Window Dressing Read online

  “Perhaps,” she said, her tone so chilling I wouldn’t have been surprised if ice cubes started dropping out of her red-painted mouth, “we’d make some real progress if Jacqueline put her back into it a little more.”

  I gaped at her, unable to believe what she’d just said. Blinking, I slowly turned to Jacqueline, wondering if perhaps I’d misheard or misunderstood what Edith had said.

  But as I took in the pretty brown eyes, rapidly welling up with tears, I knew I hadn’t misheard or misunderstood.

  Frozen in place, I had no idea what to do or say. The dragon hadn’t aimed her spiteful comments at me, but every instinct in me wanted to defend Jacqueline, given she was the only one from the store who had been putting their back into it. The comment had been so ridiculously ironic I wanted to believe she was joking, but humor wasn’t in Edith’s nature. I’d learned that much in my short time in the same room as her. She was a sense-of-humor-free zone.

  Knowing I couldn’t stand there indefinitely, I chickened out, like the coward I was. Taking the trolley, I hurried off the shop floor and back toward the door leading out to where I’d parked the van. Whatever was going on between those two was none of my business. I didn’t want to get involved, nor could I afford to. It wasn’t my place.

  Once I got to the door, I realized my mistake. I couldn’t get out. I didn’t have the damn code to punch into the keypad. Stupidly, I’d forgotten to ask for it when I arrived.

  Shit. I was going to have to go back into the dragon’s lair. I wondered if I should take a fire extinguisher with me.

  Chapter Three

  Loitering by the door for a few seconds in the hope that a miracle would present itself—perhaps I’d spot a piece of paper pinned somewhere with some digits written on—I started screwing up my courage to return to the shop floor. I was not looking forward to what I might find—perhaps Edith would be lying on the floor in a pool of blood, her head caved in with a sturdy yet fashionable leather boot, Jacqueline having run off into the night.

  I was just glancing around, hoping that magical piece of paper with the pin code might present itself, when I heard a huge bang and Jacqueline came barreling over to me. “Here,” she said, pulling a pen from her pocket and grabbing my wrist. “This is the pin number. I’m outta here.” She neatly printed the code onto the back of my hand.

  She looked furious—understandably—but at the same time, on the verge of tears. “Thank you. Are you going to be all right?” I said softly.

  Meeting my gaze, she exhaled heavily and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I shouldn’t let her get to me, but sometimes she can just be so damn spiteful, you know?”

  Given the circumstances, I didn’t think agreeing with her would do any harm. “Yeah, I’m beginning to see that. So what are you going to do?”

  “Right now, I’m going home for a couple of glasses of wine and a bloody big bar of chocolate. Tomorrow, I’m contacting HR. She’s spoken to me like a piece of shit one too many times. If they take her side, I’ll start looking for another job. No way am I letting her keep dragging me down.”

  “Well, I hope everything works out okay for you. I’m so sorry this happened.”

  She shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault—she was a bitch way before you turned up, and she’ll still be a bitch way after you leave. It’s probably me who should be apologizing—I’m leaving you in the lurch now, and that’s not exactly going to improve her mood.”

  Now I shrugged. “I don’t blame you one bit for leaving. And I’ll manage, somehow. She’ll actually have to help now, won’t she, or it’ll never be finished for opening time tomorrow.”

  The thought brought a huge smile to the other girl’s face, a smile I couldn’t help returning. “Yeah, she will! Ha! Maybe I won’t go home, after all. Maybe I’ll go and sit on a bench across the road and watch her actually doing some fucking work for a change. I could record it for posterity, as none of the others would believe me.”

  This time I didn’t reply. I’d said enough, really, and although Jacqueline’s opinion of Edith was now crystal clear, I still wasn’t willing to say or do anything that could come back and haunt me. “Speaking of work,” I said casually, turning toward the door, “I really ought to get this gear out of the van.”

