Alice could feel the blood draining from her face, and she dropped into the chair next to him. “You can’t do that,” she whispered. “That store was Mom’s pride and joy.”
He rested his head in his hands. “That’s why I’m considering a sale. I can’t face the idea of owning that place when that’s where she… where she…”
Alice rubbed his back while she tried to get her brain to work again. These days, she wasn’t taking drastic news all that well. “It’s okay, Dad,” she whispered. “It’ll be okay. I’ll take over at the shop; you won’t even have to go near it until you’re ready. Just don’t do anything for a while, okay?”
Arthur shook his head. “I actually have an interested buyer,” he told her. “They’ve wanted to own a shoe store for a few years, and recently came into some money.”
“Since when is it on the market?” Alice knew she was tired and overwhelmed, but how could she have missed something like this?
Her father turned his head toward the wall. “Without your mother, that place is just a bunch of impressive footwear. Neither of us can take her place, and I don’t want to try. It’s not like we need the money; my retirement is enough to keep us comfortable.”
“No, no, don’t do it! That place is who I am, regardless of who’s sitting behind the counter.” Alice’s panic level was increasing with every word that came out of her father’s mouth.
Arthur raised his tired eyes to hers. “Does it mean that much to you?” he asked.
“How could it not?” Fear made the words come out sharper than she’d intended, and Arthur winced.
“I’ll make sure you have a job there, if you want.” His voice was stiff. “I can put it into the contract that you have a job there as long as you wish for it. No matter what. And I’ll only sell if they agree to leave the window display alone.”
Alice’s heart sank. “So it’s a done deal, then,” she said, unconsciously mimicking his dull tone.
When he didn’t reply, she gathered her things and went up the stairs to sleep in her new apartment for the first time.
Two weeks later, Alice met her new boss. She was only mildly surprised to see Squeaky, the tall woman with the six-year-old voice, followed by the two girls that had come with her the last time she’d entered the store.
The woman gazed at the shoes on the shelves with barely disguised satisfaction. “My name is Mimi Walker,” she announced when she finally turned to address Alice. “And these are my daughters, Brittany“–she indicated the taller, faker girl–“and this is Whitney.” The other daughter gave Alice a half-hearted wave. “The first order of business is to take an inventory and see what needs to be changed. Come, girls.”
Alice could only take a deep breath to keep from bursting into tears. If this were a fairy tale, she’d be sure of a happy ending. But since she’d just met the Walker sisters and their evil mother, it hardly seemed likely.
A dream is a wish from your heart… Her mother had told her that ever since she was a little girl. Of course, it would help if she could think of a wish that didn’t involve turning back the clock.
Chapter Two
“Alice Riverton!”
Alice sighed and leaned her head against the box she was unpacking. It had been a year since the first time Mimi Walker had set foot in The Glass Slipper, and every day, as she got ready for work, she asked herself why she didn’t just find another job with a boss that understood the meaning of the word ‘benevolence’.
“Alice Riverton! Come here at once!”
“Would it be so hard for her to just call me by my first name?” she muttered under her breath, before pulling the door open to find Mimi.
She was standing in front of the store, watching as a man tried to hang the new sign over the front door. “You called me?” Alice asked, trying to be polite. It wouldn’t be a very good idea to get in trouble before the mall had even opened.
Mimi didn’t spare her a glance. The worker, struggling to handle hammer, nails, and the sign, without dropping anything, was several feet above them on a ladder. Mimi seemed to be fixated on his backside. He was, Alice noted, unfortunately showing an alarming amount of naked bottom. Perhaps he was a plumber on the side. “I need the key to the display. Get it for me.”
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Alice tucked her hands into her pockets and tried not to look up. It was a bit like rubbernecking, she thought. You didn’t really want to see what was happening, but you were powerless to resist. “The key’s safely at home, where it always is,” she reminded Mimi patiently.
