Tinsel (Lark Cove #4)(67)

I wasn’t sure if the studio’s locks would accept anyone else’s key but mine.

Work was the best thing for me, I’d learned. Staying home was too lonely and depressing. At least here, I was happy.

Or, happy-ish.

Was this why Dad and Aubrey worked so much? Were they avoiding things at home? Or did they just love their jobs?

At the moment, mine was a combination of both. I’d built ultimate flexibility into my job, but I had no desire to use it. So if I was going to be here anyway, why not teach?

“How about this?” Daniel turned his back to the glass. “What if we advertised for an instructor, and if we don’t find one we want to hire, you can do it? If you feel like teaching, you can pop in and out. And if we need one and you’re here, you can always be a substitute teacher.”

“Or I could be the teacher.”

“But what if you decide to take a vacation? Like an impromptu trip to, say . . . I don’t know. Montana?”

I shot him a glare. “Would you stop with that?”

“Sorry.” He held up his hands. “It was only a suggestion.”

“You’re worse than my parents.”

My parents were quite enchanted with Dakota. It was a welcome change, considering their cold attitude when I’d brought home other men. My father had barely spoken to Bryson the first time I’d invited him to a family dinner.

But with Dakota, everything was different. My father liked his entrepreneurial spirit. Granny loved his ability to banter. Aubrey liked that he was hardworking. And Mom had simply appreciated he’d beat the waiter to pull out her chair at the dinner table.

Like me, they’d all fallen for Dakota. It had taken nearly all of the past three months to get them to stop asking when he’d be visiting again. They didn’t understand why we weren’t in a relationship.

Especially when the relationships I had chosen had been with such losers. Mom especially was bewildered that I’d let Dakota go.

What my family didn’t realize was that we’d set each other free.

It was for the best. I kept telling myself that. If he couldn’t see us together, we’d be doomed before we started.

As much as he was his own man who made his own path, I knew his family’s influence played a part in his decisions—whether he wanted to admit it or not. For so long, he’d been taught to pick a suitable partner, a woman who shared his heritage.

I was not that woman.

Maybe the reason he couldn’t picture us together was because I’d never be right. It was crushing. Soul crushing. For once, I’d found the right guy. And for once, I wasn’t the right girl.

The irony had sent me into my new workaholic state. Was three months long enough for that self-appointed title?

Whatever. I was keeping it. Because that was my heritage.

“Fine. I’ll settle for substitute teacher,” I told Daniel then walked away from the window and down the hallway to my office.

“You are the boss.” Daniel followed me and took the guest chair in front of my desk. “You can overrule me.”

“No, you’re right. We should hire an instructor. If we can find someone with a few professional accolades, that might help with fundraising too.”

“If you keep raising money, we’re going to need to expand.”

“Should we?”

His face blanched. “I was joking.”

“But what if you weren’t?”

Daniel thought about it for a moment, pondering the idea. We’d only been open for three months, but our classes were full and I had a waiting list of schools with children interested in attending in lieu of an after-school program.

We’d raised three years’ worth of operating costs at our grand opening gala, seven times what we’d projected. It put us in a great spot to run the studio for years. And worst-case scenario, if everything fell to pieces, I was not above using my trust fund to supplement the donations.

Expanding meant twice the cost. Maybe three times. And it meant finding a larger building or opening a satellite studio.

But the prospect of another huge project to consume my every waking minute was so tempting I was practically drooling as Daniel sat, silently contemplating my suggestion.

“It’s so soon.” He worried his bottom lip between his teeth, a nervous habit I’d noticed early on in our working relationship.

“Let’s think about it. Hire your instructor. Run some numbers because I know you, and you won’t be able to sleep until you have everything analyzed in a spreadsheet. Then let’s talk. But I don’t want to slow down. We have momentum right now, and I don’t want to lose it.”

The authority in my voice was surprising. Exciting, even. Usually, he was the one giving me orders, even though I was technically the boss.

Daniel nodded, still deep in thought. When he stood up from the chair, I knew I’d sparked an interest because he went to his neighboring office and closed the door.

Daniel only closed his office door when he needed to concentrate.

I had a feeling I’d be getting an email in the middle of the night with colorful graphs and charts showing me exactly what an expansion would entail.

Alone in my office, I spent the rest of the evening returning a few emails and handwriting thank-you notes to our latest donors. I said good night to the last class of children, waited for the instructors to grab their things and leave, then knocked on Daniel’s office door.