Harvey reached the door then turned around. There was a ghost of a smile on his face.
“By the way,” he said. “Someone was asking about you. A girl called Merry. She seemed very interested. Can I give you some advice?”
“Sure,” said Christian, smiling a little himself. He couldn’t quite believe that just as he’d made the decision not to think about Merry, she popped right back into his world.
“That one’s a keeper,” said Harvey, walking out the door. His words echoed back from the corridor outside. “You hold on to her with everything you’ve got.”
18
It was the cold that woke Merry. She shivered, pulling the duvet over her head and wondering whether she could get away with spending the whole day in bed.
Sadly, the answer was no. She peeked up over her quilts to see that it was a quarter past seven. Her shift started in less than two hours, and it was always a nightmare getting across town in the morning.
Groaning, and bracing herself for the freezing temperatures of her apartment, she threw back the quilts and dashed for the bathroom. She leapt into the shower, turning the water as high as it would go and blasting the chill out of her bones. Gradually, the events of the previous day settled into her waking mind—the flowers and the umbrella, the awful moment in the canteen where she thought she had lost Christian for good, then the rooftop kiss, and the ice skating, and then…
Then she’d basically given him the cold shoulder and walked away.
Oh Merry, not all men are like Adrian, she told herself, wondering why she had treated Christian so badly. But if that was true, then why had he looked so uncomfortable when she’d asked him if he had anything to hide? There was something there, wriggling beneath that perfect exterior, and Merry really didn’t want to find out what it was. It would be better, surely, to just remember that one, wonderful day. That way, it would never have to be spoilt.
Except she’d told Christian she’d be his date for the dance, and part of her was desperate to see him again. She had been surprised to find herself missing him during the night, which was ridiculous given the fact that they’d never actually spent a night together. The Carroll’s Christmas Ball was tomorrow. Maybe she’d give it until then to find out whether this was really going to work. She’d go to the dance, and then decide what was best.
Merry rinsed her hair then drenched it with conditioner. She was frightened to turn the water off because it would be so cold in the bathroom, but she didn’t have a choice. She’d got home last night to another two bills with URGENT emblazoned on the envelopes. If she didn’t do something quickly, then she’d lose her heating altogether—and just in time for Christmas.
A feeling of despair opened up inside her like a big, black hole, and she had to fight from falling into it. She wasn’t sure how it had got this bad. She’d been working hard all year, and while the pay at Carroll’s wasn’t amazing, she’d been doing a lot of hours and she should have had enough to survive on. But everything was so expensive in New York, and after her rent and utilities, not to mention the money she sent back to help her folks, she was left with practically nothing. If her dad knew how poor she really was, he would send the money right back to her. But he struggled to find work these days, especially now that he was older, and her mom still couldn’t help out. Merry was the only hope they had.
Besides, she was young. She could handle the cold, and she knew it wouldn’t be forever.
Well, she hoped it wouldn’t be forever.
She shut off the water and hopped out, drying herself in record time and bundling herself into her work dress, then two sweaters, and an extra pair of socks. She fixed her hair the best she could, then slung on her jacket, grabbed her new umbrella, and ran for the subway. The city was busier than ever, despite the weather—freezing cold rain lashing itself against the streets and buildings, and anyone brave enough to be outside—and by the time Merry ran through the door, dripping on the carpet, it was already ten past nine.
“I’m late!” she said to Diane, who was on greeter duty. She hurried past, but Diane called her back.
“Did you manage to fix things with that guy?” she said. “The janitor? I can’t believe you said that!”
Merry’s stomach lurched uncomfortably as she recalled the awful moment. She did her best to smile.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I think so. We’re not really… I mean nothing’s really happening. Gotta run, D.”
She dashed up to the tenth floor, running into the locker room so fast she almost bowled over the figure who was standing behind the door.
“Oh, sorry!” she shouted, her heart plummeting into her boots as she recognized Mrs. Cradley.
“Miss Sinclair!” Mrs. Cradley screeched. “I was waiting for you. Do you know what time it is?”
“I know, I’m so sorry,” she said, struggling out of her coat. “It’s the traffic, the city is insanely busy.”
“Then leave earlier,” the dragon lady said, jabbing a finger at Merry. “This is the third time this week you’ve been late. It is unacceptable. If you are late one more time, then it will be the final time. Am I making myself clear?”
Merry nodded.
“I said am I making myself clear?” Mrs. Cradley said. “If this job is not valuable to you, I will find somebody else who values it.”
“It’s clear,” said Merry. “Crystal clear. Please, I need this job. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”
The last few words came out alongside a choked sob, and for a moment Mrs. Cradley’s expression softened.
“This store is like a body,” she said. “If one part of it stops working, the entire organism stops working. You are a mere cell in this complicated biology, Miss Sinclair, but you are as important as any other. We are so short staffed that the organism is in danger of failing. If it wasn’t for the valiant efforts of the cleaning crew then we wouldn’t even have been able to open this morning. So let me ask you again, do you value your position here? Will you do everything you can to keep this store alive?”
