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I’d like to say that seeing my brother annoyed does not give me pleasure, but from the rare upward pull of my lips when Chase clenches his jaw, it would be a lie if I did.
‘Really, George?’ Chase picks up Mike and faces George. ‘The younger?’
Our administrative assistant has found creative ways to maintain a formal work environment without resorting to a first name basis since Chase and I began working together.
To me, it’s well-earned karma from Chase forever calling me ‘dude’ and ‘T-money’.
Continuing as if Chase hadn’t spoken, George walks through the doorway into my office, his usual three-piece suit perfectly tailored and wrinkle free. ‘I’ve been informed that Miss King is in the shoe department.’
Momentary irritation gone, Chase beams and grabs his cat. ‘I knew your mommy would come if I brought you.’
As if understanding him, the feline nuzzles his head against Chase’s chin to which Chase raises one of its paws and high fives it.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I decide to stop being derailed by wedding nonsense and get back to work.
Until George mentions Alice.
* * *
Alice
‘Why are you in here when you have a perfectly good office?’
Blinking against the light pouring in through the open doorway, I shield my eyes with my hand. A woman, backlit, leans against the door frame of the shoe inventory room. ‘Bell?’
‘In the flesh.’ Her heels click on the unfinished concrete floor as she gets closer to where I’m hunched over a low shelf, shoeboxes pushed to either side to make room for my laptop and camera equipment.
‘I, uh, am focusing on the shoe department today.’ I snag my phone off the shelf and wave it. ‘Going to upload some more shots to social media.’
Bell purses her lips before shifting her gaze to shoeboxes on the shelves above me. Shoeboxes that are already decorated with a rainbow of Post-it notes. ‘You’re going to focus on the shoe department two days in a row?’
Dang it. I forgot that as the marketing consultant, Bell would be well up to date with Moore’s social media account postings.
‘Well…’
I can’t tell her that I find surrounding myself with the familiar smells of freshly honed leather and new rubber soles from the hundreds of shoes stacked in a dusty oversized closet soothing.
That would be weird.
‘Is someone giving you a hard time in the office?’ Bell folds her arms across her chest. ‘Do I need to smack some heads together?’
I smile at her fierce expression. Bell is a great boss. Too bad she’s not my real boss. Her year-long contract with Moore’s is sadly coming to a close.
‘No one needs to be smacked.’ I stand, stretching out my back, sore from bad posture. ‘And why are you here?’ Bell may be Moore’s interim marketing manager while she searches for her replacement, but she’s usually a virtual worker. She’s based in Houston, and though that will change after the wedding, she doesn’t come into Moore’s too often because, as she says, she’s more productive working from home.
Which everyone at Moore’s knows is code for Chase not leaving her alone long enough to get any work done.
She shrugs, eyeing a stack of Louboutin boxes next to her. ‘I finished what I needed to, and with Chase bringing Mike with him to work, I decided to surprise them for lunch.’ She slides one of the boxes out from the stack.
Which is precisely why Chase brings the cat to work. He knows that feline is her weakness.
Opening the lid, Bell lifts out a platform heel that looks like you’d have to be a tightrope walker to wear and dangles it between us from the ankle strap. ‘Too much?’
I know the price of those shoes. Between that, the flashy color and heel height, there is no way she’d be able to wear them more than a few times a year. But I don’t mention that. I just shrug. ‘Maybe?’
‘Yeah.’ She re-shelves them, sighing. ‘I guess.’
In a flash, she changes gear, facing me and clapping her hands together. ‘Come on. While I’m here I’ll help you pick out your bridesmaid shoes.’
