His Last Christmas Gift

Chapter 1

This was the day Claire had been working toward for twenty-three years. Today she would prove her design worked and would save thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of lives. And she and her boss and Aqua-Line Swimwear would make millions on the patent.

Claire extracted the prototype from the safe in her office. She held out the turquoise and lime-green spandex bathing suit that she’d designed and sewn by hand herself. The slip of fabric wouldn’t cover one of her thighs.

Alisha, the fitting model, whose long, shapeless legs reminded Claire of a flamingo’s, crossed her arms over her breasts. “What’s that contraption?”

“A life preserver.” Claire shook out the one-piece suit with trembling hands.

Rick had found flaws in all her previous prototypes and shot down every one of them.

But he would not find even one tiny glitch in this design.

It was perfect. “Just put it on as if it were any other swimsuit. Rick’s going to love it.

It’ll be the best-selling maillot of next season. ”

With eyebrows lifted in what Claire figured was skepticism, Alisha pulled the Spandex up over her flat hips, nonexistent tummy, and small breasts, then slid her arms under the shoulder straps.

Lime-green ruffles draped her biceps. She leaned over, jiggling her breasts into the bra cups, smoothed the straps and stood tall. “It’s loose around the bust.”

“It’s not hooked, yet.” Claire fastened the strap in the back and looked out of the door adjacent to the reception area, searching for her boss. She called out to his assistant, “Eleanore, please tell Rick we’re ready.”

Alisha pulled the fabric. “Still loose around the bust.”

“It won’t be. Feel this button?” Claire guided Alisha’s thumb to the ON button that was sewn into the shoulder strap. “When Rick gets here and I say, ‘Go,’ press the button. Got it?”

“This puffy thing?”

“Right.”

Alisha nodded just as Rick entered Claire’s studio.

Alisha gave him her dazzling smile, rested her hands on her hips, pushed out her pelvis, and turned on her five-inch heels, snapping her head around making her long black curls whip around her neck.

She was a flirt but also a perfect fitting model.

Claire gripped her hands like she was praying for her life.

Stroking his graying beard, Rick circled Alisha, examining the suit. He flicked a hand. “Baggy and boring.”

“It won’t be.” Claire pinched her thumb and forefinger. “Go!”

Alisha tilted her head.

“Go ahead. Press the button,” Claire urged.

A whooshing sounded as Alisha pressed the strap.

Air pumped into the ruffles at the top of her arms, and they puffed out, like a child’s water wings.

A rubber tube, inserted in the lime green strap circling her chest, inflated like a bicycle tire.

Alisha’s breasts rose against the plunging neckline, giving her flat chest lovely cleavage.

Smiling, Alisha twisted to the right and left before the full-length mirror as her bosom seemed to enhance itself.

Rick’s eyebrows popped up. “What the—”

“I’ve done it. This suit has a built-in life preserver,” Claire cried. But then she noticed Alisha’s bust continued to enhance.

That was enough inflation to give him the idea. “Okay, release the button,” commanded Claire.

Alisha let go of the button. The sound grew louder as her breasts began to bulge over the neckline.

Claire stepped closer. “Release the button.”

“I did!”

The tube continued inflating. Claire grabbed the strap and clamped her fingers on the button, pinching it hard.

Alisha pulled the Spandex straps. “Get this thing off me.”

The whooshing sound wound higher. The tube bulged beyond Alisha’s breasts, growing as large as a child’s swim ring circling Alisha’s chest. The turquoise Spandex stretched, the color fading as it expanded to accommodate the inflating ring.

Claire had no idea the tube could stretch to such a size, but it would keep an adult afloat.

It was working!

But it wasn’t stopping!

“Help!” Alisha screeched and shoved at the tube, now the size of a motorcycle tire, struggling to push it down to her waist. The tube bulged. She couldn’t grip the slippery fabric covering it. “I can’t…breathe.”

“Get it off her,” Rick shouted.

“You trying to kill me?” she cried.

“I’m so sorry.” Claire plucked her fabric shears from the cutting table. “Hold still.” She grabbed Alisha with one hand to steady her and inserted one of the blades between the swimsuit and her back. She released Alisha and, with both hands, she snipped.

The wheezing sound filled the room as Claire pulled the tubing away from Alisha’s chest. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

Alisha gasped for air. “Dizzy.” She bent over. Claire guided Alisha to sit on her chair. Examining the deflated ON button, she said, “I paid three thousand dollars for this prototype—it should have worked, damn it.”

Rick rushed to Alisha, shouting, “Are you all right?”

Alisha rounded on Claire, ripping the shoulder strap out of her hands. “You crazy bitch!”

“The pump should have stopped. Did you press it completely?”

