by Lisa Scott
“Oh, we’re not that close yet, mother. His wife recently died. These things take time, you know.” Veronica tightened her grip on the harness that linked the kids like reindeer on a sleigh, the poor things.
Clearly, the wicked stepmother gene runs in the family, thought Cindi, gripping the edge of the concrete planter.
“Well, soon enough you will be! You’re my daughter after all. We Midas girls know how to land a man. Unlike Cindi, who will probably be my burden for the rest of my life….” Her stepmother sighed dramatically as if she’d just remembered the burden she bore caring for her.
Cindi’s gut twisted. What a horrible day. She had to move out of that apartment. She had to strike out on her own. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t bought a pair of Jiminies. She could use that five hundred dollars towards a deposit on an apartment. Still, as she fled the hotel after her stepmother and Veronica walked away, her heart ached for shoes loved and lost.
***
By the time Henry refereed the fight over the patent mules—by pointing out that the shoes were half a size too small for the older woman trying to wrestle them away—he realized the beautiful blonde with the tiny feet was gone. He returned to the bench where she’d been sitting, and picked up one crystal shoe. Walking around the bench, he peered under it, but couldn’t find its mate. With one shoe in his hand, his eyes swept the room, searching for the girl.
Bruno ran up to him. “I just spotted your friend running out the door with one of the shoes sticking out of her bag. She was in a real hurry. She hopped in a cab before I could stop the little thief”
Henry frowned. “Why would she take just one?”
“Even one is worth a hundred grand.”
“Right, but if you’re going to steal them, you’d take both.
“She’s a thief. Who knows how they think.”
Henry shook his head. “She’s not the type.”
Bruno poked a stubby finger in Henry’s chest. “You say that only because she’s your type.”
He ignored Bruno even though it was true. “She’s a size five. She won’t be hard to find. I’ll go look through our preferred customer list and sort out all the size fives.”
But half an hour later, he learned none of their preferred customers who’d been invited to the sale wore a size five.
“How can we find her, boss?” Bruno asked him. “Want me to make some calls?”
Henry shook his head. “On the off chance she did steal it, we don’t want to give her a heads up. A one-of-a-kind diamond Jiminy isn’t something you can unload quickly. I’m sure she still has it.” He rubbed his chin. “We’re going to have to go find her.”
Bruno threw up his hands. “How?”
“Grab the address list for the customers who received tickets to the trunk sale. We’ll have to conduct a door-to-door search—disguised as a contest.”
“Do we go to the press with this?”
Henry sighed. “Yes. Maybe she’ll see the report and turn herself in, or double-check her bags. It might have just fallen in.”
Bruno gave him a look.
“What? It might have. I’m hoping for a happy ending here.” And not just for the company, either.
“I’m sure you are.”
“I’ll handle this. Watch me spin PR gold, my friend.”
***
Henry called a press conference, and all the news outlets showed up. A missing hundred-thousand-dollar shoe? That’s great water cooler stuff.
He held up the shoe and explained how it had been made out of crystals and tiny diamonds, how it was an unusual size—and incredibly expensive.
“Was the shoe stolen?” called out a reporter.
Henry shook his head. “We think the person would have grabbed both if it was a theft. There was a woman at the sale who fit into these shoes perfectly. We believe she took it inadvertently. When we find her, we have a special gift to apologize for all this trouble.” What that gift was remained to be determined, but cops caught criminals all the time by offering free concert tickets or merchandise to people wanted on warrants. They showed up thinking they were going to get a free Blu-Ray only to get a free ride to jail.
Not that this woman was a criminal. But a little incentive never hurt, did it? He’d had such an instant attraction to her; he pleaded with the universe to let this all be a big misunderstanding. Even at his most desperate moments as a child, when he and his mother and brother had nothing to eat, he wouldn’t have considered stealing. Was Bruno right? Was he too blinded by her beauty to face the truth?
