Window Dressing Read online

  Table of Contents

  Legal Page

  Title Page

  Book Description

  Dedication

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  New Excerpt

  About the Author

  Publisher Page

  Window Dressing

  ISBN # 978-1-78651-492-9

  ©Copyright Lucy Felthouse 2016

  Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright November 2016

  Edited by Shannon Combs

  Pride Publishing

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

  Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

  The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

  Published in 2016 by Pride Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

  Pride Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

  WINDOW DRESSING

  Lucy Felthouse

  Can Jessie work with a woman with the looks of a pixie and the personality of a dragon to complete the most important task of her career?

  Shop-fitter Jessie is sent to London’s Oxford Street to work overnight on a flagship store’s front window. It’s the first time she’s completed such an important task by herself, but the plans and organization are solid—it’s just a case of getting it turned around before the store reopens the following morning.

  What she’s not betting on, however, is the woman in charge of the project—Edith. She has the looks of a pixie but the personality of a dragon, and it soon becomes clear to Jessie that the job isn’t going to be smooth sailing, not with Edith being awkward and putting Jessie down at every turn. As the hours drag on, Jessie somehow manages to peer beneath Edith’s frosty exterior, and much to her surprise, she kind of likes what she finds. But will she abandon her principles—and potentially risk her job—for a one-off thing?

  Dedication

  To everyone reading this, thank you so much for picking up this book. I hope you enjoy it.

  To my fellow Brit Babes, thank you for continuing to be a constant source of inspiration, support and fun.

  Last, but not least, thank you to The Brit Babes Street Team for all your support and the giggles. You keep me going when things get tough.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  iPad: Apple, Inc.

  Pepsi: Pepsico, Inc.

  Chapter One

  With a sigh of relief, I followed the satnav’s instructions and indicated right, swinging the van into the side road off London’s Oxford Street.

  “You have reached your destination,” remarked the posh voice coming from the machine.

  “Thank fuck for that,” I shot back, removing the device from the windscreen, then wiping at the telltale ring it left behind on the glass with my sleeve, hoping to remove any temptation for potential thieves. No doubt they swarmed around this area, tourist Mecca as it was. I didn’t want them to catch me out.

  I stowed away the satnav, switched off the van’s ignition and grabbed all my stuff. Hopping out onto the road, I then locked the van and pocketed the keys. Then, wiping my damp palms on my black work trousers, I approached the rear door of the shop where I was to work.

  Come on, get a grip, Jessie! You may be new at this, but you know what you’re doing. You’ve got this.

  I wasn’t totally insane to be nervous. I’d been working for the shop-fitting company for just over a year now, and it was great. I really enjoyed the work, the variety. But this was the first time I’d been sent out on a job by myself. It hadn’t been intentional, either—the job was last-minute, and the client had made it worth my employer’s while. Normally there would be a team of two coming here, but there was another big job, one that needed the more experienced fitters on board. Therefore, I’d been pulled off that task, in order to do this one. Alone.

  Adding more worry was the warning one of my colleagues had given me on finding out where I was being sent. ‘You watch out for that Edith woman, Jessie. She may look like a pixie, but she’s actually more of a dragon. She frightens the bloody life out of me.’

  The warning ringing in my ears, I took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. I could do this. I could. I’d made it all the way from Leeds to London, navigating busy motorways and the complete insanity that was England’s capital city, venturing right into the heart—the craziest of the crazy. Fortunately, by the time I’d hit the West End, the traffic wasn’t too bad, given that the shops were closing and rush hour had been and gone. There were still morons galore, naturally—honking taxi drivers, swerving, lane-hopping cyclists, oblivious rickshaw drivers, suicidal pedestrians—but I’d kept my cool throughout, telling myself I was so close to the end of my journey that I could almost touch it. Taste it.

  And here I was, at the back entrance of the flagship store of the world-famous fashion chain, ready to change over its window display in time for when the shop reopened in the morning. I glanced at my watch, relaxed a little. It was ten p.m. Eleven whole hours until opening time. No problem, even for a relative newbie like me.

  The door opened a crack and a sliver of a dark face peered out at me. “Yes?”

  “Oh, hi. I’m Jessie—from the shop-fitters? Here to work on your window display?”

  The woman—the voice had given it away, as she was still peering through the crack between the door and its frame—eyed me up. The black trousers, black T-shirt, black fleece—the latter two bearing the name of the company I worked for—clearly weren’t enough. Turning her attention to the van behind me—emblazoned with the company name in huge letters—she now seemed convinced.

  “All right,” she said, opening the door wider and stepping back to let me through. “Come on in.”

  “Thanks…”

  “I’m Jacqueline. Edith’s already in the window. She’s the one in charge.”

