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That’s the moment that the front door swings open and Saffron comes in, hauling her own heavy luggage. She looks at me, sees the damaged wood behind me, and her eyes widen.
“Oh my god. Are you okay?” she asks me. She drops her bag and rushes over to me with a rustle of her long pink silk skirt.
I give her a quick hug. “Totally fine. I just walked around the corner and saw that the ceiling fell down. Natasha—”
I turn to indicate her. But the hallway is empty. I roll my eyes.
“Sorry, Natasha chased me out of the dining room. And then I came here and found this mess.”
She looks up the stairwell, dropping her bag to the floor. “Well… this is bad.”
“Yeah…” I eye her. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. I’m totally sorry for telling your parents that you had an apartment, by the way. It just sort of slipped out without me even really thinking about it.”
“I mean, I didn’t tell you not to tell anybody. It literally never occurred to me that you might accidentally tell my parents. That’s my fault.” She shakes her head.
“You aren’t mad?”
“Nah. How can I blame you?” Saffron wrinkles her nose. “My parents did absolutely shit a brick when they found out, though. Mum threw the biggest fit I’ve ever seen until I resigned the apartment.”
“You mean you gave it up?” My eyes widen.
She gives me a sneaky smile. “That’s Mum for you. She thinks that everyone has to listen to her all the damn time.” She grins. “Just think how mad they’re going to be when they find out that I’m taking next semester off.”
“Uhhh… pretty mad, I’m guessing.”
“It’s going to drive her insane!” Saffron says, looking cheerful. “I’m thinking about going to America. I’ll be way out of my mum’s sphere of influence. That’ll teach my parents to try to control every single move I make.”
“Whoa!” I say. “And I thought my dad was controlling. Your mom puts him to shame.”
She rolls a shoulder at that and leans against the stairwell, turning her gaze back to the problem at hand. “They can both be awful. It’s is certainly not a competition.”
I turn to the stairs, wrinkling my nose at the mess. “Yeah. What do we do about this?”
“Get Henri, I guess. He can make the decision about whether to call someone in to fix it or not.”
“What needs to be repaired?” As if saying his name summoned him, Henri appears down the hallway. He rushes toward us and comes around the stairs. His face flushes red and he looks genuinely distressed.
“Mon dies!” he cries. He looks at me, a hand flying to his heart. “Are you okay, mademoiselle?”
“I’m fine. I just found it like this.”
“This is terrible,” Henri says, his eyes wide as he scopes out the damage. “If you don’t mind, ladies…”
He shoos us along into the hallway. Saffron drags her bag out of the foyer and leaves it in the hall with a shrug.
“Where should we hang out?”
“Let’s go into the sitting room. Henri cleaned it after your parents were here, and I think no one has even stepped in there since.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll follow you,” Saffron says. “Why is it so quiet in here today?”
I open the door into the living room, holding it for Saffron. She barrels through it and lands on one of the yellow couches with a whiff.
“Isla is at camp. Keir is working. And Natasha is lurking around, being a freaking bridge troll.”
She laughs at my tone. “What do you mean by that?”
“Natasha is seriously unstable. I don’t understand why your brother employs her. I wonder if she already knew about the ceiling.” I take a seat on the couch and cross my arms.