***
Cindi headed for her secret stash of chocolate when Gloria and her mom came home with bags of shoes and purses and other Jiminy Shoes goodies. Gloria paraded around the apartment, putting on a new pair every few hours.
Cindi locked herself in her room and searched for twenty new party contacts a day for the next few days when she wasn’t busy scrubbing toilets and changing sheets at the hotel. Things just had to change; she couldn’t go on like this.
Three days after the sale, the doorbell rang and she assumed it was another one of Gloria’s friends who’d come to see her new shoes. She’d had more visitors over the past few days than if she’d been showing off a new baby.
But it wasn’t high-pitched cackles of her friends that she heard; it was a man’s voice. Cindi cracked open the door and did a double take—it was the gorgeous man from the sale. Henry Hubbard. What was he doing here?
She opened the door a bit more, leaning forward to hear. Fortunately, Gloria turned off her music when the man arrived, so Cindi could see and hear most of their conversation.
Gloria and her mother smiled like fools while the man explained the reason for his visit. “It seems we made a perfect match at the shoe sale. A mysterious woman fit into our beautiful diamond sample shoes. But she escaped before we could award a special prize—a modeling shoot with the shoes and a one-thousand dollar shopping spree at our store.”
Cindi’s heart was in her throat. He was looking for her! But if she burst out there and said, ‘Oh, it was me, me, me!’ her stepmother would find out about the ticket, and lord only knew what she’d do to Cindi and Mrs. Robinson and her dog.
“Of course! I remember you trying them on,” her stepmother said, elbowing Gloria.
“No, I don’t think so.” Gloria blinked her beady eyes at her mother, confused.
“Remember?” Hildy hissed. “They were a perfect fit on you, Gloria.”
Henry looked doubtful. “Then please, try this one and we’ll see.”
Even from far across the apartment, Cindi could see that Gloria’s big toe barely fit in the shoe. Yet Gloria persisted, plastering on a smile, and trying to force her foot into the poor little shoe.
Finally, Henry pulled it away, probably out of concern she might break it. He frowned. “I don’t think you’re the one. I was really hoping to find that girl.”
And that’s when Cindi leaned a bit too hard against the door and tumbled out, tail over teakettle.
Three heads turned in her direction. When she stood up rubbing her sore head, Henry beamed. “It’s you. Size five, am I right?” He was as handsome as she remembered, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off that dazzling shoe.
She grinned. “I am.”
“Come, try on the shoe.”
Her stepmother crossed her arms and sneered. “Oh, it can’t be her. She wasn’t at the show. She didn’t know anyone who could get her a ticket.”
“Trust me, I wouldn’t forget someone like her. Please, come see if it fits.”
She didn’t care what punishment her stepmother would come up with; she had to get that shoe back on her foot.
She sat on the couch and held out her foot. Henry smiled at her, and slid on the sparkly, clear shoe. “Perfect fit,” he said, with his fingers circled gently around her ankle. She could imagine them sliding up her calf, over her knee and onto her thigh.
The big security guard from the sale stormed in the apartment. “I knew it!
Now hand over the other shoe or you’re under arrest.”
Henry held out a hand to stop the man from getting any closer. “Bruno, we haven’t even heard her side of the story.”
“My stepdaughter’s a thief? No surprise there.”
Cindi’s hand flew to her throat. “What are you talking about?”
Henry’s shoulders slumped. “We’re missing the mate to this pair. Bruno saw you running from the sale—with the shoe sticking out of your bag.”
She could feel the blood draining from her face. She’d tossed the bag in her closet after getting home from the sale empty handed. “My bag’s in my room. I haven’t looked in it since I got home that day.” Her heart raced as she headed to her room—followed by Gloria, her stepmother, Bruno, and Henry.
She pulled the bag out of her closet and sure enough, there was the shoe. She held it up and forced a smile. “Oops.”
“It’s a pretty big oops,” Bruno said.