  I nodded. “Okay—lead the way.” I followed Jacqueline through the dimly lit storeroom. I’d known instantly she wasn’t Edith, because she looked nothing like a pixie. More like a goddess. She had a curly black afro, curves you could lose yourself in for days and a wiggle that would have turned me instantly if I wasn’t already into women.

  Blinking as we emerged into the blazing lights of the shop floor, I continued in Jacqueline’s wake, adjusting my ponytail and fixing a smile on my face as we grew closer to the window…and Edith. She was the big cheese—when it came to the window design and execution, anyway—so I needed to make a good impression. Hopefully she’d give good feedback to my boss, and I’d get more projects like this in future. Maybe even a raise—a girl could dream, right?

  “Hi,” I said as we came within a couple of paces of my soon-to-be workspace. “I’m Jessie. Pleased to meet you.”

  After a brief pause, the pixie took the hand I was holding out and shook it. Firm, confide
nt, but brief. She was no-nonsense, this woman. But I’d known that already.

  “Edith,” she replied coolly, then jerked her head in Jacqueline’s direction. “I presume you two have already introduced yourselves? Jacqueline is my number two—she’s going to be helping us this evening.”

  “All right!” I said, rubbing my hands together. “So, do you want to go through the plans, then we can crack on.”

  Edith’s green eyes narrowed, sending a chill down my spine. “Haven’t you already seen the plans?”

  I tried not to gulp. “Y-yes, of course. But I thought it’d be useful to outline everything, make sure we’re on the same page. Avoid any potential problems.”

  “You foresee problems?” Hands on hips, she raised her eyebrows, which were the same golden color as her cropped hair.

  Fuck. I’ve riled the dragon already. “No,” I said, more confidently than I felt, “absolutely not. But I haven’t worked at this store before, or with you, so it makes sense for me to get to know the place, discuss the plans with you, before we begin.”

  A bored look on her face, Edith bent to retrieve a clipboard that sat on a pile of boxes next to the window. “All right.” She thrust the clipboard at me. “Here are the plans, my notes. I hope this won’t take too long, we’re on a tight schedule here.”

  Eager not to get burned by the flames billowing from the dragon’s mouth, I took the clipboard with a smile so forced it hurt my face. “I’m a quick reader.”

  “Good. I am going to use the bathroom while you’re reading. Then I will go to the kitchen. Would you like a drink?”

  As long as you don’t put arsenic in it. “Yes, please,” I said brightly. “Tea, milk, two sugars, please.”

  As soon as her attention shifted from me to Jacqueline, I started reading. No way was this stuck-up bitch going to catch me out. I hadn’t lied to her—I had studied the plans, inside out, in fact. But although I was relatively new to all this, I’d very quickly learned just how often clients made ‘little tweaks’ to the plans without telling us, which could fuck up everything entirely. The last thing I wanted was to start sawing wood and building everything to the original specification, only to be told I was doing it all wrong.

  Thankfully, Edith’s notes and plans still seemed to match what I’d been given. She hadn’t yet returned, so I turned to Jacqueline with a smile and said, “Okay, this all looks to be in order. Would you mind helping me to start stripping out the existing display while we wait for Edith to come back?”

  The girl’s generous lips curved up into a smile. “No problem. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can finish, right?”

  “Precisely. Once we get going it’ll all be pretty straightforward, I should imagine.”

  Famous last words.

  Chapter Two

  By the time Edith returned with the drinks, Jacqueline and I had removed a mannequin each from the window and stripped them off, ready for their new outfits.

  “Drinks,” Edith said, placing the tray down on an empty stand nearby.

  “Great,” I replied, beaming at her. Just because she was a miserable cow didn’t mean I was going to let her bring me down too. “Thanks so much. The plans are perfect, by the way, and Jacqueline and I have already made a start.”

  In response, her gaze flicked between the two of us and the naked mannequins. “So I see.”

  I was pretty sure the temperature in the room plummeted by at least five degrees, but I reined in the shiver that wanted to roll across my body. She was just a woman, for heaven’s sake. I wasn’t going to let her scare me. “Well!” I clapped my hands, then headed back into the window for another mannequin. “We’re making progress on removing the old display. Once it’s all out and packed away, I’ll go and unload the van.”

  Swiftly taking the dummy from me, Edith said, “I’m sure Jacqueline will help you.”

  Keeping my tone bright and professional, I said, “Great, thanks!” Inside, I was wondering what the hell the bitch’s problem was. I was there to do a job, and that’s precisely what I was doing… How could I possibly have offended her or pissed her off?

  Pushing my irritation aside, I got on with the task at hand, speaking as little as possible and avoiding looking at or interacting with the dragon unless necessary. Soon—with a little break to drink our tea—there was a nice blank space for me to work with. The fun part was due to begin. My favorite part of my job was the building part, the creating.

  “So, where does all this stuff need to go? Storeroom?”

