I looked up at her from over my shoulder. “You really don’t have to.”
Dating someone was daunting enough. Dating someone where both parties were being pushed into doing it by one party member's parents was just embarrassing. Oliver probably thought I was incapable of organizing these things on my own.
“There’s no harm in a little nudge in the right direction,” Mom said matter-of-factly, heading down the hall to her office. Passing James Henderson as he stepped out of his, finishing off the rest of his late breakfast as he moved towards the foyer. His shoes scuffed on the floor as he wiped waffle crumbs from his tie and licked his fingers.
I stiffened and turned back to my computer screen, tracking every one of his steps as if my eyes were in the back of my head. I was completely alone — Candice had called in to take the day off after discovering her kid had chicken pox.
“Red looks good on you,” James said by way of greeting.
I didn’t have to look to know he had stopped right behind my chair.
“Thank you,” I smiled back at him quickly, noting the car keys in his hand and the folder under his arm. “Can I help you with anything?”
“No, no. I’m heading out to an auction. I just, ah...” He stepped in beside me and let his beady eyes drop quickly to my chest as if he could see straight through my blouse. “I couldn’t help myself when I saw how good you looked this morning. Don’t feel like you have to button it all the way up.”
I went completely still when he reached for my throat and brushed that still-damp finger against my skin. It happened so fast. I wanted to move but I couldn’t. My muscles had seized up and were fighting every screaming message from my brain to do the opposite; to pull away, stand up, tell him to leave me alone. But that would mean confronting all of this. Bringing attention to it and possibly being told that I was overreacting about him being friendly.
“Lily?” Mom called from the end of the hallway.
James took his hand back the second he heard her approaching. He brought his finger to his lips and winked again before he moved away. But I couldn’t relax yet. Not until he left the building completely.
I breathed in deeply as he walked by the floor-to-ceiling front windows of the front of the agency, and then turned down the street that sat on the left of the building. It wasn’t until he was in his car and driving away that I finally let out a steadier breath.
“Lily.” Mom stepped into the foyer, her brows raised. “Did you not hear me the first time?”
“Sorry. I was—”
“Can you pull up the file for that Bay Ridge mansion? We might finally have a buyer for it, and I want to get the paperwork ready.”
I nodded once, chewing my lip as I focused on the screen before me and not the lingering feeling of James’s damp finger on my throat. It felt like I was marked — dirty and I needed to scrub my skin until there was no trace of him left.
“Speak,” Roxy drawled. Her eyes hadn’t lifted from the laptop as I waited by the door in the staff room.
“I wanted to run an idea by you. About possibly training under Xavier and Jen to serve alcohol.” I clasped my hands together as I watched her with anticipation. “I know how busy it can get out there, so I was thinking maybe having an extra pair of hands to serve the drinks could ease their workload—”
“No.”
“It’s just, Terry has been removing quite a few impatient drunks, so I thought with my help—”
Her dark eyes slid to me. Framed with winged liner and dark eyeshadow, they were strikingly beautiful but also full of loathing. She slowly closed the lid of the laptop and leaned back in her chair.
“Listen, Lily.” She spoke my name as if it tasted horrible on her tongue. “There’s no point in you receiving training. Not if you won’t be here much longer.”
“But I’m here all summer.”
“That’s if this doesn’t get too overwhelming for you. And don’t worry if it does. Our last waitress was very similar to you. Pretty, but so naive.” She shook her head in with mock sadness, but her eyes flashed with amusement.
I didn’t know how to respond.
“Funny you talk about helping Jen and Xavier with the workload and yet you’re just standing here doing nothing,” Roxy said, quirking a brow.
“Right. Sorry.” I turned quickly and left the staff room, the dregs of my confidence quickly morphing into little seeds of doubt.
“How’d you go?” Jen called as she poured vodka into a line of shot glasses. There was a bachelorette party tonight and the women were drunkenly dancing by the bar. The bride-to-be wearing a short veil with a fluffy, pink headband.
I pressed my lips together in a grim smile and shook my head.
Jen rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip as she looked to the staff room door. “You know what? That bitch rarely ever comes out here.”