“Yes,” said Merry. “Yes I will.”
Mrs. Cradley nodded, then turned sharply and walked out of the room. Merry blew out a sigh, checking her hair in the mirror then looking at the roster. She was on jewelry, which meant another day of irritated customers telling her how useless she was—not to mention the chance of Adrian appearing to torment her.
Smile, Merry! she ordered herself. And remember, you are an important cell in the organism that is Carroll’s Department Store!
At least the day couldn’t get any worse, she thought as she marched out of the room—coming face to face with Christian in the corridor.
“Hey!” he said. He was standing there with his trolley and mop, and he looked exhausted. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d seen anyone look so tired. Still, when he smiled it seemed to light up the whole corridor. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said, smiling back. However awkwardly the night had ended yesterday, she was still pleased to see him. She could still feel his strong arms around her, she could still taste his lips on hers, and the thought of it made her blush. “I’m fine,” she said again. “Are you?”
“Yeah,” he said, stifling a yawn. He really did look tired, and his clothes were wrinkled and stained. What had Mrs. Cradley said about the cleaning crew’s valiant effort?
“Are you sure?” she asked. “You look like you worked all night, then slept on the floor.”
Christian laughed.
“Just had trouble sleeping,” he said.
“That’s probably my fault,” she said. “I’m sorry about last night, I didn’t do a very good job of explaining things.”
“It’s no problem,” he said. “I had a really wonderful time with you.”
“Me too,” she said. “And the stuff I said, about not trusting you…”
He waved it away.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he said. “This is all so new. I
really like you, Merry, but there doesn’t have to be any pressure. Can we just see what happens?”
She hesitated. It felt good to hear him say that there was no pressure, and no hurry. But that was a lie too, wasn’t it? Because there was a hurry. Wasn’t he moving back to Asia after Christmas? She opened her mouth to ask him, then shook her head to chase the questions away.
“Let’s see how it goes,” she agreed.
“And are we still, you know, on for the dance?” he asked, his expression so childishly hopeful that a little laugh escaped her.
“We are,” she said. “Even though I have nothing to wear.”
He grinned.
“That makes me very happy.”
“Me too,” she said, and it was true—the thought of showing up to the Carroll’s dance with Christian made her feel almost sick with excitement. “I’d better go, I’ve already been told off once today, and you never know where Mrs. Cradley is going to appear next.”
“I know,” said Christian in a hushed voice. “She’s like a ninja.”
“A dragon ninja,” said Merry. She pushed past him, and as she went she leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“What was that for?” he asked, putting a hand to his cheek as if trying to hold the kiss there. Merry shrugged.
“For being so kind to me yesterday,” she said. “See you later.”
She ran for the shop floor, leaving a stunned but smiling Christian behind her.
His cheek was tingling all the way to the janitorial office, and it was just about the only thing keeping him awake. He had barely slept at all last night, and not just because he’d been thinking about Merry. He’d been so distressed at the sight of the store that he’d started cleaning. At first, he was only planning to do the entrance, and the atrium, so that at least the store looked presentable in the morning. But then he’d spread out into the wings, vacuuming the carpets and polishing the cabinets, filling garbage bags with the odds and ends he found lying around. He straightened the clothes in all the departments, and even fluffed the cushions in homeware. He’d managed to grab a quick nap in the locker room at around 4am, but he’d woken two hours later feeling worse than he had before he’d gone to sleep.
It was a ridiculous thing to do, he knew. It wasn’t his job to single-handedly clean the whole store, even if he was a janitor. But part of him loved this place. He’d spent his whole childhood here, pretty much. It was more a home to him than the huge townhouse they’d owned in the Upper East Side. It had made him unfathomably sad to see it trashed.
It had got him thinking, too, about why he had stayed here. His dad had asked him to solve the mystery of what was going wrong in the store, and while he wasn’t overly keen on doing anything for his father, he understood that he was doing it for the store itself. And he would find out what was going wrong. He was getting close already.
Yawning again, he emptied his bucket and cleaned his mop, refilling his bottles and sprays. He’d head back out in a moment and carry on his shift, but he wanted to report back to his dad first. Splashing some water on his face, he made his way through the staff corridors and past the busy clerks until he reached Lewis Carroll’s office. Knocking twice, he opened the door.
Amy was sitting in his father’s chair, dwarfed by his immense desk. She looked up from a pile of paperwork, swinging the chair from side to side. She looked way too comfortable there, and the smug look she threw at Christian made it very clear she knew what he was thinking. His dad was nowhere to be seen.
“Amy,” he said. “Where’s dad?”
“Christian,” she spat back. “He’s at home. He wasn’t up to coming in today.”
