"I'm sorry," she mumbled, hearing the girls laughing behind her. She started brushing the sand off her shorts as she knelt, and that's when she noticed the smeared henna over the back of her hand.#p#分页标题#e#
"Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes concerned, and she knew he hadn't seen, didn't notice.
Panicked, she glanced down at his pants, seeing the stain on the inside of the leg. The material was a dark grey and the henna was brown, leaving a clear mark. "Oh my god... your pants... I'm so sorry..."
"What did you do?" Ty glanced over at them, frowning.
Still kneeling, she held out her trembling hand, the painstaking design now a dark smudge, turning her eyes up first to Ty and then to Mr. Kaiser, who was inspecting his pant leg now with a frown.
"That's a Fioravanti, isn't it?" Heidi winced.
He nodded, his mouth set in a fierce, thin line. If she had thought his smile was cruel, this expression bordered ruthless.
"Oh my god!" Ty's hands were pressed to his cheeks, his eyes wide. "Heidi, you're going to have to pay for that! What were you doing with henna on your hands!?"
"That's a three thousand dollar suit," Heidi whispered, sure no one could hear her. She knew, she knew what she had done.
"Five," Kaiser corrected, standing. He reached into his pocket, digging out his keys. "I have a change of clothes in my trunk. It's the Porsche. Get them."
Heidi took his keys, trying hard not to cry as she ran to his car. Careful to use only the hand without the henna, she retrieved a dry-cleaning bag, slinging it over her shoulder as she ran back toward the beach.
"Where is he?" she gasped to Ty, who had gone back to photographing the girls.
"Trailer." Ty waved her off.
Inside it was dark and cool and quiet. Everyone else was out on the beach, and even the henna lady had gone.
"Mr. Kaiser?" She was trembling as she made her way toward the back of the trailer and saw a light on in the little bathroom. "Sir?"
"In here, Heidi."
She startled, surprised and secretly thrilled when he said her name. She found him sitting on the edge of the toilet seat with his pants folded neatly on the sink, the stain showing.
"I'm so sorry." She edged inside and shut the door.
"See if you can get the stain out." He held his hand out for the dry cleaning bag. She handed it to him and turned to the sink, feeling cold. Using soap on her hands to wash the rest of the wet henna away, leaving a ghostly pattern, she then started on the pants.
"You know a great deal about fashion." He stood and hung the bag over the hook on the door.
"Fashion design major." She scrubbed the stain, feeling that flush creeping up her cheeks. "Syracuse. I graduated last year."
"And you came to work for Kaiser?" He slipped off his suit jacket. "Probably thinking you could get your foot in the door?"
She nodded, blinking back tears, and rinsed the spot. It had barely faded. What was that henna stuff made of? "Something like that."
"And now you're basically the go-to girl?" He shook out his suit coat carefully, leaving on his shirt and tie, while Heidi watched him in the mirror.
"Basically." She turned off the water, drying her hands on a paper towel. They were trembling, too. "Sir, I…I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to get this clean."
He nodded. "I was afraid of that."
"I'm glad you had this suit in your car." Heidi turned toward the dry-cleaning bag and unzipped it. "It's—oh my god. Is that a Liana Lee?"
He smiled, that sardonic twist of his mouth. "I thought you might appreciate that."
"She's my idol!" Heidi ran her fingers over the lapel.
"You want to design men's suits?" He reached around her and slipped the jacket off the hanger and handed her his other suit jacket. "Hang this one up."
"Among other things." She obediently hung his other suit jacket up.
He straightened his collar, his tie, glancing at her in the mirror. "So, Miss Heidi, what are we going to do about these pants?"
She bit her lip, meeting his gaze in the mirror. His face was serious, his eyes hard. What could she do, what could she possibly say?
"I don’t know..." She swallowed hard. "With what I make, it would take me forever to pay you back five thousand dollars."
"I understand that." His gaze moved over her, taking in her tousled blonde hair, her t-shirt and shorts, the body beneath them lush and fully feminine—much more so, to Heidi’s lament, than the tall, slender models she worked around all day. "Still, something like this... there is the matter of personal responsibility."