He dumped ice-cold water on her lap.
He stared at the offending glass in silence, wishing he could redo things. Heck, he didn’t need water. He’d barely even touched it throughout their meal. “I don’t know what happened,” he muttered to himself. “The glass just tipped over in my hand like it had a will of its own.”
Lewis smirked even harder at him. “At least her skirt wasn’t white.”
Adam glowered at him. “Shut up, Hughes.”
“Anything you say, Mr. Tall, Dark and Graceful.” Lewis set it back upright and leaned his elbows on the table. “That’s funny.”
“What’s funny?” If one more wisecrack came out of Lewis’s mouth he wouldn’t be held responsible for his actions.
“The glass. It doesn’t look like it has a rounded bottom.”
“Shut up, Hughes.”
Lewis’s eyebrows rose slightly. “You’re starting to repeat yourself, Wentworth.”
Adam tried to calculate how much trouble he’d be in if he just stuffed the stupid thing in Lewis’s mouth. If it made him stop talking it might be worth it.
“Come on, man,” Lewis blathered on. Adam watched his mouth move, and his fingers tightened convulsively around the glass. “It’s not like Alice’s going to call the cops on you for drenching her with water.”
Adam’s eyes flew up to meet Lewis’s. “You weren’t serious about that, were you? Does Alice’s father really want to rent out his downstairs apartment?”
Shrugging, Lewis leaned his chair back on two legs. “That’s what she said. I don’t know, though,” he added after a few seconds. “Arthur’s been very hands-off since his wife died. I don’t know why he’s concerned about Alice all of a sudden.”
No wonder Alice didn’t want to talk about her dad, Adam thought with a pang. For all his faults, at least his own father cared enough to talk to him every day.
It occurred to him that perhaps he and Alice were at opposite ends of the parental spectrum. Hers were practically non-existent, whereas his wouldn’t leave him alone to do his job in peace.
“I wonder,” he said slowly, “how Mr. Riverton would feel about renting it out to someone else.”
Lewis slowly lowered the legs of his chair back to the floor. “I’m listening.”
By the time the girls came back from the ladies’ room, Adam was feeling decidedly more optimistic.
***
Adam grasped Alice’s hand when he walked her to his car. “Are you sad that Lewis and Whitney decided to walk around the gardens for a while without us?” he asked quietly.
She shivered, and Adam let go of her long enough to shrug out of his sports coat. She smiled as he draped it over her shoulders. “Not at all,” she admitted. “It’s kind of chilly out.”
He glanced down at her still-damp skirt and grimaced. “I’m so sorry about that,” he said, hoping that she wasn’t getting tired of hearing those words coming from his mouth. “I didn’t mean–”
Laughing, Alice bumped him with her shoulder as he leaned over to open her door. “Stop apologizing,” she chided, sliding into the seat. “Really, it’s okay.” She glanced at him, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. “It is kind of funny that I have your handkerchief again. I think I’ll have to buy you another set, after all.”
Adam thought about this as he walked around the car. As far as he was concerned, she could keep it. Maybe it was somehow influencing his actions around her.
Once they were back at her house, Adam pushed Alice down the hall toward her bedroom. “Go change out of your wet things,” he said. He hoped he didn’t sound too pushy. “I’ll be in the family room when you’re done.”
He wandered around the room, glancing at her pictures while he waited. There was a lot of Alice with an older couple. The woman had Alice’s big, blue eyes, and he couldn’t help smiling. In every picture, Alice was either smiling or laughing. He wondered how long it had been since she’d been that carefree.
Alice was hovering next to the couch when he finally turned around. She was watching him, a strange expression on her face. “I hope I’m not prying,” he said, trying not to notice her legs. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her in anything but a dress or a skirt, so to have her stand there in something with legs was a little disconcerting.
“You aren’t.” She sank down onto the couch and patted the cushion next to her. “You look tired.”
“So do you. What did you do on your day off?”
She tilted her head back and laughed. “Promise not to make fun of me?”
