Page 44 of Suddenly Mine
“Then leave earlier,” Dragon Lady said, jabbing a finger at Merry. “This is the third time this week you’ve been late. It is unacceptable. If you are late one more time, then it will be the final time. Am I making myself clear?”
Merry nodded.
“I said, am I making myself clear?” Mrs Cradley said. “If this job is not valuable to you, I will find somebody else who values it.”
“It’s clear,” said Merry. “Crystal clear. Please, I need this job. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”
The last few words came out alongside a choked sob, and for a moment Mrs Cradley’s expression softened. “This store is like a body,” she said. “If one part of it stops working, the entire organism stops working. You are a mere cell in this complicated biology, Miss Sinclair, but you are as important as any other. We are so short-staffed that the organism is in danger of failing. If it wasn’t for the valiant efforts of the cleaning crew then we wouldn’t even have been able to open this morning. So let me ask you again, do you value your position here? Will you do everything you can to keep this store alive?”
“Yes,” said Merry. “Yes I will.”
Mrs Cradley nodded, then turned sharply and walked off down the corridor.
Smile, Merry!she ordered herself.And remember, you are an important cell in the organism that is Carroll’s Department Store!
At least the day can’t get any worse, she thought as she marched into the locker room — and came face to face with Christian.
“Hey!” he said. He was standing there with his trolley and mop, and he looked exhausted. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d seen anyone look so tired. Still, when he smiled it seemed to light up the whole room. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said, smiling back. However awkwardly the night had ended yesterday, she was always pleased to see him. She could still feel his strong arms around her, could still taste his lips on hers, and the thought of it made her blush. “I’m fine,” she said again. “Are you?”
“Yeah,” he said, stifling a yawn. He really did look tired, and his clothes were wrinkled and stained. What had Mrs Cradley said about the cleaning crew’s valiant effort?
“Are you sure?” she asked. “You look like you worked all night, then slept on the floor of the grotto.”
Christian laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Just had trouble sleeping.”
“Too frustrated?” she asked, a rush of a giggle bursting in her chest. “We can blame Mrs Cradley for that. Who knows what might have happened if she hadn’t turned up?”
“Oh, I do.”
Merry hid her face in the damp collar of her jacket as her cheeks burned.
Christian put a hand on her sleeve and stepped a bit closer. “This coat is never going to smell the same ever again,” he said. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Mm, you definitely weren’t complaining last night.” She tilted her head up. “Until we got interrupted.”
He gripped her chin between his thumb and fingers and dipped in for a kiss. “Don’t worry. We can finish what we started another time.”
“Promises, promises,” she said, into his mouth. “Your turn next time.” She stepped back and gave him a cheeky wink.
Christian’s eyes darkened. “I’m holding you to that.” He cleared his throat and huffed out a breath just as the locker room door opened and a gaggle of canteen staff came bustling in.
“I’ll see you around then,” Merry called, busying herself with the day’s rota tacked to the noticeboard. She was on Jewellery again, which meant another day of irritated customers telling her how useless she was — not to mention the chance of the unhappy couple appearing again to torment her. “And swing by with your mop if you see anyone who needs reminding that we’re only human.”
Christian barked out a laugh and started pushing his trolley out the door. He faltered, looking back over his shoulder. “Merry,” he called. “Would you like to go to the Christmas Carroll Ball with me?”
She froze, her heart doing an actual somersault in her chest. The ball was tomorrow night. She’d heard Diane and the others talking about it non-stop since she started working there — floor-length gowns, champagne towers, fairy lights strung across the chandeliers. It was the kind of thing she’d always dreamed of but never actually believed she’d attend. Especially not on the arm of someone like Christian.
Her first instinct was to say yes. She wanted to go so badly it hurt. But then reality came crashing in — her bank balance was non-existent, the overdraft already groaning, and her single black dress with the broken zip was balled up somewhere at the back of the wardrobe. Even if she somehow scraped together enough for a ticket, what would she wear?
Her smile faltered.
“I—” she started, then stopped. “That’s really sweet of you, but I don’t know if I can.”
Christian frowned, halfway through the door. “Why not?”
She shrugged, trying to keep it breezy. “I’m working a lot of shifts, and it’s formal, right? Gowns and tuxedos and whatever? I’m not sure I have anything that fits the brief.”