“With all my might!”

Claire pulled the tube that ran up the suit’s shoulder strap. “Here’s why it didn’t stop: the switch didn’t release.” She dropped the strap. “You pushed it too hard.”

“You told me to push it harder.” Alisha ripped the tube away.

“I told you to release it.”

“You’re nuts!” She grabbed her robe from the chair, held it to her bosom, and rushed for the door. “You’ll hear from my lawyer.”

Rick shouted at his assistant, “Eleanor, call a doctor.” He caught up to Alisha and put his arm around her shoulder. “Let me help you.”

She smacked her hand against his shoulder. “Get out of my way, or I’ll sue you, too!”

He stepped back, his arms hanging as Alisha ran through the design studio and into the showroom.

“Wait!” Claire headed after her.

Rick grabbed Claire’s arm and dragged her back into her office. “You could have killed her.”

“I’m sorry for what happened, but she’s not hurt.”

“This is your last invention.” His tone and sour look made her think he’d stepped in dog poo.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It wasn’t my fault.” She pointed at Alisha. “I must take that suit back to the engineer. We’re almost there.”

Rick dragged his hands down his face. “You’re insane.”

“I am not. I’m trying to save lives.” Claire’s fingers vibrated with longing to examine the tubing. “Three thousand people drown every year, and that’s just Americans!”

Rick stepped close to her. “Every one of the twenty-three years I’ve employed you, you have created a life-saver swimsuit.

Remember the time you spent two-thousand dollars for fabric guaranteed to float?

And the cork bra cups that popped out of the suit and floated away?

Another grand. How much did you spend on this disaster? ”

“Uh…” She stepped away from him.

“You’ve been trying to incorporate a life preserver in swimsuits since you started working here.

Now this—trying to disguise it as a bust enhancer?

” He stepped closer. “Today, you nearly killed a model with your deranged idea.” Another step closer.

“You’re fired. F-I-R-E-D. Fired!” With the courtesy he’d bestow upon a Neiman Marcus buyer, he opened her office door.

“And if she sues me, I’ll sue you.” He scowled. “Now get out!”

“You’re just upset. Tomorrow, you’ll recognize this patent is brilliant.” Claire stood her ground, hands trembling. “I need the prototype.”

Rick grabbed her arm. “You have two minutes to leave on your own before I call security.”

“There’s no need for security. Alisha’s not going to steal the suit.”

“For you! I’m calling security to get rid of you! Now get out!” He grabbed the phone from Claire’s desk.

“But I’m so close. The patent could make you millions. And save thousands of lives. There’s just the switch—a tiny problem.”

“The problem, and, it is not tiny, is with you, Claire. You’re a liability. If that model sues me, I’ll lose my business.”

“She wasn’t hurt.”

“How the hell do you know? The thing was suffocating her. She couldn’t breathe!”

“Just let me take the suit to the engineer—”

He shouted into the phone, “Security fifth floor.” He slammed the phone down on the cutting table. “Out.” His nostrils flared like a dog on a hunt. “Now.”

“You can’t be serious. You hired me to invent a swimsuit with a built-in life preserver.”

“I hired you to design swimsuits. Period. And now I’m firing you.” He swept his arm toward the door. “Out!”

The studio closed around her, plunging her into a feeling like being dragged by an undertow.

Numbness seized her arms. The sound of crashing waves filled her mind and dulled her vision.

She shook her head and focused on the walls, hung with sketches, fabric swatches, photos.

She stopped, stood still. She was in her studio. The waves ebbed.

Why hadn’t the switch released? There was plenty of pressure, too much pressure.

“That’s it,” she shouted. “There was no resistance! If a woman were in the water and pressed the button, the tube would not have inflated without stopping. As the inside pressure equalized from the water pressure outside the tube, the pump would have stopped, and the inflated tube would float the woman. You can only push the button if you’re in the water.

There was no water pressure to stop inflation. ”

“Claire.”

“What?”

“You must leave now,” he whispered. “I need to make sure Alisha’s not scarred.”

Two security guards walked down the hall toward her.

“Right.” Claire stumbled toward her desk, leaned over, and examined the prototype sketch.

“Claire!” Rick shouted.

She blinked.

The two guards appeared at her side. Rick placed her coat and purse in her arms. Then he lifted her tattered sketchbook, the one she’d brought with her on her first day at Aqua-Line, and gently placed it in her arms. “Good luck, Claire.”

“I’ll wait for the prototype outside the fitting room.” She turned and felt the vice-grip of the guards close around her arms.

They walked her to the elevator—open, empty, and waiting—and escorted her inside. A guard hit the lobby button. She turned as the elevator doors shut out her life.