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Didn’t take me long to make my decision of what I wanted from the sweets. I reached for a cookie, the last chocolate chip on the table, only to realize I wasn’t the only person aiming for it. Just as my fingers latched around it, another hand came into view, a mere second after mine. We both pulled back at the same time—with me still holding the cookie—not realizing we’d had the same target in mind until then.
I lifted my face, only to gasp in surprise. “Oh!”
Hayden cleared his throat and retreated his hand, mumbling, “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
He had no idea who I was inside my mask. It made me want to make a good impression and coax him into liking me while he didn’t have a clue who I was. So I thrust the cookie at him as a peace offering.
Blinking at my unexpected show of kindness, he shook his head and waved a hand. “Oh. No, that’s okay. You had it first.”
But I knew chocolate chip cookies were his favorite, so I nudged it toward him again.
Temptation filled his eyes before he reluctantly reached out. “You’re sure?”
I gave an enthusiastic nod. He took the cookie and bit into it slowly before closing his eyes and letting out a small moan. Thrilled that I’d managed to make him happy, I bounced on my toes and clapped my hands together near my chest.
My response caused him to chuckle before he ran his curious gaze over my costume. “You seem nice,” he mused aloud, before furrowing his brow and adding, “So what’re you doing here with my brother?”
I laughed and shrugged before twirling my finger in a circle by my ear in a sign that I must be crazy.
He smiled and nodded. After tipping the cookie toward me, motioning his thanks, he turned and strolled off. I stared after him, enjoying the little pocket of warm in my chest that our encounter had wrought. I’d made my oldest stepbrother smile. And laugh. That was a first.
I was tempted to trail after him and find another chocolate chip cookie, maybe even steal one off someone’s plate, to make him smile at me again. But some woman dressed as a slutty Minnie Mouse paused him to ask some kind of question.
I shook my head as I focused on the mouse—because really, a slutty Minnie Mouse just seemed—Oh!
Mouse!
I’d forgotten all about Jacqueline.
I glanced toward the bar where Brick was grinning and chatting with a female bartender, and I decided if I was going to go on a rescue mission, now was as good a time as any.
There were exactly three stairwells in this building that led down to the basement: one toward the front of the building, one in the back, and one directly through a doorway in Lana’s outer office. The one closest to me was located in the front, near the elevators, but I didn’t want to take that route; I’d have to walk down a bunch of creepy dark passages before I reached my old workroom. So I decided to go through my usual entrance by Shyla’s desk.
No one seemed to notice when I slipped into the hall. I glanced behind me twice, then stealthily hurried toward Lana’s domain. I wasn’t sure if it was the mask making me feel brave or the fact I knew my stepmother wasn’t in the building, but this wild and abandoned fervor hit me like a rush as I reached her office and tried the doorknob. It was unlocked as usual. The lights were off, but I knew where the switch was by feel since I used to arrive nearly half an hour before either Shyla or Lana did every day. When I flipped them on, a strange ache burned through my chest.
I no longer worked here.
Even though Brick had saved me and hired me on to work for him on the third floor, I would never serve Lana tea or talk Shyla through one of her computer crises again. It hadn’t been the most glamorous job, but I missed it, anyway. Shaking my head to get over the doldrums, I hurried to the door that led down to my old workspace, flipping on lights, and ducking pipes as I went. Metal stairs creaked and swayed underfoot, but I navigated my journey without a problem.
On the bottom landing, I flipped up the switch that lightened the room within before I flung open the door, only to gasp and cover my mouth.
“No. Oh no.”
I could already see a little gray blob from where I stood stuck to the white glue trap on the floor at the base of the paper ream shelf.
“Jacqueline. Baby,” I whispered as I crept forward to mourn the loss of my little buddy who’d kept me company for months. “I’m so sorry. I—”
I yelped out a startled scream when the blob moved. “Oh, God. You’re still alive.” That was even worse.
The mouse didn’t get very far though, she was good and stuck. Stuck but alive.
I slid my hand down to my stomach, hating the fact she was suffering.
This just wouldn’t do. I had to fix it. I had to save her!
Glancing wildly around the room, I scanned for ideas until I noticed the frail ceramic teacup that had always housed Lana’s morning tea. Crinkling my brow, I stepped toward it only to find it still half full of the lint-infested tea that had essentially gotten me fired.
Blinking, I wondered why no one had tossed it and cleaned it and used it for her tea since I’d been gone. Did Shyla not serve her tea now? What did Lana drink all day long?