Mimi’s eyes narrowed, and Alice took a half step backward. “Why do you refuse to bring it here? I own this shop. I own that window. Bring me the key tomorrow or I’ll fire you.”
Alice wasn’t sure how to respond to this. If she simply stated the obvious that while Mimi did own the shop, she couldn’t touch the window display. She also couldn’t fire Alice. But if she did say any of those facts, she’d most likely get a load of extra work. On the other hand, it would be a pleasant change to see Mimi flustered and irritated by something she couldn’t control. “Actually, Mimi, that’s not–”
“There you are, Alice!” Lewis’s voice echoed in the empty corridor. His expression was slightly disapproving, and Alice was sure that he’d heard their conversation–and had a good idea what she was about to say.
“Hi, Lewis.”
Mimi glanced at him and sniffed. “Mr. Hughes. You haven’t been sending us as many customers lately. I know for a fact that the gown business isn’t suffering; people come out of your shop all the time with dress bags over their shoulders.”
Lewis merely shrugged and watched as the man managed to get one side of the sign anchored to the wall with his elbow. “People buy their shoes where they please, regardless of my suggestions. I’m sure they’ll see the light now that the store has a new name. ‘Walker In’ sounds so inviting.”
This was evidently enough to satisfy Mimi because she turned around and walked back into the shop. “Come, Alice Riverton,” she called over her shoulder. “Those deliveries aren’t going to unpack themselves.”
Alice’s shoulders slumped, and Lewis slung his arm around her. “Has she said anything about the old sign being stuck so tight that it won’t come down?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not yet. I don’t know why she won’t just chisel it away. Of course, she probably thinks I’ve put a hex on it or something. But she’s been asking about the key to the display again.”
Lewis shot her a strange look. “Alice, she asks you about that blasted key every other day. I must say, it was a stroke of genius when you installed that door before the sales agreement was signed. Now she can’t get in without it looking like someone vandalized the place.”
“I think that’s why she keeps trying to get the key from me.” Alice sighed and wrapped her arms around her stomach. “Sometimes I wish…” She let her voice trail off, and Lewis squeezed her a little tighter.
“Sometimes you wish what? That your mother hadn’t died in a freak shooting? That you could run away to Aruba and never come back? If you do that I might just follow you, sling you over my shoulder and make you work for me instead of Squeaky. You could sell a pair of shoes to a woman without feet–and make her happy about it. I’d love to see what you could do with a gown.”
Alice could feel herself blushing. “Stop it. And for your information, I don’t know the first thing about dresses.” Lewis gave her a look, and she laughed. “All right, gowns. I know a little bit. It helps that my best friend sells them. Thanks, by the way, for sending me those customers. I think I found what they were looking for.”
The expression on Lewis’s face grew smug. “I made sure they knew to come when the shop was Walker free, so there wouldn’t be any uncomfortable questions. Has Mimi really put Brittany in charge of all the ordering?”
Alice nodded glumly. Before Lewis could say anything a piercing voice came from the shop. “Alice Riverton! I thought I told you to come i
n here!”
She rolled her eyes and rested her head on Lewis’s arm for a second. “Come by my office before you leave tonight,” he said as she moved away. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Since when do you have an office?” Alice turned and walked backwards so she could see him.
Lewis looked pained. “I have an office, Alice. Just because it’s full of lace and satin doesn’t mean it isn’t an office.” Alice laughed as she went through the door.
It was five minutes before nine when Alice’s last customer poked her head around the corner of the shop. “Is it safe to come in?” she asked in a loud whisper.
Alice glanced behind her uncertainly. Mimi usually took off well before closing time, but she hadn’t heard the back door clunk shut yet. “I don’t know, Carrie,” she said doubtfully, looking back at the young woman in front of her. “It usually is, but…”
Not needing any more encouragement, Carrie slung her bags on the floor and sank into a chair. “I’ve been shopping all day,” she moaned, kicking her shoes off. “I think you should consider selling shopping shoes. You know, ones that people can wear when they go on all-day mall binges that look fabulous but don’t eat holes in your toes.”
