you think I lost it in the storm?” Again Rosanna’s face had only the shadow of a smile on it, but David realized she was kidding.
“One day maybe I’ll get a full, unadulterated laugh.”
“I’ll work on it,” she said.
* * *
“So, how was your first day?” Amber asked, pouring them both a glass of wine.
Rose accepted hers and curled her bare feet under her as she sat on Amber’s sofa. The two women had met during the storm’s crisis and shared the same makeshift hospital tent. The experience bonded them as if they’d been friends from birth.
“Exhausting,” Rose answered. “I needed a hard hat to tour the store.”
“A tour conducted by Mr. Thorn, I take it?”
Her glib tone was unmistakable, especially as it was followed by a Cheshire-cat smile and a fluttering of her eyelids as she took a sip of her wine.
Rose nodded, taking a sip of her own drink.
“So, spill, how was he? Is he as good-looking as his photo?”
“Photo? What photo?” she repeated.
“I looked him up on the internet. Apparently, the entire family is made up of gorgeous guys.”
Rose had looked up the Thorns, too. She’d seen David’s photo, maybe the same one Amber was referring to. She hadn’t even made the decision to accept David’s offer until she left the casino in the early morning hours.
“He’s tall, around six feet. Dresses and acts like a lawyer.”
“Don’t compare him to the Bachs. They’re bound to have different management styles.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “They do. He’s changing everything. The store won’t be recognizable.”
“It’ll be a House of Thorn’s store,” Amber said.
Rose took another sip of her wine. Amber was a realist and didn’t pull punches. She said what came to her mind. David came to Rose’s mind. She wondered what photo Amber had seen. David had a power that surrounded him. You immediately knew he was in control. He was a decision maker. She could imagine him in court, arguing before a jury and convincing them that his point of law was the correct and only decision they could come to.
“Thinking about him?”
Amber’s question caught her off guard.
“Who?” she asked, but they both knew the answer to that.
Amber frowned, screwing her face up in an exasperated expression.
“I wasn’t,” Rose lied. “I was thinking about the building layout.” She wasn’t thinking about the store, but the strange conversation they’d had in the bakery.
“That’s your story...” Amber left the rest of the cliché hanging. “You are going back tomorrow, right?”
Rose signed and nodded. “I’ve spent too many years in retail that I don’t know how to do anything else.”
“You could learn,” Amber told her.
“I feel like I’m starting all over again anyway. They might as well put me in the mailroom.”
Amber sat forward. Placing her glass on the coffee table, she looked directly at Rose. “We’re strong. We’ll survive. We can do anything. We’re invincible,” Amber said, reciting one of the mantras they’d said over and over during the storm.
Rose smiled. “Yes, we can,” she said. “But maybe not in a casino making change.”
Both women laughed.
* * *
When Rose arrived the next morning, she was wearing gray pants and a green blouse with a dark green jacket. The outfit looked like a suit, but Rose had put it together.
In the middle of her desk was a large white envelope with her name on it. Opening it, she found employment forms, insurance papers, a W-9 form, a confidentiality form and a notice about security cameras.
“I should have given these to you yesterday,” David said from where he stood in her doorway. “They’re a formality, but they must be filed to make everything legal.”
Rose nodded. David took a step into the office. “There’s another envelope,” he said.
Rose picked up the white, legal-size envelope. It was sealed and had nothing except the return address of the store in the corner. She opened it and inside was an offer letter and a signing bonus check. Rose’s eyes widened when she saw the amount. She hadn’t seen that much money since the Christmas bonus from the Bachs three years ago. Mist rushed to her eyes and she forced herself not to cry.
Rose wondered if David knew what this check meant to her. She wore borrowed clothes and subsisted on simple food. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried to find other employment, but since the storm there were few places to work. Her savings were practically gone and she hadn’t known what would happen when her bank account reached zero. If David Thorn wasn’t standing in her doorway, she’d break down and cry. Forcing herself to remain calm, she looked up at him.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Emotion kept her voice from its normal level.
She looked down at the forms, expecting David to leave her alone to fill them out. Instead he took the chair in front of her desk. Rose looked at him expectantly.
“You can fill those out and give them back to me next week. Right now, I have something for you to do.”
“All right,” Rose said. Her duties hadn’t been spelled out and she looked forward to having a purpose.
“I thought about what you said yesterday when we were touring the store.”
“I was out of line—” she began.
David raised his hand to stop her apology. Rose heeded his warning and stood waiting.
“First, I’d like you to forget how things used to be.” David paused, but Rose decided not to challenge the remark. “If you could design the store of your dreams, if you could start from scratch and do whatever you wanted, what would your store look like?”
Rose had to think about that. “You want an answer now? Off the top of my head?”
“Not every nail and wall-color choice, just what would it look like?”
Rose thought for a long moment. Pushing the envelope aside, she searched for paper. Inside a drawer, she found a yellow legal pad and pulled it out. She began drawing squares to indicate areas of the floor. She chose the bridal department to begin with. David watched her. Between them was a desk light. He looked over it and bobbed his head several times as he followed her train of thought.
“Lights would be here to showcase the display case.”
He got up and moved around, pulling his chair so he sat next to her.
Rose felt all the air in the room leave it. She felt the heat of his body, smelled the aftershave he used. Her eyes closed a moment and she took in the erotic nature of it. David asked a question, drawing her back to the task. She didn’t hear it.
“What was that?” she asked.
“What is in this area?” He used his finger to circle a large open area.
Rose drew a 3-D circle. “This is where the bride stands to show off her dress.” Drawing basic lines at right angles to represent chairs, and arches to represent a walkway, she said, “The bride comes down this aisle and steps onto the pedestal. Any family or friends with her will see her in a ceremony setting.”
“I like it,” he said.
His hand dropped on her shoulder. Rose’s throat went dry and she could feel the heat of his touch through her