“Talking about me as usual, I see,” she said as she put the romper on a rack. “What did Mom say?”

“She left the keys at her office. She’s gone for the night, but she told the guard at the front desk I’ll be coming to get them.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, shaking my head. I was suddenly aware of just how long Matty had spent with me, when it clearly hadn’t been on his agenda. He still had Ukrainian food to eat on the Lower East Side. “I don’t want to hijack your whole night.”

“Excuse me, his whole night will start at eleven, when my little soiree begins,” Margaux said firmly. “He has no night before that.”

“Oh, I don’t?”

Margaux rolled her eyes and shoved his arm. “You are coming, right? And you, too, Stevie?”

“Coming where?” I asked, just trying to keep up.

“We’re having a few people over to the apartment,” Margaux said. “I’ll text you the address. Things’ll be getting started after eleven.”

“She broke her phone,” Matty reminded Margaux. “I’ll write down the address for her on the way to Mom’s office.”

“I can go by myself,” I said. It was my dad’s office too, after all—that was how he and Joy had met in the first place—so it wasn’t like I was unfamiliar with it. And I realized, with a jolt of happiness, that I could go and see my dad. Even if he was working, I could swing by and say hi. He was going to see that I’d been here from the credit card charge, after all. And even if he was super busy, I could at least get a few minutes with him.

“But the guard is expecting me,” Matty pointed out. “They’re not going to let you into her office without permission.”

“You do look untrustworthy,” Margaux agreed as she flipped through the racks.

I took a breath to try and convince Matty I could go it alone, but then just let it out when I realized I had nothing to say. My best chance for getting back into Mallory’s apartment was to get the keys from Joy’s office—which meant I’d have to inconvenience Matty a little bit longer. “Okay,” I finally said.

Matty gave me a smile, then picked up Brad so that he was tucked into the crook of his arm. “Say bye, Senator,” he said, making Brad’s paw wave.

“Actually,” Margaux said as she took him back from Matty, looking at the dog appraisingly. “Can I keep him? I really think that I might be able to use him in one of the setups later.”