Henry stepped in front of Bruno. “No harm done. It’s gotten us some good press coverage, actually.” Henry held out his hand for the shoe.
Press coverage? That got Cindi’s attention. Think, think, think. There has to be a way to spin this to your advantage. She couldn’t lose these shoes, not again. She looked at Henry and smiled. “There’s no reason for the good publicity to end. I have an idea.” She led him back into the living room and slipped on both shoes. “People following this story must be dying to know where this shoe has been. They’ll all tune in to hear about it. But now that’s its been found, the story is over. People stop paying attention and the shoes go back on display.”
“Under lock and key this time,” Bruno mumbled.
She held up one finger in a just-a-minute gesture. “But what if I wore these shoes for a week, and you follow my adventures! These shoes were made for walking, and dancing, and shopping!” She actually clapped, she was so excited by the idea. “And maybe Jiminy Shoes could make a more affordable version that everyone would be clamoring to buy!” And perhaps I’d get a free pair….
Henry nodded, visibly impressed. “And maybe once you’re done with the shoes, we could send them to someone else with size five feet somewhere else in the world, and see what a week’s like in their shoes, so to speak.” He smacked his hands together. “It’s a killer idea.”
Hildy stepped forward. “Who cares what Cindi does? She’s as interesting as wet paint.” She pushed Gloria toward Henry. “You should follow my daughter around.”
Henry totally ignored Hildy, bless him. “Then when the week’s up, the whole thing ends at a big party where you slip out of the shoes at midnight.”
“Shoes in the City,” Cindi offered, stepping closer to him.
“A Week In Her Shoes,” Henry countered, setting his hands on her arms.
“Shoe Love,” Cindi whispered, just inches from him.
They stood for a moment, as if poised for a kiss. Then Henry stepped back. “Let me call the boss on this. It’s a great idea.”
“Who is the boss?” Cindi asked innocently. It was one of the most closely guarded secrets in the fashion world.
Henry just gave her a look.
She shrugged. “It was worth a try.”
Her stepmother pushed past her and poked Henry in the chest. “Now wait just one minute. I will not subject my family to this kind of publicity stunt.” She shook her head. “Not while you’re living in my house.”
Cindi gritted her teeth, ready to spew venom, when Henry said, “She’s a legal adult. We don’t need your permission. And we can put her up at the Castle hotel for the week.”
Hildy looked down her nose at her and let out a little laugh. “How perfectly funny. Cindi works at the castle hotel. As a maid.”
Henry shrugged. “Not after this she won’t be.”
Gritting her teeth and stepmother lowered her voice. “Don’t think you’ll be coming back here after that.”
Cindi’s heart clenched. Being kicked out of her own father’s apartment? The home where she grew up? She looked around the living room at the window seat where she’d sit and read for hours; at the balcony where she and Daddy would blow bubbles and watch them until they floated away, too far to be seen. She realized her father’s best memories were in her heart, not in the walls her stepmother had redone in hideous shades of mauve and green. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked her stepmother in the eye. “It’s about time I moved out on my own.” Exactly how she was going to support herself was a mystery, but she’d figured it out. Now that she had this shot of confidence, it was time for a brand new start.
With brand new, killer shoes.
***
Henry hung up with the boss, thrilled that their idea got the green light. Bruno helped Cindi load her things into their car, with a delivery van coming for the rest.
“I’m sorry this got you kicked out of your place,” Henry told her.
She didn’t look upset. “It’s more like a much-needed kick in the pants to get out of a bad situation. See? The shoes are changing everything for me already.”
“Wait, let me video tape you leaving your apartment in the new shoes!”
As Cindi stood outside her apartment door, she took her lovely little feet out of her old flats and slipped them into the beautiful crystal heels.
Henry swallowed a groan. Damn, she’d probably assume he had a foot fetish, the way he was grinning like an idiot. Truth was, he had a green-eyed-blonde fetish. And he was going to get to spend an entire week with the most beautiful one he’d ever seen—and get paid for it.
