It didn’t help that Jamie was preoccupied with Jessica’s revelation regarding Kevin’s precarious mental state. It was hard enough to resist him when she thought he was just a man-whore. Now she suspected he was actually going through something pretty horrible too. Despite everything she was concerned about him. And that bugged the hell out of her.
When she’d worked at The Kitty Kat she’d encountered some pretty rough customers: a few organized crime figures and the occasional drug dealer or pimp. As much as she abhorred these types they’d been paying customers so she’d treated them with wary politeness when they approached her at the club.
She had never come into contact with someone like Rawlings. To her he was like the Boogeyman or Freddie Krueger. Only real which made him even more frightening. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to sit down in a room with someone so deviant and discuss his crimes without any kind of judgment or disgust seeping through to discourage full disclosure from the monster.
It worried and scared her that Kevin seemed capable of such coldness. Wouldn’t it take someone equally inhuman to do such a thing? But then she thought about the way he was falling apart and knew Kevin was not unaffected. He was just such a guy. And the macho idiot couldn’t admit that being in contact with Rawlings was taking a very big toll on him. Instead he would have a nice, quiet masculine breakdown until his entire life disintegrated. Good plan.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her last customer of the day. Looking up she smiled as an exotically beautiful woman in a stunning white sheath dress approached the cash register with an armful of lingerie. Jamie’s smile was not returned. The woman with the long, black hair just threw the items on the counter like a response was not required. When her hands were empty she rummaged in the Louis Vuitton hand-bag she carried until she found her cell phone. She continued to ignore Jamie as she flipped through screens, finally looking up after a good 45 seconds of complete silence between the two women.
“I trust you offer alterations,” the dark-haired woman said, flicking the size label on the black silk chemise on top of the pile. “The smallest I could find was a size three. I had no idea you catered to heifers in this establishment or I wouldn’t have bothered coming here.”
Jamie had to fight to keep her smile in place. At her very thinnest she’d been a size three and she’d hardly been a ‘heifer.’ At the time she’d considered herself almost too thin. Thirty pounds later she was a seven which was hardly huge by most people’s standards. She longed to point this out but correcting a customer was never good for business so she did her best to look contrite as she began sorting through the woman’s selections.
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Jamie said. “We’re running a little low on stock right now. What size were you looking for? Perhaps I can check to see if we have some more in the back room.” The fact was that her stock room was pretty depleted but sometimes the effort was enough to diffuse a customer’s bad attitude. Though judging from this woman’s demeanor she was going to be rude even if Jamie waved a magic wand and made a Barbie-sized thong appear out of thin air.
The customer looked heavenward for a moment and then gave an exasperated sigh. “A double zero. Of course,” she said, gesturing down at her body like her diminutive size should be obvious.
Jamie hated to admit it but she had made a mistake. She’d misjudged the demand for extra small sizes when she’d placed her last order to her manufacturer. This had never been an issue before but given Hidden Treasures’ newfound popularity and Vancouver’s large Asian population anything below a size three had been snapped up within the first few days after The Love Laws had been initially published.
But this unpleasant woman standing before her didn’t need to know that.
“Did you try any of these on?” Jamie asked tentatively as she sorted through the mountain of lace and satin. “Some of these fit really small.” Looking at this woman’s selections Jamie spotted at least two corsets that could be cinched in to accommodate her child-sized rib cage with ease.
The woman stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment, her expression flinty. “Of course I tried them on.” She said as if talking to a none-too-bright toddler. “And it was like wearing a tent.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Jamie. “Honestly, I can’t comprehend why Kevin told me to come here,” she muttered as if talking to herself.
Jamie stopped sorting. Surely this woman was talking about another Kevin.
“Kevin?” Jamie asked, feigning polite interest. “Your husband?”
The woman`s thin lips turned up into a cold smile. “Not yet. But it’s really just a matter of time,” she said with a grating laugh. She flicked her hair back over one bony shoulder, watching Jamie intently.
