Chapter 8 #2
“Yes, Arianna, dear?”
“Would you mind if I observe out here for a while?”
“Sure,” she shrugs, then creases her brow. “You don’t like it in the office with me?”
“Oh, no. It’s not that. Not at all. It’s just that I’d like to see how things work. Get an idea of how everything functions as a whole,” I explain, fearing that I might have offended her.
She laughs, “I was joking, Arianna. Of course you can. You can do as you please. As long as the work gets done, I don’t mind what you do.” She pauses, turning to look at me. “Have I worked you too hard today? You feeling okay?”
“No, ma’am. I’ve loved it, really I have. I mean, my head is spinning with everything I’ve learned but it’s great. I feel great.”
“Good. Let’s just get those Jensen files sent over, and you can observe until your heart’s content.”
I am introduced to Layla and Jo, Beth’s assistant managers.
They’re sweet and very welcoming, and both make me laugh when they talk like they’re twins and finish each other’s sentences.
That’s what happens when you work closely with someone for a long time.
I watch them go about their day, attentively assisting the most prestigious of the clients that come through the door and overseeing the younger sales assistants with everything else.
Layla takes me through some of the unique items they have in stock, gushing over Beth’s amazing contacts, and how she can manage to get her hands on some real beautiful pieces, with just a wink of her beautifully long lashes.
We stand behind the counter to the left hand side, so we don’t disturb any transactions that need to take place.
Layla pulls out some paperwork from one of the drawers, and starts to explain the workings of the way they control their stock and ordering process.
We both have our heads down, until something prickles at my senses and I glance up.
For some strange reason I shiver as my eyes search upwards across the leather clad torso in front of me.
When I reach the person’s face, I can’t see past the motorbike helmet.
This immediately strikes me as odd, as I would assume it’s common courtesy to remove your helmet when entering a store.
I swallow hard, and although I can’t see the person’s eyes through the mirrored visor, I know he or she is looking at me. I quickly deduct that it is a male under the leather due to the build and stance, but I could be wrong.
The mystery biker holds out a hand containing a long, thin box wrapped in matte black paper, tied with a deep red bow, and passes it to me. I instinctively put my hand up to take it then pull away quickly.
“Um, how do—” I stutter. The person pushes the box at me, and when I gingerly take it, they stride out of the glass doors, and kick off on a big, black bike that moves as fast as I can blink. I’m speechless. I don’t really know what happened there, and I have no idea why I’m so edgy.
“Well?” Layla prompts, making me blink and come back to reality.
“Aren’t ya going to open it and see?” Jo asks, bumping my shoulder.
“What could it be?” Layla muses excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
“I think it’s jewelry.”
“Yes! Yes, it could be a sparkling diamond necklace, and matching earrings, and a bracelet.”
Their enthusiasm for what’s in the long, thin, beautifully wrapped box makes me a little excited, and I look at both of them with a perplexed smile before running my eyes down the length of it.
There’s only one person it could be from.
Only one person knows I started my new job today, and one person who knows exactly where I’d be. Denham.
I place the box on the countertop in front of me and pull the ends of the perfectly tied bow until it falls apart. I peel back the wrapping and wiggle the lid off.
A rose.
Nestled amongst black satin lining is a red, red rose.
It’s beautiful. Perfect.
There’s no note. I don’t need one.
He makes my heart race. Always thinking about me.
“Aww, I’m so jealous. My man never sends me things like that. Actually, he never sends me anything,” Jo whines.
“Well, at least you have a man, I don’t even have a guy to send me things,” Layla responds by crossing her arms and huffing.
“Babe, you’ll find a guy, there’s someone out there for everyone.”
“Everyone,” she repeats. “Yeah, I suppose.”
Their conversation continues, with the oohs and aahs, with the finishing of each other’s sentences, and as nice as they are, I can’t stand here and listen any longer.
I take my rose, and go back to my office, leaving the girls twittering between themselves.
The last two hours of the day pass quickly, and although I feel fine, my brain is exhausted. My eyes continually drift to the beautiful red flower sitting in the box on my desk, and I’m still in awe of how thoughtful Denham can be.
“Time to go home, Arianna.”
“Oh. Wow. Is that the time?”
Beth nods and thrusts my purse into my hand. “Have a large glass of wine and make that man of yours rub your ankles and kiss your feet.”