“Never.” Adam was surprised by the conviction in his voice.
She snuck a look at him, her cheeks flushing. “I was cleaning.”
Adam snorted. “You’re kidding? Why didn’t you do something relaxing? You clean all the time.”
Shrugging, she leaned back into the cushions and propped her feet on the coffee table. “I went down to do my laundry and almost choked on the dust coming from the first floor. I couldn’t just leave it like that.”
Adam watched her get settled into the couch before placing his own sock-clad feet on the table next to hers. The next time he looked at her, her eyes were drowsy. “Why does it matter if there’s a little dust down there? No one lives there right now.”
“It bothers me,” she said simply. “And anyway, if Dad really wants to rent it out, it needs to be clean.”
Adam shifted uncomfortably. It was one thing to tell Lewis that he could finagle a way into Alice’s house; it was another thing altogether to actually do it. “Was he serious about that?” He stretched his arm over his head, feeling too obvious. It was like he was back in high school, taking a pretty girl to the movies. He wondered idly if Peggy Johnson had seen through his arm-stretching then.
Alice sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t really want a detective or a police officer or a judo instructor living down there with all my mother’s things.”
Taking a deep breath, Adam closed his eyes. She couldn’t have left him a better opening if he’d written her a script for a bad sitcom. “How would you feel if the guy living down there was me?”
Alice blinked at him for a few seconds. “I thought you already had somewhere to live,” she said.
He grimaced. “Yeah, a hotel room next to the mall. I know your dad will be back at the end of the summer, but I’m only planning on needing temporary housing for a while.”
“Why? Are you going to another property when you’re done here?”
Adam tore his eyes away from her, now feeling very uncomfortable. “Maybe…”
“Well, either you are or you aren’t.”
Now Adam was starting to sweat. It wasn’t like he could just come out and tell her why he was in Michigan, but he didn’t want to lie, either. “My plans aren’t entirely set yet, that’s all. I should know more in July or August.”
Alice thought about this for a minute, making Adam wish that if he were lucky enough to gain a superpower, it’d be mind reading. “I’d have to talk to Arthur first,” she finally said. “It’s his house, after all.”
“I could call him for you.” Adam knew he sounded too eager. But the fact that she hadn’t outright told him to stay in his hotel was enough to push the adrenaline through his veins. His fingers tightened involuntarily around her shoulder, and he inched her closer to his side.
“That might not be a bad idea.” She yawned and rested her head against his arm. “I’ll write his number down for you before you leave.”
“You could just tell me now,” he said hopefully. “I’m good at remembering numbers.”
Half an hour later, Alice was asleep, his arm was around her, and his cell phone was in his hand. His finger hovered over the call button when she placed her hand on his chest and smiled in her sleep.
If living in her downstairs apartment meant more evenings spent just like this, Adam thought, he might just slow his work down to a crawl. He sighed contentedly and pushed the button.
“Hello, Mr. Riverton. This is
Adam Wentworth. I know it’s late…”
Chapter Nine
The phone was ringing when Alice pushed the shop door open the next morning. She tripped over several unidentifiable objects while trying to reach it, and was grumbling about light switches in obscure places when she finally grabbed the handset.
“Hello?” she gasped, kicking a foot ineffectively. She’d somehow managed to get it stuck in an empty shoebox.
“Hello, this is Lucy from the Warbling Bird Assisted Living Center. Is this The Glass Slipper?”
The box finally flew off her foot, landing in a pile of shoes against the wall. “Yes, it is,” she said distractedly. Why is there a pile of shoes on the floor? “May I help you with something?”
“One moment, please.” Lucy had a muffled conversation in the background, and Alice flipped on the light. She stared in disbelief at the sight in front of her.
Shoes of all shapes and sizes littered the floor, chairs were placed haphazardly against shelves, the mirror hanging over the cash register was crooked… either someone had vandalized the place or Mimi’s tantrum had bled over into Friday’s workday. Her eyes fell on the notepad next to the cash register.