  I’d aimed my question at Edith, but she was busily faffing about with the newly dressed mannequins. She’d left Jacqueline and me to do the heavy lifting—literally—while she sorted out the replacement outfits. I knew it had to be done sooner or later, but I couldn’t deny how much it irked me that she wasn’t helping us at all.

  Jacqueline, clearly realizing her boss wasn’t going to reply, said, “Yeah. Come on, I’ll show you. We’ve got a flatbed trolley out there we can use too.”

  With a grateful smile, I followed her off the shop floor and away from the distracted dragon. Once we were out of earshot, I was dying to burst out and ask Jacqueline what Edith’s problem was, but I bit my lip. It wasn’t professional, for starters, and although it seemed there was no love lost between the two women, I didn’t know Jacqueline well enough to trust her—she could turn around and repeat everything I’d said back to her boss.

  I wondered then if the reason the atmosphere between them was frosty was because they’d maybe once been an item. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure about Edith—it was entirely possible she just hated everybody, no matter their sex—but I’d definitely gotten lesbian vibes off Jacqueline. Maybe that was it—maybe Edith had knocked Jacqueline back?

  I stifled a snigger. No, that couldn’t be right. Edith was terrifying. It would take someone with serious balls—figuratively speaking, of course—to come on to her, or ask her out even. I just couldn’t imagine Jacqueline plucking up the courage. Unless she’d been drunk at a Christmas party, or something. Shit, a person would have to be seriously pissed to approach the dragon’s lair.

  Out back, with a firmly closed door and plenty of space between us and Edith, Jacqueline apparently felt able to open up. She sighed as she retrieved the aforementioned trolley and pointed it at the door we’d just come through. “Yes, she’s always like that, before you ask.”

  Although my surprise stemmed from the fact she’d said the words, rather than their content, I ran with it. “Huh? What? I didn’t say anything!”

  Fixing me with a wry look and quirking a perfectly shaped eyebrow, Jacqueline replied, “You didn’t need to. She’s a prickly, unpleasant woman, and she always treats people like shit, I’m afraid. I’ve no doubt there will be more snide comments aimed in our direction by the time the night is over. She’s my boss, though, so I just have to grin and bear it.”

  Still unwilling to say anything in case it came back and bit me in the arse later on, I made a noncommittal sound. I wanted to trust her, to maybe exchange a bit of banter with her, as the camaraderie—despite its clandestine nature—would probably make the next few hours go faster. But I just didn’t dare risk it—I loved my job too much to lose it. And roles like mine weren’t exactly ten-a-penny, either.

  Clearly realizing I wasn’t going to take the bait, she shrugged. “Suit yourself. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Breezing past me, she used the trolley to push open the doors back out onto the shop floor, and, I suspect, with a great deal more force than was necessary.

  Now it was my turn to sigh. All I’d been trying to do was remain impartial, and now I’d managed to piss off the one person who could actually have been an ally. And, if I’d been right about the whole lesbian thing, who knew what could have happened after the job was finished? I had no idea what she thought about me, but I definitely would have been up for spending more time with her. She was gorgeous.

  I allowed myself a few moments of muttering and
swearing, then arranged my face into a smile and hurried after Jacqueline. Sod it—I’d just focus on the job, nothing else. I was here to work, not get laid. Though it would have been a nice bonus…

  Pushing the thoughts to the back of my mind, I marched up to the discarded, broken-up parts of the old display and started loading them onto the flatbed without a word to the other two women.

  Jacqueline seemed to take the hint and followed my lead. Edith, unsurprisingly, ignored the both of us and simply carried on plucking at the hems of shirts and skirts, rearranging scarves, making the damn mannequins as pretty and stylish as possible. I couldn’t help thinking how unprofessional she was being. Yes, she was effectively the project manager this evening, but that didn’t make Jacqueline and me her slaves—we were all in it together. And the more we all mucked in, the sooner we’d be done.

  But I wasn’t brave or confident enough to voice any of that, so I labored away, grumbling inside my head. It didn’t make me feel any better, though.

  The trolley soon filled up, so I grabbed the handles and, with a smile and a nod to Jacqueline, pushed it back in the direction of the storeroom.

  A few trolleyfulls later and we had a truly blank canvas to work with in the front of the store. I suppressed a jump for joy. It didn’t mean we were nearly done—far from it—but at least things would get more interesting now.

  “Okay,” I said, much more loudly than necessary, aiming my words at the dragon, “I’m going to start bringing in stuff from the van. Time to get this show on the road and make some real progress.”

  The look Edith shot me was full of barely concealed distaste. Or was it dislike? Possibly both. I’d gotten to the stage where I really didn’t care. It didn’t matter a jot if she liked me or not—I was going to get this fucking window display finished to the best of my ability, whether she helped or not.