Jamie gave a half-hearted chuckle and felt relief wash over her. No way was Kevin Hall involved in anything resembling a serious relationship. He’d as much as admitted to her that his encounters had been limited to one night stands for years. The name of this woman’s unfortunate boyfriend must be just a coincidence.
“Congratulations. Have you known your fiancé long?” Jamie asked unable to help her curiosity. She didn’t usually engage with customers like this but if a little conversation would make this woman more receptive to finalizing this interaction then she would fawn over her for a few minutes.
“Since we were kids actually.” The dark-haired woman said warming up to her subject matter as she casually wandered over to a rack of peignoirs. She flipped through the items with her lips pursed in mild disdain. “I was married to his best friend but it didn’t work out.” She shrugged her shoulders. “No wonder really. Kevin and I have always had such mind-blowing chemistry. It was inevitable that we would be together eventually.” She glanced over at Jamie and gave her a smug look. “A few weeks ago some ox approached me in our hotel bar and Kevin actually got into a fight with him. Got his nose broken and everything. It was terribly romantic. This little shopping spree is my way of making it up to him. He does love to see me dressed up in skimpy things. The more variety the better for my Kevin. He’s practically insatiable.”
Too much information, lady. Jamie thought to herself, watching in dismay as her least favorite customer idly held up a pale peach lacy creation to her slight chest and then dropped it on a nearby settee. Did this suddenly chatty woman want to continue to shop for items she knew wouldn’t fit her? After hours? This was turning into a nightmare.
Jamie did a quick calculation of the total revenue she would lose by alienating this woman. It was a lot. Two weeks ago she would have been doing cartwheels down the street at such a massive sale. But today was different. She was making a profit for a change and there was something about this woman that made her uneasy. She suddenly didn’t give a damn about the money or this customer’s complicated love life. It would be totally worth the loss to make her stomp out of the store in a rage.
“That’s too bad about your marriage not working out.” Jamie said with thinly veiled sarcasm. “Your ex is okay with you dating his buddy?”
Instead of getting angry at Jamie’s impertinent question the dark-haired woman gave another grating laugh. “Duncan?” She scoffed. “Like I give a damn how he feels about anything. It doesn’t matter anyway. Kevin hasn’t told him yet.” She said with a disturbing wink.
This woman’s ex-husband’s name was Duncan? And his best friend’s name was Kevin? Who’d also sustained a broken nose recently? Jamie couldn’t help it. Her mouth fell open in a gape. She quickly recovered her calm expression but inside a cold feeling came over her. There was no way this was a coincidence. She scanned her memory, trying to remember Duncan’s ex-wife’s name.
Kerry. Could this be Kerry? Jamie didn’t know much about Duncan’s dreaded ex but what she did know wasn’t exactly flattering. All Jamie could remember was that Kerry had shown up at Duncan’s penthouse when he was first dating Jessica. His scheming former spouse had pretended her and Duncan were still together despite the fact that she’d been living in E
urope for several years. Jessica had stormed out of the apartment and it had taken some serious begging on Duncan’s part to convince Jess that Kerry was playing a game to extort money from him. That little deception had nearly ended their relationship before it had barely started.
Could this be the same woman? It seemed likely but Jamie sincerely hoped there was some kind of reasonable explanation. If Kevin was involved with this female snake then he was in worse shape than any of them knew. Unfortunately, everything pointed towards Kevin Hall being this woman’s lover. And that meant that he was not only a man-whore, he was a lying man-whore who was secretly screwing his best friend’s unpleasant ex-wife. So he was King of the Man-Whores and Jamie had foolishly believed he was just a decent guy with commitment issues. Was she really that naïve not to have seen through him?
She thought back to the time she’d spent with Kevin. It didn’t seem possible that he was capable of such deception. He seemed so fun and harmless. But then she thought of what he did for a living. If he was so adept at hiding his emotions that he could interview serial killers then acting like a harmless playboy would be child’s play, wouldn’t it?