  Nodding, Jacqueline replied, “Yes, of course. I’m sorry. Go for it—I don’t want to delay you any further, especially since I’ve already dumped more work on you. Thank you for listening to my little rant. I’m going to go and grab my stuff from the staffroom, then I’ll be on my way. I hope you get everything done in time.”

  I gave her a smile. “Thanks. And I hope everything works out for you. Take care.”

  “You too.”

  I paused for a second, then punched the pin code she’d written on my hand into the number pad. There was a buzzing sound, and I pulled the handle and let myself out, dragging the trolley behind me and dipping my free hand into my pocket for the van keys.

  Fifteen minutes or so later and the trolley was full. I’d expected Jacqueline to have left the building by now, but I hadn’t heard or seen her. But perhaps she was done talking and had just slipped out and into the night without saying anything. I could have missed her easily, as I’d been making quite a lot of noise loading up the van. I decided to put her out of my mind—there was nothing I could have done to help her. I suspected Edith could have screwed up the chance of something happening between Jacqueline and me, but there was no point lamenting it now. You can’t lose what you’ve never had, and all that.

  So, figuring the best use of my time now was busting a gut to make sure this damn project got finished on time, I closed and locked the van and rushed my cargo back into the building, unsure of what I’d find when I reached the shop floor. There was still the possibility that Edith was lying in a pool of her own blood.

  She wasn’t. But her actual position was equally surprising. And enticing, if I was completely honest with myself. The dragon was on her hands and knees in the window, using a dustpan and brush to clean up dust and debris, ready for the new fixtures.

  Fortunately, she had her back to me, and couldn’t see my eyebrows disappearing into my hairline. Figuring Jacqueline’s departure had added a good couple of hours to our potential finishing time as it was, I decided a few more seconds staring at the firm arse pointed in my direction wouldn’t matter. She may have been a total bitch, but it didn’t change the fact that she was very pleasant to look at, on hands and knees or otherwise.

  With one last, lingering glance, I committed the view to memory. It’d be a very nice addition to my fantasy fodder. Then, with a concerted effort, I returned my attention to professional matters. Like how two people were going to finish a big fucking project like this before the shop opened in the morning.

  Grabbing the clipboard, which had been left on top of a display stand nearby, I read through again what needed to be done, making sure in my mind that we were going about it in the most efficient way possible. Fortunately, logic is one of my strong skills, and I decided on one tweak to the action plan that could probably save us half an hour. Not a huge amount of time, but it could just be enough to make sure we accomplished our mission.

  I was so engrossed in the plans that I didn’t notice Edith until she was right next to me. I stiffened when I spotted her, prepared for some kind of sarcastic comment or put-down. What I got instead was, “Well, now it’s just the two of us. I suppose we’d better knuckle down, hadn’t we?”

  Her tone was calm, matter-of-fact. Not a hint of sarcasm or malice.

  Swallowing my surprise and hoping it wouldn’t show in my voice, I replied, “Absolutely. I’ve just figured out a way we can tweak the action plan to save us half an hour.”

  “Excellent. Let’s do it.”

  I began to wonder if Jacqueline had in fact hit Edith in the head before doing a runner. Just without the killing her and leaving her in a pool of her own blood part. Had she twatted her with a wedge heel, knocking some sense into her? Turne
d the dragon into a pussy cat?

  “Great,” I said, deciding not to read too much into it. I didn’t have time for deliberation—I just had to make the most of this new, amenable, helpful Edith, until she disappeared and her lazy evil twin came out to play again.

  Outlining my idea, I still found myself half-expecting to be shot down in flames, or laughed into the middle of next week. But all I got was agreement and acquiescence. Practically throwing the clipboard to the floor in my enthusiasm, I—with help from the seemingly ex-dragon—unloaded the trolley and dashed back to the van to get some more gear. I hoped one more trip would do it, and that we could then start building the new base for the window display. Unfortunately, there was no shortcut or time-saving way of doing that part.

