The Assistant (Stefanielle)

Chapter 32

"We can talk about this tomorrow,"

Danielle knew that she would have to endure the entire working day before being able to sit down and have a proper conversation with Stefania. She could barely focus as she spoke to the team about the Randox campaign, stumbling over her words but covering it up by laughing and insisting that she just worked better behind the screen. 

"I'm going to go grab a coffee, does anyone want anything?" Danielle asked after their briefing had finished, but most people seemed to be heading the same way anyway. Danielle was quiet as she queued up to order her coffee, turning around when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Oh, hey Gabriella,"

"Hi," Gabriella smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?" She returned, head tilted to the side. 

"Yeah, good too. Just grabbing coffee's and a muffin, I need something sweet,"

"The croissants here are really good," Danielle suggested as they moved further in the queue. 

"Yeah? Maybe I'll get both," She laughed, Danielle laughing quietly as well before she was called up to the counter. Gabriella stood next to Danielle as they waited for their orders to be made, glancing at her a couple of times before speaking. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Danielle replied, uncertain of what the question could be.

"I don't want you to think I'm being invasive or anything, but I just haven't been able to figure it out... are you sleeping with Miss Spampinato?" Danielle immediately felt a blush rise on her cheeks so she looked down at the floor and struggled to find her words. 

"What makes you ask that?"

"You come up a lot. More than anyone and she is usually smiley when you leave," Gabrielle explained. "Sometimes, there's not much to do up there so I need to entertain myself by trying to decipher Miss Spampinato's face," Danielle was genuinely lost for words, moving her hands around but no words were coming out. 

"I-"

"Oh shit! Is she- is she like a mistress to you?" If Danielle already had her coffee, she most likely would have spat it out of her mouth. 

"A mistress?"

"Sorry, I just noticed the ring," Gabriella said, looking at Danielle's hand. "Very beautiful, wow." She nodded.

"I'm going to see if you can piece that one together yourself," Danielle winked at Gabriella as her order was called and she collected her coffee, standing to the side as she added a sugar. She glanced back at Gabriella who was clearly thinking hard about the situation. She was still thinking as they left the coffee shop, then suddenly stopped, gasped and nearly made Danielle drop her coffee as she grabbed her arm excitedly. 

"You're- you're engaged to... Miss Spampinato?" Her voice became quieter after each word, though her eyes became wider. Danielle couldn't help the grin that spread over her face as she nodded. 

"I am," She said proudly. "She actually proposed to me on the roof. Rose petals everywhere,"

"Stop! How did I not notice? This makes so much sense," The way Gabriella reacted reminded Danielle of how Sarah Drew reacted. They did promise to keep in touch but it wasn't as frequent as either of them would have hoped. Danielle even thought about Jessica and how she would react to know about her and Stefania. They hadn't spoken in a while either but she was happy and healthy with her twin girls.

"We learnt how to sneak around," She said with a smile as she brought her coffee up to her lips. "Quite good at it if I do say so myself,"

"Mhm, very," Gabriella nodded. "That's crazy, wow. Congratulations,"