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Jody had close-cropped, straw-blonde hair and glasses. Jody had been at Arapahoe Credit Union since time began. As far as I knew, Jody had smiled once in her entire life and that was when a long disliked customer had his car repo’ed.
Her eyes were at the door and Amy’s eyes moved to the door too.
“We’re closed,” Jody said, all guard-dog-at-the-gate.
“I’ll do him,” Amy breathed, too enthralled to realize her wording was not exactly tactful.
I didn’t have to look to know that Eddie had walked in behind me.
“I’m with Jet,” I heard him say.
Both Amy and Jody stared at me like I’d just won the three hundred bazillion dollar lottery.
See what I mean? People were going to wonder what Eddie was doing with me. Even my friends and acquaintances stared at me with wonder.
I snatched a deposit slip and walked up to Amy’s station. Jody left her drawer, partially to lock us in the building but mostly to lock everyone else out.
I pulled out my wads of cash and Lavonne’s check and began counting expertly, my mind on my task, my hands sifting through the bills quickly, automatically placing the money in piles of hundreds. Eddie positioned himself beside me, his elbow on the counter, his eyes watching my hands.
“How’s your mom?” Amy asked, picking up a pile and counting it to double check.
“She did a couple loads of laundry and emptied the dishwasher yesterday, and she’s walking around a lot more.” I lifted my head and Amy and I smiled at each other.
I’d been giving her a bi-weekly update on Mom for months. We both knew how important this was.
Then I went back to counting.
“When she gets back on her feet, are you gonna come back to work for us? It hasn’t been the same since you’ve been gone,” Amy told me.
It took superhuman effort to keep my eyes off Eddie.
He didn’t know anything about my past life and I didn’t want him to.
Some way, somehow, by the end of the day, I was going to have to let Eddie know where I stood, which was far away from him once this all blew over.
I hadn’t figured out how to do that yet, but I’d find a way.
I’d decided in the shower that what happened that morning couldn’t happen again.Everagain. It all had to stop, and soon, or I’d likely lose my mind, not to mention my heart.
“Maybe,” I said to Amy.
The answer was more like “probably.” As much as it would hurt to leave Fortnum’s, Fortnum’s meant running into Eddie and that I couldn’t do.
Amy turned to Eddie and smiled. “Jet was a hoot to work with. Not so much here. Can’t really have much fun here. But…” She turned to me and her smile broadened. “Remember that time when we went to visit Donna’s kid when she was getting chemo and you got all the kids on the ward together and pretended to have a shootout in the elevator bays using your hands as guns? That was hysterical.” She turned back to Eddie. “Jet even did a tuck and roll on the floor and accidentally knocked over a male nurse. I nearly peed my pants laughing.”
Her face flushed as she realized she’d just told a hot guy she’d nearly peed her pants.
My face flushed as I realized Amy had just told Eddie about my tuck and roll in the hospital corridor. It was not a crowning moment of glory for me.
I stopped counting and stared at her in horror. It was definitely not the time for a trip down memory lane.
Eddie smiled at Amy. The effect was mesmerizing (even for me, and the smile wasn’t pointed in my direction) and it was all the encouragement Amy needed.
She forged ahead, turning to me, bright-eyed and firmly in the throes of a mini Eddie Daze.
“And when we played that practical joke on David when he had that new girlfriend?” Amy looked back to Eddie. “She was a screaming bitch, by the way. Shetotallydeserved it.”
“That was a good one,” Jody chimed in, licking her finger and counting bills.