Jamie was just about to ask for clarification from the dark-haired woman when she heard a muted crash and looked towards the front of the store. Theresa had been changing the mannequins a moment ago but only the female mannequin was now visible from Jamie’s elevated platform behind the cash register. She could no longer see Theresa and it would appear that Raoul was down!
“Sorry.” Theresa called, wrestling the naked dummy back to his standing position. “He got away from me.”
“Do you need a hand?” Jamie called to Theresa, glad for the distraction. She was suddenly very tired and did not want to deal with this situation anymore.
“Nope. Got it under control. He’s a slippery one.” Theresa said, sounding more than a little embarrassed.
Jamie turned back to her customer, eager to wrap things up. “Sorry about that,” she said without a hint of sincerity. “It’s been a long day and we’re both exhausted. Now did you want to take any of these items today? Or would you prefer to wait until the new stock arrives? I can take your name and number if you’d like and give you a call when it’s in. Should take about three weeks.” Jamie held her breath, hoping this woman would reveal that her name was anything except Kerry.
“Three weeks? That’s just unacceptable.” Maybe-Kerry said, approaching the cash register. She gave the items on the counter a shove in Jamie’s direction, all revealing conversation forgotten and replaced with self-important rage at being disappointed. “Surely you can put a rush on it.”
If the woman standing before her was anyone else in the world Jamie would gladly do the alterations herself and have the items returned to the customer in a few days. But then what? This awful woman would most likely wear the designs she’d created. For Kevin. The man Jamie had ravished in the back seat of his Mustang only two weeks ago. It was ridiculous but the last thing she wanted was to imagine this black-haired witch enticing him with her own products.
Just the thought filled her with blinding jealousy. Yes, she’d rejected Kevin and had absolutely no right to want to tear this woman’s hair out but that was exactly what she wanted to do. As for him. If Kevin was in the store right now she would happily throw his stupid sunglasses on the floor and stomp on them with her five inch heels. What was he thinking sending his girlfriend here? Was this some kind of cruel taunt because she’d rudely abandoned him that day in White Rock? Or was he actually trying to help her by throwing her a big sale? Either way, she didn’t want this woman’s money and she certainly didn’t want her here, in her store.
Jamie shrugged. “Sorry. But no can do. If you’re in a hurry, you can always take them to your own seamstress,” she said sweetly.
Maybe-Kerry’s deeply-tanned cheeks flushed with anger. “Let me get this straight. You expect me to wait three weeks. Or I can take these ugly hefty bags as is and get them fixed myself?” She widened her heavily made-up eyes with disbelief and crossed her arms, waiting for Jamie to crumble under the force of her will.
Jamie’s smile just widened. She shook her head in mock sorrow and made a few ‘tsk’ sounds for good measure. “I’m afraid those are your options.” She put a finger to her lips for a moment as if pondering the problem. “Or you could actually eat for a couple of days. Then I’m sure you could fit into these ugly hefty bags without any alterations at all.”
Maybe-Kerry stared at her in disbelief. She looked like she was ready to explode. Obviously no one had dared to confront her in a very long time.
Usually Jamie took pride in the fact that she could charm even the most disagreeable customer. She genuinely enjoyed interacting with people and took it as a personal challenge when someone came into her store determined to be dissatisfied or even hostile. They were just part of the customer service industry and she never took their rudeness personally. As a result, she had never been disrespectful to a customer before. So, she should have been appalled at her own unprofessional behavior. Instead she felt elated and more than a little amused. She had to fight not to giggle as Maybe-Kerry nearly shook with rage.