Henry followed her outside into the bright sunny day, the camera in his phone taping the entire time. Then he slid it in his pocket. They’d have to get her a tiny camera that hung from her waist and taped her feet. He’d record from other angles, too. He was no professional videographer, but his amateur work would likely give it more of a real feeling. The whole thing was an ingenious idea. Who was this woman? He couldn’t wait to find out.
When he finished taping, she handed him the shoes. “See you later, darlings.” She giggled.
It was going to be an interesting week. He smiled at her. “This is going to change your life. You ready?”
She turned to him with the most beautiful grin. “I’ve been waiting to change my life for a long time.”
He’d been saying the same thing to himself for a while, but how many people actually ever did it? His brother had left home to play trumpet in a band. He had groupies who followed him from town to town. But Henry was reluctant to leave their mother behind all alone so he could chase his own dreams—whatever they may. He didn’t even know. Would he take advantage of this kind of opportunity like Cindi was? He wasn’t sure. He admired her courage and spontaneity.
“First things first,” he said. “We need to update the press that we’ve found the shoes, and then we’ll hold a press conference tonight explaining that you’ll be wearing these shoes for one week starting at midnight.”
She closed her eyes and smiled, and he had to resist the urge to kiss her. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispered.
“Believe it,” he told her. “And it’s only going to get more interesting.” He’d booked her a room at the hotel, where Bruno would deliver her things. “Rest up. The adventure begins tonight.”
She nodded, but he noticed her hands shaking. He grabbed one and squeezed tighter than he meant to. “It’s going to be fine. It’s going to be fun! Start thinking about how you want to spend this week in those shoes.”
“You’ll be with me, right?” Her eyes were big and full of hope.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
***
He was right. The press was dying to know what had happened to that shoe. At nine o’clock that night, he introduced the world to Cindi—the girl in the crystal shoes—standing next to him in the hotel lobby. Her shoes sparkled in the light of the cameras as he explained what happened to the shoes, and the week ahead. “She’s going to be a princess for a
week and turn the shoes over at midnight next Saturday during a fabulous ball.”
All the entertainment shows planned on following this lucky maid turned celeb and her shoes, and plenty of news programs wanted in on it, too. He’d be updating Jiminy’s website several times a day with new photos and clips. He was almost as excited as she was. This was going to put him on the map as a marketing god.
Once the press conference broke up, Cindy exhaled. “Wow. That was crazy.” She stifled a yawn. “I guess I’ll head back to my room and we’ll get started tomorrow?”
He shook his head. “This journey starts at midnight. The morning shows will want footage of the first night out. So what’ll it be, dinner, dancing?”
She blew out a breath. “I guess we’ll play it by ear.”
“Great. You’ve got about an hour and a half to nap. Then we’re hitting the town. I’ll have a few outfits for you to choose from when you wake up.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Can’t have you and these shoes out on the town dressed in anything but the best.”
***
Cindi woke from the most spectacular dream. Then, looking around the hotel room, she realized it hadn’t been a dream. She was out of her stepmother’s apartment in a posh hotel with fabulous shoes and the adventure of a lifetime ahead of her.
She jumped out of bed and wandered into the sitting area of her hotel room. She’d cleaned this room before; now she was a guest. She pinched herself just in case this was a dreamin-a-dream. Luckily, it hurt. This was real. Three dresses hung from the back of the bathroom door with a note from Henry. “Pick the one you like best, but I’ve got my money on the pink cocktail dress. See you at midnight.”
She tried on all three, but Henry was right. At five to twelve, she stood by the door waiting for this crazy plan to begin. She felt like she was waiting for a date. Only, Henry was really coming to pick up the shoes, not her.
His video camera was rolling when she opened the door. “Where will the adventure begin, princess? Come with me, your chariot awaits.”
He led her to a Mercedes limousine. She hesitated before getting in. “This is incredible.”