The words hit him like a physical blow. He couldn’t remember a single time when his dad had been too ill to work. When he’d been a kid he’d prayed sometimes that his dad would get a cold, or sprain his ankle, just so that he would stay home and spend time with him. He walked into the office and closed the door behind him.
“What are you doing in here?” Christian asked.
“My job,” she replied, looking him up and down. “Shouldn’t you be doing yours? I saw the security feed from last night. You’re pretty good with a mop. If you like, I can make your janitorial position permanent.”
Christian ignored the bait, walking to the other side of the desk. He would not let her intimidate him.
“I am good at my job,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here.”
“Yeah?” she said. “Like what?”
“Like the fact that people are leaving Carroll’s in droves,” he said. “The store is half empty, there aren’t enough staff.”
“We’ve lost the occasional employee,” said Amy. “But it’s nothing to worry about. The ones who are left will just have to work twice as hard. In the end, it costs us less.”
“It’s costing us business,” he said. “Customers are leaving.”
“It’s nothing to do with you,” she said. “I’m handling it.”
“Are you?” he replied, putting his hands on the desk. “Do you know that somebody is paying our staff to leave. Somebody is deliberately sabotaging the store.”
Amy smiled coldly.
“That’s what you think?” she said.
“I don’t just think it,” he said. “I know it. Somebody is giving cash payouts to anyone who leaves. Somebody wants this business to die.”
Amy leaned back, chewing her pen.
“So it’s another store,” she said. “It has to be. Another company is trying to put us under before Christmas. They know that if we don’t survive the last quarter then we’re going to be in trouble. Who told you this?”
“A source,” said Christian. “You don’t need to know.”
“I do need to know,” said Amy, pushing herself to her feet. “It’s my job to know. I’m the only one who can save this company. I’ll find out the truth, and when I do you can pack your things and leave because it will be me sitting at this desk, permanently.”
She gave him one of her death stares, and there was something in it that made him instantly suspicious. What had she just said? I’m the only one who can save this company. It was no secret that he hated Amy, but was she really capable of sabotaging Carroll’s? Maybe she was trying to make things look bad so that she could fix it, proving to his dad that she had what it took to take over. Or maybe she was being paid off by another store to take out the competition. Carroll’s was a big fish, if it sank then it would make room in the pond for a lot of smaller fish to thrive. There had just been that story on the news, hadn’t there? About the social networking site, Heartbook. One of the board members had attacked the company and the CEO, Blake Fielding, in an attempted coup. If it could happen there, it could happen here.
“My dad trusts you,” said Christian. “I’m not sure he should. I know how ruthless you are, Amy.”
“Poor Christian,” she said, pouting. “Still smarting from the fact I threw you out with the trash?”
She walked around the desk, standing in front of him and brushing some dust from his overalls.
“I’m not sure if you ever knew this, but it was your father who wanted us to be together. He’s the one who talked me into giving you a chance.”
“What?” said Christian. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” she went on, smiling smugly. “He thought you were weak, that you weren’t strong enough to run a business like this. He thought that if we were married then we’d be an unstoppable team. Your kindness, my determination. It would be a perfect match. But then I realized you were weak. All those trips overseas to check on the welfare of the factory workers, all those campaigns to pay workers more and treat them better. You cost the store money, and you embarrassed me. That’s why I ended it.”
“And I’m glad you did,” he said. “I could never stand your greed, it made me sick. Not everything is about money.”
“Says the billionaire,” she said.
“It was never about the money for me. B
ut I see you’re still obsessed with being rich, being powerful. Is that why you’re doing it?”
“Doing what?” she said.
“Paying people to leave,” he went on. “I think it’s you. I think you’re so desperate to take over the company when dad leaves that you’re deliberately sabotaging it. I think you want to march in and fix it, then you’ll be the next CEO of the Carroll’s empire.”
Amy chewed over his words for a moment, then she smiled.
“Prove it,” she said.
She walked away, opening the door and pausing for a moment.
“I’ve worked too hard for this,” she said. “You don’t get to come back here after five years and take it away from me. I’m going to tell you something, so listen well.”
He met her eyes, refusing to let her scare him.
“If you come after me, Christian, I will ruin you,” she said. “Now go grab your mop, the store’s a disgrace.”
19
By noon, Merry was broken.
Her shoes felt like they had pins in them from all the running around she had done, and her throat was sore from having to speak to customers all day. She’d said the same thing to almost everyone: “I’m so sorry, someone will be with you soon.” Except the only someone on the floor was her, literally nobody else had shown up that morning and the entire jewelry department was in her hands.
After a couple of hours of being shouted at, Merry had slipped away and walked around in search of somebody to help her. It wasn’t just her department that was understaffed, she saw, it was every department. Next door to her, in the lighting department, one poor young guy called Ben was practically being swarmed by angry customers. It almost looked like something from a zombie movie, only with I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus pouring from the sound system.
My Christmas Billionaire Page 13