forced a brittle laugh. "Sure."
This time she'd really blown it. What was she going to do? Sadie took a long breath, in and out again, trying to clutch onto that peace she'd felt in the alleyway yesterday, surrounded by light and colour.
She glanced down at the skylark, still pecking cheerfully at the bread, and frowned.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
Sadie recounted the street she'd stumbled into the other day and the painting she couldn't get out of her head. Holly Blue wasn't an art person, but she'd been known to spend her afternoons off wandering aimlessly around the city — 'soaking up the vibe', as she explained it — so she'd probably know something about it.
"Hmm...sounds sorta familiar," Holly Blue said. "You'll have to show me where it is." She snapped her fingers. "Hey, actually — I just finished my shift. How about you join me for lunch and we talk it over?"
"As in, leave the house?"
"Aw, come on," Holly Blue wheedled. "I'll comp you for the food." She snorted and added: "seeing as you don't have a job to pay for it anymore."
Sadie scowled. "You and I need to have a talk about tact."
"I dunno, sounds kinda boring." Holly Blue said. "So...Bubble Bubble in half an hour?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