Alice Riverton, make sure you clean this up.
Well, there was her answer.
“Ma’am?” The voice that spoke in her ear was raspy, like the gentleman speaking was old and on a ventilator. “I’m trying to find someone. Is Daisy in?”
If Alice had a dime for every old man that had called over the past few months, she could buy the store outright and kick Mimi out. “I’m sorry,” she sighed, “but we don’t have any Daisys here.”
The old man cackled loudly. He must have had his hearing aid turned up too high. “That’s a good one, missy,” he chortled. “No, I’m looking for Daisy Duke.”
Alice opened and closed her mouth, and the old man laughed even louder. “It’s not a joke,” he gasped. “She’s for real. She looks a little different, but her–”
The line became quiet, and Alice was starting to think that the guy had either died or forgotten he was talking on the phone, when Lucy came back.
“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding apologetic. “He kept pestering me to call and wouldn’t take no for an answer. These guys can be really vicious when they don’t get what they want,” she added. “I shouldn’t have given in; every time he gets excited like that his heart rate goes sky high.”
“That’s okay.” Alice sighed. “We haven’t opened yet, so we aren’t busy.” She glanced around the store and buried her head in her hands. “At least, not yet.”
“Oh, good,” Lucy said. “Are you sure no one named Daisy works there? It’s just that I saw her leaving his room a few nights ago and she had on the cutest shoes. When I asked her where she bought them from, I swear she said ‘The Glass Slipper’.” She paused to take a much-needed breath. “Or maybe it was The Wedge. You know, the store in the mall with the funky employees? I can’t remember.”
Alice’s head was spinning by the time Lucy had finished talking. “Believe me, no one named Daisy Duke has ever worked here. I should know. This place has been in my family my entire life.” She looked around her trashed shop as she said this, realizing once again that was no longer true.
“Oh, well.” Lucy didn’t seem terribly upset by this. “I’ll let Mr. Shumacher know that he’s got his wires crossed again. He tends to get confused.”
“I do not!” Mr. Shumacher hollered in the background.
“Now, now, sir. You aren’t supposed to get all riled up.”
The cackling was back in force. “I’ll tell you what gets me all riled up.”
Lucy sighed heavily. “I’d better go before he says something you don’t want to hear. Sorry to bother you.”
“No bother,” Alice said faintly just as Lucy hung up.
She didn’t move for what felt like an eternity, thinking about her strange conversation with Lucy and the confused Mr. Shumacher. She was pretty sure this guy wasn’t the same one that had called the shop before. What were the odds of several different men of a certain age calling for people with ridiculous names?
Her head started to hurt, and she wasn’t sure if it was from all the thinking or from the sight that met her every time she opened her eyes. She shut them tight in a vain attempt to make it disappear. She knew this was terribly childish, but did it anyway. There was the off chance that when she opened them again, the whole mess would be gone and she could pretend the last ten minutes hadn’t happened. But when Whitney gasped behind her, she shook herself and tried to feel optimistic.
It didn’t work.
“What happened in here?” Whitney stood in the half-open door, her eyes wide. “Did someone break into the store?”
Wordlessly Alice handed her the note Mimi had left. Whitney glanced down at it. When she looked back up at Alice, her eyes were flashing.
“How stupid can you be?” Whitney cried, throwing her purse on the counter and glaring at the crooked shelves. “What kind of fool would sabotage their own business? Oh, if Mimi were here right now, I’d give her–”
“Give me what?” Alice and Whitney jumped at the sound of Mimi’s voice. For what felt like the millionth time, Alice wondered how a woman so large could move around so silently when she wanted to. It was creepy.
Rather than backing down, which was what Alice was expecting, Whitney frowned fiercely at her mother. “Give you a piece of my mind. What were you thinking, Mother? You do realize that this place pays for all of Brittany’s shopping binges?”
Mimi’s eyes narrowed. “I own three shoe stores now, if you’ll take the time to remember. And Brittany doesn’t go on shopping binges. It’s not her fault that she likes to look decent for her man.”