  When I returned to the shop floor, I was once again greeted by a surprising sight. Edith had sorted out the raw materials for me—piling up a bunch of wooden blocks, ready for me to cut and sand them to specification. She waited by the neat pile, tape measure in hand. Smiling, she said, “I reckon if we get into a rhythm here, we’ll start motoring along. I measure, you mark and cut. Then I’ll put the cut piece into position while you work on the next one. Sound good?”

  It sounded too good to be bloody true, but there was no way I was going to say that out loud. I didn’t want to tempt the wrathful dragon out of her slumber again. I liked her much better where she was. “Sounds fantastic. Thanks.” I grabbed my workbench from the flatbed and set it up, then put on my safety goggles. “Where can I plug this in?” I asked, pointing to my electric saw.

  “Oh. Bear with me one sec.” Dashing to a nearby display unit, she then opened a cupboard in its base and pulled out an electric extension cord which she uncoiled and laid the end down next to my workbench. “Voila!”

  Nodding my thanks, I bent and plugged in the saw. Looked like the show was on the road.

  Chapter Four

  As unpleasant as the business with Jacqueline had been, it changed things massively. Firstly, Edith really and truly did get her finger out of her arse and help me. Secondly, much to my shock, her attitude changed. I wouldn’t say she became nice, exactly, but she altered into something between a dragon and a pussy cat. Perhaps a mildly fierce large dog.

  The downside being, the more tolerable she was, the harder it became to ignore how attractive I found her. Completely disregarding her questionable personality—she was easy on the eye. The pixie-like looks, the hot body, the occasional glint of metal I spotted in her mouth when she spoke…

  Put it this way, if I met her in a bar or something, I’d definitely make an attempt to chat her up. As it was, though, even if she was into girls—and I still couldn’t quite figure that one out for sure—she was out of bounds. It wouldn’t have been too bad if anything had happened with Jacqueline, as she was my equal, career ladder-wise. But technically speaking—for the next few hours at least—Edith was my boss.

  Not to mention the fact that, gorgeous as she was, I’d seen her worst side. And for me, attraction to someone goes way more than skin deep. Even if I’m only looking for a one-night stand or a quick hook-up, it has to be with someone I can actually get along with, have a bit of a conversation with, even if that conversation only lasts the duration of the journey from club to bedroom.

  So, with that in mind, I resolved that, given nothing was going to happen between us, the occasional peek in her direction wasn’t going to hurt anyone. As long as she didn’t catch me—even mildly fierce large dogs were capable of biting.

  An hour and a half after Jacqueline’s dramatic exit, Edith let out a groan and slumped onto the bottom step of the staircase leading to the first floor.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, glancing up from where I was gluing together parts of the display.

  “My stomach’s rumbling like crazy. Shall I call for a pizza?”

  Nodding, I said, “Yeah, absolutely. I could eat something too.”

  “Great. Back in five.”

  She was too, brandishing an iPad with a pizza delivery firm’s website on the screen. “Here you go. Just have a look through and put whatever you want in the basket, then I’ll add mine and get it ordered. I’ll stick it on the company credit card, so feel free to go crazy.”

  “Ooh, okay. You might regret saying that.” My own stomach rumbled as I looked at the taste-bud-tantalizing goods on display.

  Edith shrugged. “It’s not my money, and we always buy dinner for you guys when you’re down to do the window. And there’s only one of you this time, so I can’t imagine you’re going to eat as much as those greedy guys who usually pitch up. There’s nothing of you.”

  She smiled and winked, and, much to my embarrassment, I nearly dropped the iPad. Shit—that wouldn’t have gone down very well. Delicate technology and tiled floors didn’t usually mix.

  Returning her smile, I gripped the tablet more tightly and began swiping through to find what I wanted. Now Edith had put the idea of food into my head, I was suddenly ravenously hungry. No surprise, really, given I’d made the trip down from Leeds and hadn’t eaten properly—just a chocolate bar that I’d grabbed from one of the service stations when I’d made a stop to use the loo.

  * * * *

  Forty-five minutes later and movement from the front door caught my eye. I waved to the pizza delivery guy, then pointed to Edith. “Hey, pizza’s here.”