The irate woman’s dark eyes narrowed as she put one hand on one of her non-existent hips and pointed her cell phone at her with the other. “How dare you?” She hissed through tightly clenched teeth. “I know who you are. I read your lame articles in the newspaper and I’m quite sure your readers will be interested to know how you treat your customers. We’ll see how long this tacky place stays open then.” With a triumphant glare and a swirl of dark hair Maybe-Kerry stomped toward the exit without waiting for Jamie’s response.
Jamie slumped down over the counter and beat her forehead against the top a few times. What had she just done? Jealousy and childish pique may have just caused her to sabotage herself and the store. This was exactly what happened when she let emotions rule: Disaster.
She had no doubt that Maybe-Kerry would be making some very derogatory comments on the Vancouver Star website. Most people would ignore her rant but at least a few potential customers would be discouraged from shopping at Hidden Treasures by the negative feedback. Jamie wished she’d considered this before she’d gone ahead and insulted a customer. She may have just lost way more than a single sale. Her store couldn’t afford any bad publicity at this point and yet she had just generated a shit-storm of it.
The worst part of all this was that as angry as she was with herself, her disappointment in Kevin overshadowed everything. Yes, he was definitely troubled right now but was that any excuse for him his behavior? He’d lied, used and discarded her, and she hadn’t even seen it coming. She’d actually felt guilty over the way she’d treated him. What a laugh. He probably didn’t give a damn. She had never felt so humiliated. To think she`d actually entertained the idea of pursuing a relationship with that reptile. Obviously her original assessment was correct. He was an unfeeling man-whore and she’d nearly fell for his game.
The soft thunk of her head hitting the glass counter one last time wasn’t loud enough to drown out the sound of Theresa unlocking the door for Maybe-Kerry and wishing her a pleasant evening. Maybe-Kerry’s cursed response rang through the store, closely followed by Theresa’s own exhale of relief as the door slammed behind their last and most unpleasant customer of the day. A day that had originally held so much promise was now deeply buried in the crapper.
*****
“Whoa. Did you hear that? What a potty-mouth.” Theresa said, shaking her head as she approached the cash register where Jamie was still slumped over the counter.
“It was hard to miss.” Jamie mumbled through her curtain of hair. Sighing she raised herself up on her elbows and gave Theresa what she hoped was a convincing smile. The last thing she wanted was her friend and co-worker knowing how upset she was by the altercation with that woman. As always she felt the need to keep her confident persona in place. She couldn’t let anyone see how close she was to crumpling into a pathetic
pile of tears. People expected her to keep it together and she couldn’t bear to disappoint anyone.
Raising her chin and squaring her shoulders Jamie chuckled and pretended to look puzzled. “The ‘C’ word’ just doesn’t come up during your average lingerie purchase for some reason.” She gestured at the pile of clothing stacked up on the counter. “Guess she won’t be back to pick all this stuff up.”
Theresa grinned and started sorting through the abandoned lingerie. “Doubtful. But I wouldn’t feel too bad. She should be shopping in the slutty children’s department anyway.”
Jamie gave a shudder. “Sadly. There probably is such a thing.” She held out one hand and waved her fingertips towards the front of the store. “Now, what was with you and Raoul? Clay will be crazy jealous if you were making moves on him, you know.”
Theresa giggled. “A love triangle. How scandalous,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “But no. I could tell that skank was rattling you, so I thought I’d provide a rather spectacular distraction.”
Jamie felt a wave a gratitude wash over her. “Was it that obvious?” She asked dryly.
“Absolutely not. You were pretty cool under the circumstances. But that woman could rattle a tree sloth. Believe me. I know.”
“You’ve dealt with her before?”
“You could say that. I was in her wedding.”
“What? And she didn’t recognize you?”
“Well, I was ten at the time and she was a little preoccupied with getting Duncan to the altar. But she did make me cry, so you’d think I’d have made a bigger impression.”
“Are you sure? That was Duncan’s ex?”
“Yup. The infamous Kerry. In the flesh. Well, sort of. Not much flesh to her.”
The Love Laws Page 21