Chapter Thirty-One
It felt surreal and almost wrong somehow, letting Mason into my apartment. My apartment which suddenly felt much too small with him in it.
I didn’t really expect to see hide nor hair of Sniffles, but I called for him just the same; letting him know that we had company over.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked Mason, nervously straightening up the living room a little bit. I couldn’t help myself.
“I’m fine, thanks.” He told me, looking around at my decor with interest. “You have good taste.” He said as he inspected my collection of fine wall art. “I have a few of these masks in my office; they’re from India, aren’t they?”
“Those were my aunt’s, she gave them to me when I said I liked them. She’s always collecting stuff from her travels.”
“Is that something you’re interested in?” He asked me. “Traveling?”
I shrugged. “Traveling is dangerous. And I don’t have time, the business needs me.”
“You take vacations, surely.”
I shrugged. “Not really. Anyway, I’m gonna go change. Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.” And I hastened away down the hall to my bedroom.
I changed hastily into a gray dress that draped on me in a flattering fashion, if I did say so myself. It was something I had worn on a disastrous blind date, years ago, and the dress had been utterly wasted on that bigamist, Tommy Something.
I thought the dress deserved a second date, especially since it still fit me. I even slid into a pair of simple black pumps that I also hadn’t worn in forever.
I took a moment to fluff out my hair and touch up my face with mascara and lip gloss, before heading back to the living room to see how Mason was doing.
###
To my great surprise, I found him comfortably slumped into my couch, Sniffles happily purring away in his lap as he needled Mason’s thigh.
“Traitor.” I said, hands on my hips.
Mason looked up at me and grinned. “Wow, look at you. She dresses up.”
I folded my arms and huffed. “You needn’t sound so surprised!”
His smile dropped to the fluffy white feline in his lap. “Sorry, I’d get up, but I’ve got a kitty.”
“That’s okay.” I said with a smile, smoothing out my skirt to sit. “But I warn you, if you indulge him, we could end up being here all night.”
He continued stroking my cat as he gave me a slow, warm smile in return. “That’s fine with me.” He murmured, and I had to dip my head to hide my blush.
###
The next morning at work, I was fairly glowing.
We’d had a wonderful date, excuse me, non-date.
I definitely felt like I was getting to know him better and so far, I was completely taken with everything that I had learned about him.
“Wow, someone’s in a good mood.” Penelope commented when she joined me in the kitchen that morning. She herself looked droopy, I noticed, and I took the opportunity to be a better friend to her as I had vowed to myself to do yesterday.
“Good morning.” I said to her. “How are you? You feelin’ okay?” I selfishly hoped she wasn’t getting sick because I needed her to run the shop this weekend while I was up in the Hamptons with the Blacksteele family, pretending to date their son.
Eek!
“Oh. I’m okay.” Penelope sighed heavily as she tied her apron on. “Charlie kissed me.”
I looked up at her, pausing in the act of scrubbing down the counter. It was just busy-work anyway, my kitchen was always kept spotless between business hours. No health inspector was shutting me down, I wasn’t going the way of the pizza parlor before me.
“He did, huh?” I said slowly as I faced her. “Well, it’s about time! And haven’t you guys kissed before-?”
She flushed to the roots of her sleek brunette hair. “Well, yeah, sure, but that didn’t count! I was crying and-and oh, bother, anyway, he finally kissed me, properly.”
“And?!” I asked enthusiastically. “Was it everything?!”
She nibbled on her lower lip and I could practically hear her overthinking things and managing to spoil her own joy. She and I were a lot alike that way.
“It was...the kiss itself was amazing. He’s amazing, but...”
“No buts.” I held my finger up to halt her. “Savor the moment. Savor!” I insisted when she visibly began to protest.
Then she finally broke down into a big, goofy grin. “Charlie is so great! He smells so good and he tastes so good! And he’s such a great kisser. I haven’t been swept off my feet like this, not in a long time. Not even Aiden-!” But here she cut herself off.
We had been giggling together and I realized that we had even started clutching each other’s hands. That was a big deal to me when physical contact was so overly intense to my system. Just another wall that Mason had managed to break down in the span of a few days.
Remarkable.
“I have something to tell you, too.” I told her and I gave her hands a gentle squeeze before releasing them. “Uhm, so, Mason is...” How did I say this so she wouldn’t totally freak out? “Mason is taking me away, on a business trip.”
Penelope cocked her head at me. The dreamy glow slowly faded and her gaze sharpened as she looked me over. Penelope wasn’t just supermodel gorgeous, she also possessed a razor sharp mind and God help the person she turned it upon.
God help me, in other words.
“You sneaky beotch!” She said to me in a faux scandalized whisper. “You’re totally going out with your personal trainer, aren’t you?! McHottie of the Year, CEO of Blacksteele Gym; multi-million dollar franchise, that personal trainer?!”
I blushed furiously, I couldn’t help it, but I held firm against her. Mason and I were not dating, after all, hadn’t even slept together, yet, and as Mason had very bluntly stated, we were never going to date. Not for real anyway.
“Look,” I sighed heavily, “there’s a lot to tell, really. And I’m sorry for not confiding in you sooner, it’s all just happened so fast and I’ve had so much on my mind lately.”
She was still studying my face intently, but she nodded along to what I was saying. “Hey, you’re the boss, okay, Annie? This is your baby and you know I always respect your authority, at the end of the day. And you have the right to your privacy, but I hope you know you can confide in me. That I’m always here for you, as, like, a friend.”
I smiled up at the slightly taller woman as my eyes filled with tears. “Thank you.” Was all I was able to say, I was so choked up.
She held her arms out to me tentatively, she knew about the bank robbery, the abduction; how skittish I was about being touched, all of it, and she was always good about respecting my boundaries.
Honestly I didn’t know what I would do without her.
“I love you, Annie.” She said as I stepped up to her and gave her a firm hug.
She squeezed me gently and rubbed my back before letting me go. Her perfume was sweet, but a little cloying, fighting against the natural aromas of baked goods in the shop. I didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop wearing her Chanel #5, however.
“So, now that that’s settled, I wanna hear all about this “business trip” your personal trainer is taking you on! And I assume you mean to ask me to run the shop for you this weekend?” She predicted shrewdly.
I gave a watery laugh and swiped at the undersides of my eyes, not wanting my makeup to run. “Do you think you can handle it?”
“Yeah.” Penelope gave me a reassuring smile and a shrug. “It’s not rocket science. I promise not to burn the place to the ground or get us shut down, okay? You can trust me, boss.” Here she mock saluted me.
I blew out a breath and laughed. “I know. Thank you, Pen.”
“But in exchange I want details, Missy! And a raise.”
I burst out laughing at this. “Alright there, little lady.” I said, going around the counter to flip the Open sign on the door. “I’ll buy you lunch and spill my guts to you, okay? And I’ll give you a 75 cent raise if I come back and my shop’s still standing, how ‘bout that?”
This was her third raise this year, but I knew she had two extra mouths to feed at home. For me it was only Sniffles, not that he didn’t eat his fair share of wet cat food, that little devil.
“Alright.” Penelope said, grinning at me from across the counter. “Deal.”