Alice smiled involuntarily. “Not everyone who gets married sees the wedding as an excuse to empty their bank accounts,” she reminded her. “Most people dread the whole wedding thing for that very reason. Do you want to see your slippers?”
Carrie sat up at once, looking eager. “Bring ‘em on.”
Reaching underneath the window display, Alice produced a silver box and handed it over. Carrie ripped the top off and squealed. “Oh, they’re perfect!” she cried, throwing her free arm around Alice’s neck and squeezing so tight that Alice could hardly breathe. “How did you get the color right?”
Alice tried not to laugh. “They’re to be worn with a wedding dress, silly. Did you really think I would order you green shoes? Besides, you picked these out yourself.”
Carrie let go of her and slid them on her feet. “They feel divine,” Carrie sighed. “Grant will be so pleased.”
“I hardly think your fiancée will be concerned about your footwear,” Alice said.
“What is this?”
Carrie froze mid twirl at the sound of Brittany’s cold voice. One foot hovered in the air so she could admire the way the slipper made her foot look tiny. Alice simply placed her head in her hands.
“What are you doing?” Brittany had never sounded so calm. It was reminiscent, Alice thought wearily, of last month’s ice storm–quiet and deadly.
“Carrie is buying a pair of shoes for her wedding,” Alice said after a pause that probably lasted a few seconds too long.
“I didn’t see the order for those anywhere, and I certainly didn’t place it.”
The room was quiet for a long moment. “I requested them a long time ago,” Carrie finally blurted out, her eyes darting between Alice and Brittany. “Back before you started working here.”
Brittany’s eyes flashed. “I don’t work here,” she said haughtily. “I procure things that people like you will want.”
Alice was impressed in spite of herself. She hadn’t thought Brittany had enough brain cells to know what ‘procure’ meant.
“It must have been a very long time ago,” Brittany added when Carrie didn’t say anything. “I’ve been here over a year.”
“I did it.” For a second, Alice wasn’t sure who’d spoken. Then a shadow appeared behind Brittany, and Alice almost fell over when she spotted Whitney.
Brittany whirled around and glared at her sister. “What? You? Since when have you known how to do anything useful?”
Shrinking back, Whitney looked like she wanted to make herself invisible. “I don’t know,” she whispered, staring down at the floor. The very second Brittany turned around to smile ingratiatingly at Carrie, she scurried into the back room.
Brittany looked down her long, thin nose at Alice. “I think I’ll have to tell Mother.” Then she flounced through the back door.
“I’m so sorry,” Carrie whispered as she hastily gathered up her things. She thrust some money in Alice’s hands and backed out of the store. “Maybe you should start sending your shoes to Lewis’s. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t.” Alice sighed as she closed and locked the heavy metal gates behind Carrie. The second the gate hit the ground there was a loud crash from the hallway. Before she’d lifted the gate high enough to scramble under to see what had happened, Mimi had emerged from the back. Brittany was hard on her heels.
“What’s going on out here?”
“I don’t know,” Alice gasped. The door was heavier than it looked. It was unfortunate that after five years of lifting it, Alice’s muscles hadn’t grown any.
Mimi made a disgusted noise and pulled it up with one hand, revealing the new sign lying in pieces on the floor. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it and shown no mercy. “Who did this?” Mimi kicked at the debris with one foot, sending pieces of wood skittering across the tile. “Alice Riverton! You were the only one out here! Explain yourself!”
“She doesn’t need to explain anything.” The hairs on Alice’s arms stood up when she saw the look Brittany was giving her. “I’ve already caught her selling a pair of ballet slippers that I didn’t order to a bride.” She said the last phrase like she was the President addressing the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Two pairs of cold eyes glared at her. “We’re a shoe store,” Alice said, knowing that any explanation she gave would be dismissed immediately. “I wasn’t doing anything illegal.”