  Looking up from her position on the floor where she was fiddling around with the more complex parts of the display unit, she nodded. “Fantastic.” Jumping up, she grabbed a huge bunch of keys and headed for the door.

  I finished what I was doing as she took the boxes from the guy and thanked him, then closed and locked the door again.

  “Okay,” Edith said, placing the stack of boxes on the floor. “I’m just going to go and grab some cups for us and wash my hands.”

  “Yeah,” I replied, looking down at my hands. “I should definitely wash up too.”

  We headed into the staffroom, where Edith also collected a couple of cushions from the sofa and handed one to me. “May as well be a bit more comfortable as we eat.”

  “True.”

  Minutes later, we were settled onto the cushions on the shop floor, digging in to the food. “Ohh,” Edith said, tilting her head back in ecstasy. “That is sooo good. So bloody unhealthy, but delicious.”

  “A little bit of what you like does you good—that’s what my mum always says.”

  Quirking an eyebrow, Edith said, “Yeah, I like that.” She nodded. “Your mum sounds like a very wise woman.”

  I swallowed hastily to stop myself choking on pizza. Fucking hell—had Edith just said something nice about someone? Granted, it was someone she’d never spoken to or met, but still! Smiling tightly, I carried on eating. I was trying hard to ignore the blissful expressions on Edith’s face, which were making me think of what she might look like as she climaxed.

  Unfortunately, I failed completely when she had issues with cheese. She’d just bitten into some pizza, and as she drew the rest of the slice away from her mouth, a long string of cheese stretched between her mouth and the pizza. With her other hand, Edith snagged the cheese string and broke it, then wound it around and around, before popping her finger into her mouth and sucking it off. Unable to tear my gaze away, I felt my face heating as she made eye contact.

  She gave me what could only be described as a wicked smile and waggled her eyebrows.

  My mouth suddenly dry, I groped around on the floor beside me for my drink, and took several big swigs of the fizzy liquid, hoping it would not only quench my thirst, but cool me down.

  Giving no indication whether she knew what an effect she was having on me, Edith said, “So, I suppose you think I was a complete and utter bitch to Jacqueline?”

  Gulping down some more Pepsi, I bought myself some time to formulate a reply. I decided to play it safe. “That’s nothing to do with me. I’m just here to do the window.”

  “Oh, how very diplomatic of you,” she shot back mockingly, her
eyes glinting. She shrugged. “What can I say, I’ve got issues.”

  Sticking firmly to my diplomatic guns—an oxymoron if ever there was one—I said nothing, just carried on with my dinner. Or was it supper? Hell, it was more of a midnight snack.

  Apparently getting the hint that I wasn’t going to be drawn into giving my opinion on what had happened, Edith said, “If you must know, I wanted to get rid of her.”

  My face transformed into a frown before I could stop it, and Edith sighed. “I wanted to get rid of her so I could be alone with you.”

  That time there was no stopping the choking. I snatched up one of the napkins piled near the food boxes and covered my mouth as I spluttered and coughed, trying desperately to get the pizza down my throat. Finally, I achieved it, and followed it up with what felt like a gallon of Pepsi.

  By the time I’d sorted myself out, Edith was watching me with an expression of concern. “Sorry,” she murmured, handing me the bottle. “Are you all right now?”

  I took the bottle, opened it and refilled my cup. “Thanks. And yeah, I think so. You just…took me by surprise, that’s all.”

  “It’s really so surprising that I’d want to be alone with you?”

  “Umm…” Christ, what the fuck was I supposed to say to that? There were so many ideas and questions flying around my head that I didn’t know where to start. I hadn’t known if she was into women. I hadn’t known if she was into me. Honestly, I found it surprising she liked anyone at all, except for herself. Then there was the great big elephant in the room, which on this occasion was bright pink and doing the Hokey-Cokey.

  This was work. She was my boss.

  Shaking her head, Edith put up a hand. “It’s all right. You don’t have to say anything. I’ve clearly got the wrong end of the stick here, and I apologize. Please forget I said anything. I’m so embarrassed.”