“This is a natural energy drink from home, actually.”
“Well, clearly, it isn’t working,” he snapped.
There was no point in arguing with a self-righteous alcoholic. He was probably having withdrawal pains or saw his bank account after the latest divorce lawyer fees. I set my drink on the shoe repair table. “Sorry it took longer than usual today. There was a line at the clock-in station.”
“We need to see some hustle. Card memberships. Email captures.” He pushed up his glasses and frowned. “Cassandra is already on her lunch break. I need you in the window immediately.”
“Okay.” When I got there, no one was on the sales floor. No customers. Not even a passer-by. Good thing I got out there immediately. I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter. Andre could’ve covered the shoe window another two minutes. I’d been waiting all day for Zack to get back to me, and I hadn’t snapped yet.
Finally, some lady snatched a couple of display designer boots and dumped them on my desk. “Seven,” she said.
Was she ranking herself on a scale of one to ten?
I gathered her selection. “That’ll be a minute.”
“I want to try on every color,” she called to my back.
It wasn’t like they’d fit any different, but whatever. More stuff to put away later. I nabbed my drink from the shoe repair bench and checked my phone. No new messages. I stuffed my phone into my back pocket, then sipped my breakfast as I tracked down the customer’s shoes. One of the alternate colors was on a shelf that required a ladder.Shit.
I set my drink down, then dragged the squeaking ladder over. Stupid Miss Seven. Stupid shoes. Stupidmen. I stacked the boxes in one arm and wobbled on my grumbling way down the steps.
“Hey.Hey.” Zack trotted over to steady the ladder, one hand firm on my hip despite the precarious stack of boxes about to tip onto the floor and spill my drink.
“What?” I stepped back and accidentally dug my elbow into the solid wall of muscle on his chest. Forget quarterback, he could’ve been a linebacker, a major defense.
He steadied the boxes by wrapping his arms around mine. “Be careful. This is a lot to carry.”
“I can handle it.” I inhaled deeply, surrounded by the faint musk of dust and old spice. Being trapped between him and a ladder must’ve made me claustrophobic or something because my heart pounded until my whole body was warm. “Aren’t you supposed to be moving inventory?”
“We’re between shipments,” he said.
I tried to ease him out of the way with my hip. “All good so far?”
“Yeah.” He swept some of the boxes covering my face out of the way.
I narrowed my gaze at him. “Not tootired, are we?”
“What are you talking about?” He chuckled, following me toward the shoe window with Miss Seven’s haul. “Because you made me go shopping?”
Part of me wanted to get snippy with him, but he hadn’t exactly disrespected me. The guy was carrying boxes to help me out. I shouldn’t be so focused on a text, especially since he wasn’t evenreallymy boyfriend. I had to talk to him like a coworker and assert my expectations without douching it up like Andre.
“You never responded to my text last night. I thought you passed out,” I said.
He knitted his brows. “No, I—”
Ding.The bell chimed.
“Ugh, more customers. I’ll be back.” I loaded up my other arm with his half of the boxes and rushed to the shoe window before a second ring could summon Andre. By the time I was able to dart to the back again, Zack was gone, but my drink canister was on the shoe repair table, and I had a notification on my phone.
He sent me a link to an address.
I chuckled. Who rocked out mid-morning?
I double-clicked on a heart emoji and sent it. The red shapes flooded my screen like confetti. Inhaling sharply, I recoiled from my screen. Oh no. I’d triggered some kind of interactive thing. This was meant to be a casual ‘like,’ not a flood of feelings. I tried to cancel it, tapping anything and everything, but a checkmark confirmed it’d been delivered.
“Shit,” I muttered. I had to unsend the heart emoji before he saw it. Pressing the screen, I held down until the option surfaced, my thumb shaking from the effort. He couldn’t see this…thing.
Ice rattled and shoes clomped as someone quickly rounded from the warehouse hallway. “Hey, Ni-ni. Who ya texting?”
