“Oh, now you’re in for it!” Jimmy presses more paint onto his roller.
“No! Don’t!” I drop my roller on the floor and cover my face. The anticipation is making my heart race.Just get it over with, I think.Just do it.
Nothing happens. Paint doesn’t splatter all over me. I cautiously lower my hands from my face. Jimmy stands there, no roller in his hand. Just him, inches from my face.
“Don’t worry. You’re safe with me.” He reaches over and runs his hand through my hair, pushing a few strands behind my ear.
I suck in a breath, my body tingling in places that haven’t for years. What is it that he’s doing to me? I open my mouth to say something, what, I don’t know, and his lips meet mine. I press my hand to his face, the paint smearing as I touch it. Jimmy pulls me closer to him, my breasts pressed up against his chest as he runs his arms behind onto my back. He pulls me even closer to him, running his lips up and down my neck. He moves forward and I move backward as we move toward my bed, stationed in the middle of the room, covered with a large, white sheet to catch any paint.
Jimmy pulls his shirt off as my butt meets the bed. I take him all in, his rounded pecs and firm stomach. Even though it’s covered by dark hair, it doesn’t hide the fact that he keeps in shape. I reach out and touch my fingertips to his stomach and run my hand down to the top of his pants.
“Are you sure?”
He takes the time to ask me this, to be positive I am comfortable, and I appreciate him even more for this.
I open my mouth to answer him, to tell him yes, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life, when the doorbell rings frantically. Something has to be wrong.
I hop off the bed and race to the door, whipping it open.
I can’t believe who is standing behind it.
15
A womanI’ve never seen before stands next to Daisy, the intern from Poppy Haus. Daisy’s eyes are rimmed red and she looks past me, not at me. I assume the woman looking like an angry bull is Daisy’s mom.
“Excuse me, Ms. Turner? My name is Belinda Dowden, and I believe you know my daughter, Daisy.”
“Yes. How may I help you?” Did I forget something at the gallery when I left? Even if that were the case, I doubt Daisy would be the person to bring it to me. If she were, I don’t think her mother would come with—or that she’d be crying.
“Go on, tell her.” Belinda pats her daughter’s shoulder, who has her hands behind her back clearly wishing she wasn’t standing on my front porch.
“Ms. Turner, I’m really sorry but this belongs to you.” From behind her back she presents my laptop.
“My laptop? Where did you find it?” I take it from her and hug it like it was a long-lost child. I want to hug Daisy, too, but my laptop is glued to my chest at this point. “Thank you so—“ I stop when I realize what’s actually going on.
“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Jimmy comes into the room and stands next to me.
“Not really.” I want to scream at the top of my lungs. I can’t believe this. “Jimmy, this is Daisy, an intern from Poppy Haus.”
“Oh! So you work with Reese?”
“Used to.” Daisy’s head is dipped down and she stares at her shoes as she whispers.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“No, Jimmy,shestill works there. I do not.”
“You what? Since when?”
“Since Daisy stole my laptop containing critical information for a possible exhibit. Janet, our boss, wasn’t very happy that I had nothing to show our potential client. I ended up losing my job. Thank you, Daisy.”
I can partially see her face now, her lip quivering as her head is turned to the left.
“Daisy!” Her mother presses her hand to her chest. “You got this woman fired? I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.” She stops scolding Daisy and directs her comments toward me. “She’s almost seventeen years old and can barely do a thing on her own. It’s hard enough I work two jobs so I can pay our mortgage since her father is a deadbeat who doesn’t acknowledge she even exists, but then she goes and steals, and gets you fired as a result. Her plan was to sell this for money.”
“Mom, I—“
“Don’t even try it. This woman now no longer has a job because ofyou. How does that make you feel?”
