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I was crouched down and I had on a pair of those low-rider jeans and a fitted, square-necked, long-sleeved, plum-colored T-shirt. In the crouch, the jeans came down and the hem of the tee went up, completely exposing the small of my back.
The bell over the front door jangled and I turned to see Eddie walk in, cool, mirrored sunglasses covering his eyes. He took them off, looked down at me, and his eyes moved to my behind.
Immediately I said to Jane, “Let’s take these to the counter,” and I stood, picking up the box.
Unfortunately, the box weighed a ton and I staggered back, right into Eddie, who’d somehow managed to make it the six feet from the door to me in that short expanse of time.
Instead of just putting out a hand to steady me, both of his hands came to my hips,lowon my hips, fingers splayed wide so his fingertips rested on my pelvic bones.
“Steady,” he said, his lipsthis closeto my ear, and a shiver went through my body and I swear, I nearly dropped the box.
Then his hands were gone and so was he. He came around, reached under the box, his fingers just barely (but still, it happened, I know it did) grazing my midriff. He took it from me and walked it to the book counter.
Ally was behind the counter and she was staring at me, open-mouthed. I ignored her look, ignored Eddie completely (didn’t even say thanks), walked (quickly) to the back of the store and hid amongst the shelves until I was certain he was gone.
Other times, he would be standing in tight spaces, spaces I had to get through to move around, so I’d have to suck in my breath and squeeze by him so as not to touch him with some protruding part of my body. This did not normally work and some protruding part of my body touched him, which resulted in one of those aforementioned electric shocks.
It didn’t help matters that Indy and Ally were constantly asking me out for drinks or to go to the movies, then turning to Eddie and saying, “You want to come?”
I couldn’t go anyway, and I was glad I always had an excuse. Although, since they didn’t know I had a second job and was taking care of Mom, the excuses were beginning to sound lame.
The Eddie Torture seemed to escalate over time.
For example, a few days ago I was sitting behind the book counter, my legs crossed, my head bent, going through receipts and drinking a cappuccino.
Eddie was talking to Duke, Indy’s second-in-command, a Harley guy with thick, long, gray hair, a beard, and an ever-present rolled bandana tied around his forehead. Duke had been at Fortnum’s since Indy’s grandmother ran it.
At first, he scared me. He was tough as nails and had a low, gravelly voice. Then I realized he was an old softie, mainly because of the way he treated Indy, Ally, Jane (the other Fortnum’s veteran) and sometimes Tex (though most of the time Duke and Tex yelled at each other).
Eddie and Duke were standing across from me at the book counter, so that meant I was also engaged in ignoring Eddie.
Then, all of a sudden, Eddie’s hand came into my line of vision and, just as suddenly, his thumb swiped my upper lip. My head jerked up and I stared at him, my lip tingling.
“Foam,” he said, dipping his head to indicate my cappuccino.
My face started burning, I stared down at my cappuccino, and get this…when I looked back up, Eddie was again listening to Duke, for all the world like I wasn’t even there, but he put his thumb in his mouth to suck off my foam.
What wasthat?
This kind of stuff went on all the time. Being me, I had to find an explanation for it. So I decided he was just trying to be nice.
He was a nice guy, I could tell, even if it was in a kind of badass way. Tex held a gruff regard for him and Duke liked him flat out. It was clear he thought of Ally like his younger sister and was always messing around with her. I know he thought the world of Indy and he was always flirting with her in a way that was hot, but controlled.
I told myself he was just putting me in my niche, because no matter how significant these torture sessions seemed, nothing ever came of them. So, I figured my crush, and my daydreams (which were coming a lot more often once the torture sessions began) made me make them something they weren’t.
Then Indy asked me over to Hank’s to watch a football game. It was getting to the point in her frequent invitations where I couldn’t refuse or I’d seem rude. It was going to be her and Lee, Ally and her boyfriend, Carl (who was also good-looking and a cop), Hank and some girl I didn’t know…and Eddie.
I didn’t want to go because it was Sunday. I didn’t have a shift at Smithie’s and Fortnum’s had short hours on Sunday. I wanted to rest, then sleep, in the night hours, like a normal person.
Nevertheless, we weren’t supposed to be there until five and I had plenty of time to get ready after Fortnum’s closed. I needed to accept an invitation. Not to mention Mom was all over me.
I’d made the mistake of telling Mom about Tex’s response to the chocolate caramel layer squares, so Mom started to think Tex was a possibility for future bliss for me. In talking her out of that, by explaining that first, Tex was nuts and second, he was old enough to date her, I let it slip about Eddie.
Once Eddie was mentioned, however minutely, I had to come completely clean because Mom gave me the third degree. So Mom was all excited about the possibility that I’d catch Eddie’s eye. I tried to tell her that Eddie was hung up on Indy, but she wouldn’t hear of it. I tried to tell her Eddie was seriously good-looking, sex-in-cowboy-boots and cool-as-hell and thus wouldn’t be interested in me, andthatshe really wouldn’t hear of.
So, she pushed me into not only going, but also making her sausage, olive and mushroom cups and taking them with me. She was obviously thinking that I’d work my way into Eddie’s heart by filling his stomach with sausage, olive and mushrooms, doused in cream, garlic and Parmesan sauce in a toasted bread cup.
I walked into Hank’s carrying a platter covered with foil.
