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He rocked back on his heels. “Lucky guess.”
“I can take a break.”
“Perfect.”
“Let’s go sit by the water.”
He was kind of sick of looking at the water, but he didn’t mind it so much if Dani was going to be there. At least he wasn’t by himself. “Sure.”
Dani pocketed her earbuds and he followed her down the path toward the tables and chairs set out on the public patio area. Dani chose a table and sat down. He set the pizza box down and took a seat beside her. “Ladies first.”
She opened the box and pulled out a slice. “Yum.” She took a large bite and then smiled at him. “This is delicious.”
It pleased him to hear those words. “Good. I wasn’t sure if you were the kind of girl who just liked to eat salad, but I took a guess based on what you ate last night.”
She shook her head. “I’d much rather eat pizza than salad. It drives me crazy when girls don’t actually eat. I’ve never understood it.”
“How has your morning gone, besides the great dog escape?”
She laughed. “Much better since then. I’ve managed to avoid filling the rooms with bubbles, and all pets are safe. But I did break another fingernail.” She looked down at her hands. “I’m beginning to think my nails are not going to survive this.”
“It might be hard to keep them long in this line of work.”
She frowned. “I might go get a manicure with my first paycheck. Is that stupid?”
“I don’t know. How much is a manicure?”
“A hundred and fifty.”
He almost choked on his bite. “How much?”
“Well, that’s with the works. I could see how much it is with the cheaper options.”
“Might be a good idea. How much will your paycheck be?”
She made a face. “I don’t know. Kay is paying me eight dollars an hour. How much will that be a week?”
Austin did a quick calculation in his head. “Three hundred and twenty dollars for the week.”
Dani’s eyes widened and she lowered the slice of pizza she’d half-eaten. “That’s all?”
“Yeah. And there are probably withholdings for taxes and stuff.”
“Oh. Then it won’t even be that much.”
He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he had to nod. “Yeah.”
Staring down at the table, she said, “Then I guess I can’t get a manicure. I need other stuff more.”
“Like what?”
“Clothes. But if I’m only getting three hundred and twenty dollars, that won’t even pay for one outfit.” Her eyes filled with tears. “And how will I eat?”
“Wait, how much do you spend on one outfit?”
“I don’t know. Five or six hundred, if I’m watching how much I’m spending.”
Austin looked for any signs that she was joking with him, but she didn’t give him any indication. He balked. Growing up poor, he’d never spent more than twenty bucks on a pair of jeans. Most of his T-shirts were around that price as well. How could she even get up to five hundred dollars? “You’ll have to shop at a discount store for clothes.”