Alice stifled a laugh. She could just see the expression on Adam’s face when he found out that Brittany had claimed him.
“Alice Riverton! Why are you just standing there like a statue? Get to work! This place needs to be spotless at opening!”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have left it like this.” Alice was surprised by how cool her voice was.
Mimi stalked into the shop, kicking boxes out of her way as she came closer to Alice. “I’ve had enough of your attitude,” she hissed. “I’d keep my mouth shut if I were you. I haven’t even addressed the way you’ve influenced my daughter yet.”
“I don’t have any influence over Whitney,” Alice shot back. She couldn’t remember ever being angrier with another human being, and that included the time Lewis had dumped her boyfriend for her back in college. “She’s a grown woman. If she feels that the world would be a better place if you lived in Antarctica, I’m not going to argue with her.”
Mimi drew herself up as tall as she could. “I wouldn’t say things like that if I were you,” she warned, her voice dangerously low.
By this time Alice was too far in to give up now, figuring that if Mimi killed her on the spot, at least she’d die knowing that she’d ticked the woman off. “Why? Are you so opposed to the truth?”
“You’re fired.”
Alice looked at her steadily for a few seconds before pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and scrolling through her contacts. “What do you think you’re doing?” Mimi demanded. “Get out of my shop before I have you removed!”
It didn’t take Alice long to find the person she needed, and she watched Mimi with detached amusement as she waited. “Hello, Cheryl? This is Alice Riverton, Lewis’s friend. Is his dad in?”
Mimi’s eyes drew down into little snake-like slits as she realized what Alice was doing. “Hey, Mr. Hughes. I know it’s early, but I need a bit of legal advice. You’re familiar with the terms of Ms. Walker’s contract?”
She paused for a second. “Yeah, that’s the one. Ms. Walker just fired me, and I was wondering… It’s not legal? Really?”
Mimi let out a shriek that nearly made the window display shatter and Alice said calmly into the phone, “It appears that Ms. Walker has changed her mind. Thanks for
the help, Mr. Hughes.”
If looks could kill, Alice was sure she’d be a pile of Alice-shaped rubble by now. A red-faced Mimi turned on her heel but didn’t move toward the door. Pointing at a defiant Whitney, she placed her free hand on her hip and snarled, “You are to forget all about Alice Riverton and do what you’re told.”
Whitney placed her own hands on her hips and leaned closer to her mother. “I’m staying where I am,” she told her. “And for the first time in my life, I’m going to do what I want rather than what you tell me.”
“Like what?” Mimi obviously wasn’t worried.
“I’m going to study to become a high school choir teacher.”
Alice was so proud of her friend that she almost–almost, but not quite–missed the bark of laughter that burst out of Mimi’s mouth. “You, a high school choir teacher? Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t even sing.”
A muffled noise came from the wall adjoining Lewis’s shop and Alice rolled her eyes. She knew they were loud, but couldn’t Lewis keep his opinion to himself for ten seconds?
“She sings beautifully,” Alice said mildly.
Mimi ignored this. “And you certainly can’t play the piano.”
Alice watched as a slow smile spread across Whitney’s face. “Actually, I can. You didn’t think I actually went to all those chess club meetings, did you?”
A-ha, Alice thought. While Whitney hadn’t been inspired to sneak around her mother’s back because of a boy, she’d had no qualms about doing it for music. If Whitney had met Lewis earlier, Alice wondered if her tune would have changed any.
Mimi flung the door to the back room open and stormed through; yelling over her shoulder, “Clean up this mess!”
Alice and Whitney stared at the empty doorway wordlessly until they couldn’t hear Mimi cursing anymore. Then they glanced at each other in disbelief and shock and started to laugh so hard tears rolled down their cheeks.
Alice wasn’t sure if the tears were from relief, anger, or shock. Maybe it was a combination of the three.
Alice in Glass Slippers Page 16