I laugh. “Thanks, Beth. And thanks for today. I’ve loved every minute of it.”
“Oh, Arianna. Don’t thank me just yet. I went easy on you today. Wait until next week, you’ll be begging me to let you go home early.”
I highly doubt that, but I know Beth would like to keep up her tough persona so I humor her. “Yes, boss.”
“So, I’ll see you nine am sharp tomorrow?”
Beth sits back at her desk, practically dismissing me and flicking through more paperwork.
“Try and stop me,” I answer.
I see her lips twitch into a half smile, even though her head is down, and she is seemingly engrossed in the figures on the paper in her hand. I pick up the box containing the rose and head on out.
When I reach the glass doors, I see a familiar body leaning up against the wall, one foot propped against it, and his hand in his pocket. He turns to look at me as I open the door.
“Well, hello there, beautiful,” Denham says, pulling me into his chest. “I missed you so bad today.”
“I missed you too,” I mumble into his shirt. Although I missed him a little, it was good to not be thinking about him all day. It was good to be doing something productive with my brain and not having to rely on someone else for the health of my mental wellbeing.
With his face buried in the hair around my shoulder, he inhales, “I missed the smell of your hair.”
“You did?” I question.
“Yeah. I missed knowing you were upstairs.”
“Well, I wasn’t far away.”
“You didn’t miss me, did you?” he says tickling my waist with his fingertips.
“Yes!” I giggle.
“It’s okay. If you didn’t miss me, it’s because you were enjoying your first day. Am I right?”
“Yes, I loved my first day, and every spare minute I thought about you.”
“Well, I thought about you every spare minute, too.”
“I know.”
“Oh, you know, do you?”
“Yes, if you hadn’t thought about me, you wouldn’t have sent me this.” I wave the box in front of him and his hands fall away from my body.
“What’s that?” he says with a frown.
“What do you mean? It’s the rose you had delivered to me …” Panic bubbles at the bottom of my throat. “… didn’t you?”
“No,” he says scraping his hand across his face. “I didn’t have anything delivered to you.”
“Well, if you didn’t … then who?” I’m afraid to ask the question, but it comes out anyway. In fact, I think I’m more afraid of the answer.
He looks at me with a mix of worry and anger, and grabs the box from me before flinging the door open, and striding back into the boutique. He marches straight into Beth’s office, calling her name and I follow right behind him, feeling that his reaction is a little over the top.
“Beth …” He slams the box on my desk, making me jump.
“Jesus, thought I was being raided with all the commotion you’re making. Where’s the emergency?” Beth emerges from behind the fire door where she was standing outside smoking. Huh, she didn’t seem like a smoker to me, and not once have I smelled cigarette smoke on her.
“Do you still have CCTV running here?” Denham asks abruptly.
“Yes, why?”
“Give me today’s recording. Do you still run the feed outside?”
“Yes, but …”
“I want that too.”
“Denham King, I don’t know what your problem is, or why you feel the need to be so rude, but I’m not one of your staff that you can order around. Now fill that chest of yours with a deep breath and talk to me like an adult.”
Denham does as she says, and I have to stop myself from grinning at the way Beth talks to him. It’s refreshing to see, and although I know he’s not being an asshole intentionally, Beth’s right, just because there’s something worrying him, doesn’t mean he has to lose his manners.
Beth opens her bottom drawer and pulls out three glasses and a bottle of brandy. She pours two fingers in each glass and passes one to each of us. I sniff it, and pull my head away instantly, spirits have never been my favorite drink, but I’ll give it a shot.
Denham knocks his back and Beth tops it up again for him. He’s not so hasty to drink it this time. He seats himself in my office chair opposite Beth, and places his elbows on the table, running his hands along the sides of his head, through his hair.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“Good. Now tell me what the problem is.”
“Did you see the person that delivered the rose to Arianna today?”
“I caught a glimpse of a courier on a bike. Nothing out of the ordinary. Why?”
“Well, I didn’t send that courier.”
“Right, so Arianna has an admirer,” Beth says, raising one brow in question.
I stand close but watch the exchange as if they weren’t talking about me or as if I wasn’t even here.
“That’s what I’m worried about. Did Ari tell you about her ex?”
“Denham, I’m not Oprah fucking Winfrey. She’s here to do a job.”
“Well, you saw the bruising the first day you met her. That was one of the exes.”