After an unsuccessful search in the supply room, Nick led her into the adjacent office. “Have a seat there while I look around.” He bypassed the desk and its cushioned chair, instead deliberately pointing to a five-gallon bucket of something as he made his way across the room.
    Lovely. Did he think to punish her for falling, interrupting his work, and making a mess? Well, she didn’t have to stoop to his level of pettiness.
    At least not today.
    After almost falling off the too-low bucket, she recovered her balance, rubbed the ache from her knee, then turned her attention to her disaster of a phone as the janitor rummaged in the small bank of lockers along the far wall. After removing the battery and attempting to dry the pieces of her phone on the lone dry corner of her shirt, she gave up, dropped the parts into the purse sitting on her lap, and folded her hands on top.
    If a bag of rice from the grocery store didn’t save it overnight, she’d have to splurge on a new phone tomorrow. Assuming she could find the right store without the help of her smartphone’s GPS.
    She might have to do it the old-fashioned way and ask someone.
    With crossed ankles and a straight spine, she resolved to face this latest setback with the grace of a lady.
    “Princess, you know this isn’t high tea.” Nick’s Southern accent emphasized their differences while his brown eyes twinkled as if he enjoyed her discomfort.
    Then again, she could only imagine how ridiculous she looked—dripping wet and pretending that she perched on a proper chair instead of a bucket.
    She lifted her chin. “Well, a girl can hope.” Her eyes drifted to the ball of white fabric clutched in his dirty hands, and she frowned. If he had found a T-shirt, hopefully there wouldn’t be lingering fingerprints or a mechanical smell on it. Then again, maybe it was only a rag he held.
    “Hmm.” His grip on the fabric tightened, and he frowned as if he knew she judged his appearance. “Hope might be all you get.”
    A foreign twinge of something like regret poked her conscience, but she pushed it away.
    He might be trying to be helpful, but being friends with the janitor wouldn’t get her anywhere. She really needed to get out of this room and back with the cute brothers who were the directors of her new show.