“Where did you get them?” Mimi’s voice was so cold that the hairs on the back of Alice’s neck stuck up, too. At this rate, she thought, I’m going to resemble a porcupine.
“Whitney said she ordered them.” Brittany glanced down at her fingernails and frowned slightly. “Mother, I’m going to have to get my nails redone tomorrow. That new girl the salon hired doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
Mimi grabbed her daughter’s hand. “You’re right. I’ll have a word with the manager before you go. As for you, Alice Riverton, you’ll clean up this mess. I’ll take the cost of its replacement out of your salary. When you’re done with that you can dust the store from top to bottom. You didn’t do a good enough job yesterday.” Mimi swept through the store and into the back room, where Alice could hear her barking at Whitney. Then the rear door slapped shut, and Alice was left alone for the first time all day.
She’d just started gathering up the larger pieces of the sign when Lewis appeared in front of her. “What happened here?” he asked, staring at Alice, still kneeling on the ground. “What’s up with the new sign?”
“If anyone else asks me that today, I think I’ll be sick.” Alice stood to her feet and threw the wood in the trash. “The sign fell down and Mimi’s blaming me for it. And Brittany caught me giving a pair of ballet slippers to Carrie.”
Lewis gave a low whistle. “You’ve had a very busy day. Did she try to fire you again over the slippers?”
She jerked the broom around, scattering splintered wood across the hall before giving up and leaning on it. “She couldn’t after Whitney confessed that she was the one that had ordered them.”
Lewis’s eyebrows shot up, almost melding into his hairline. “Whitney? Whitney Walker? I can’t believe she actually said something out loud. I thought Squeaky had taken her voice box out as a child.”
“She talks,” Alice said a little defensively. At Lewis’s incredulous look, she added, “Well, she whispers. That’s practically the same thing. Even her sister heard her this evening.”
The skeptical look was still on Lewis’s face. “Why’d she do it? After working together for a year, why did she pick today to open her mouth?”
“Now that’s the question of the day.” Alice looked down the hall to the mall’s atrium. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s finally had enough of her family. I would if I were her.”
>
Lewis shook his head like he was trying to clear it. “Are you ready for your surprise yet?” His grin told Alice that he’d been waiting for this moment all day.
She glanced back inside the shop. “Mimi told me to dust again…”
Lewis made a rude noise. “A speck of dust wouldn’t have the nerve to even think about settling down in there. Mimi’s obviously off her rocker. Come on, Alice. Every now and then it’s okay to ignore her commands.”
Alice grinned slowly at him. “Let me at least put the broom away.”
Three minutes later, Alice walked through Lewis’s shop–which, with a massive lack of inspiration, he’d named Lewis’s–and paused amongst the finery. It was so calm in here, she thought. Like The Glass Slipper used to be. Nat King Cole played quietly in the background, and she swore she could smell cookie dough. She sniffed harder while she wandered back to Lewis’s office, trying to figure out where the cookie smell was coming from.
“Are you cooking something in here?” she asked, craning her neck around the dressmaker’s dummies in search of an oven.
Lewis rolled his eyes. “You know I don’t have a kitchen in here,” he told her. “Isn’t that a fire hazard or something? I decided to start burning a candle. My customers feel like they’re at home and are more comfortable.”
“And more willing to try on dozens of dresses, like they would if they were playing dress-up in the spare bedroom at home.”
“Exactly.” Lewis smirked in a very self-satisfied way. “No one’s complained yet.”
“Maybe you should make a deal with the lady who owns the Mrs. Fields shop in the food court,” Alice suggested drily. “No one can resist one of those things.”
Lewis tapped his chin with his finger. “That’s not a bad idea,” he mused. “I’ll talk to her in the morning. Now, come on. The surprise is out back.”
Alice followed him down the hall. “Your bathroom isn’t as messy as usual,” she commented, and stuck her head in to admire the gleaning surfaces before they passed it.
Alice in Glass Slippers Page 2