He shrugged. “Anywhere you want.”
A small laugh escaped her, and she slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she said, looking down with obvious dismay to find she’d turned her dress into an impossibly worse mess. She smoothed the wrinkled fabric, stretching it this way and that in a futile effort to straighten it even moderately before she gave up and slipped it on. “I can’t. I have to go to work.” She turned and presented her bare back. “Zip me up, would you?”
“I’m not throwing this out there without some thought, Rachel. I would very much like you to spend the weekend with me.”
She glanced back at him, her face a riot of emotions. “I’d like that, Isaac. Truly. But I have to go to work. You might be the one the Lord goes to for a personal loan, but I, unfortunately, don’t have that type of financial freedom.”
“You’re an attorney,” he stated, as if she might have forgotten.
“Right. With all the student-loan debt that accompanies the job title. I don’t have a choice.” She shook her head, then darted across the room to grab her shoes. “Then, when you add the outrageous rent I pay for a one-bedroom studio in the city? I have to work. I did try, once, to get my landlord to acceptMonopolymoney for my rent.” She grinned over her shoulder, the look bright and unfettered. “He wasn’t amused.”
“Call in sick.” He knew he sounded irascible, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t ready for this to end.
Shoes in hand, she turned to face him. “Excuse me?”
“Call in sick.” He shrugged. “People do it all the time.”
“‘People’ might, but I don’t. Ever. It’s not ethical.”
“Be that as it may, it tells me you have the time on the books. You must get at least five days a year. If you don’t ‘ever’ use them, then the days are available. So use one.”
“And where would we go?”
“Like I said, anywhere you want.”
“Dublin.”
“Ireland?”
“No, Isaac. Dublin, Ohio.”
“I’m not sure what’s there, but if that’s where you really want to go? Sure.”
She moved so fast he didn’t have time to avoid the pillow she chucked at him. Before the first one hit the floor, she’d armed herself with another and was poised to pitch it, as well. “Yes, Ireland. Dublin, Ireland. If you meant it when you said anywhere, it’s the place I want to go more than anywhere else in the world. For the chance to go, even for a weekend? I’d call in.”
Satisfaction moved through him like a warm wind. If visiting Ireland was her greatest wish? He could make that happen a hundred, even a thousand times.
Moving with deceptive casualness, he retrieved his phone and tossed it to her. It landed on the bed, inches in front of her. “Call in.”
“You’re serious.”
“I would think you’d realizeby now that I don’t make offers I can’t, or won’t, follow through on, Rachel. I don’t play games.”
“You’re insane.” Grabbing her clutch, she seemed as if she was about to leave. Instead, she pulled out her phone. A few taps to the screen and she held the phone to her ear, her pointer finger hovering over her lips in a shushing gesture. The sound of ringing, a recorded greeting and, finally, the beep cueing her to leave a message. She looked at him with wide eyes, her hesitation as clear as the crisp blue sky outside.
He nodded once toward the phone.
“Jim, I won’t be in today. I have to take care of something that came up unexpectedly. I’ll use a personal day to cover the absence. Feel free to call if there’s an emergency and I’ll do my best to get back to you before the day is out. Otherwise, I’ll talk to you Monday.” She disconnected and let her hand fall to her side, the phone slipping free and hitting the floor with a muted plunk.
He stepped across the room and bent low, sweeping her phone off the floor and deftly turning off the ringer. “I thought you were going to call in sick.”
She lowered herself onto the edge of the bed. “I didn’t want to lie.”
The woman was an anomaly, without a doubt. But he appreciated that about her. “I admire your honesty.”
“I wish I felt better about it being actual honesty.” She slumped forward and sighed, then abruptly stood. “I can’t go to Dublin wearing a dress that needs to see the cleaner before it sees the light of day, so I need to go back to my place and pick up some more appropriate clothes. And I’ll need my passport.”
“We’ll get something at the airport that will tide you over. There are always sweats available. And, if you’ll allow it, I’ll have Collin goby your place while we’re getting ready. He can grab your passport and bring it to the airport.”