Chapter 4
Stan dropped Lenore off at her house and a few uneventful hours later she went to work for another closing. She parked her car and waited while Becky drove up and parked beside her. The pair walked toward the store together, and Lenore had a hunch Becky had something she wanted to say. Maybe it was the twinkle in her eyes or the way her lips were set in a perpetual smile. They strode through the store and into the back room and to the small office. The back room was where they kept the stock stacked on pallets waiting to be taken out and shelved. The office was stuck in one of the far corners of the back room. It was a square space partitioned from the rest of the tall, large stock room by four wooden walls, a door, and a long window that looked out on the piles of stock. There was an exit at the rear that led to the truck parking, but it wasn’t big enough for the employees to park their cars to the door was rarely used.
“You might want to tell me what’s on your mind before we punch in,” Lenore commented.
Becky’s eyes widened and she whipped her head to her superior. “How’d you know?”
“You’ve got a terrible pokerface, so ‘fess up,” Lenore replied.
“Well, I kind of-sort of heard something about you and your brother,” Becky admitted.
Lenore raised an eyebrow. “Please tell me it’s not about incest,” she pleaded.
Becky snorted and shook her head. “No, I just heard that you two went to the Morley place and saw that cute guy.”
“Nick,” Lenore reminded her.
Becky smirked and wagged her eyebrows. “So you’re on a first-name basis with him?” she teased.
Lenore quickly clocked in. “Oh, would you look at that. Looks like I need to get to work, and so do you.” She hurried away, leaving Becky pouting and disappointed.
The pair worked through the evening shift and the numbers of coworkers and customers dwindled from a torrential downpour to a trickle, and finally to a sort-of-leaky-faucet. By a quarter to ten they were the only ones left in the store. Lenore noticed Becky didn’t amuse herself with facing the shelves, but instead watched the doors.
“You think he’ll come again?” Becky wondered.
Lenore rolled her eyes. “Not if he’s a kettle and you’re watching the doors like that.”
Becky’s eyes widened and she turned away. A moment later they heard the doors swoosh open and both whipped their heads around in the nick of time to watch Nick stride in. He grabbed a basket, noticed the two ladies at their counters and bowed his head. “Good evening, ladies,” he greeted them.
“Good evening,” they both replied.
Nick strode to the back of the store like a seasoned pro. Becky turned to Lenore and squealed. “He’s back!” she whispered.
“Don’t scare the customer!” Lenore scolded her. At that moment Nick returned with half the basket filled with meat. “Only half tonight?” she asked him.
“I’m trying to go on a diet, and it helps me see you more often,” he replied as he steered himself into Lenore’s checkout.
Lenore swiped the food over the scanner. “And it’s making me think you’re stalking me,” she replied.
He shrugged and leaned on the small check-writing stand. “We’re both night animals. You work late here-”
“-and you work late in your laboratory?” she guessed.
Nick chuckled. “I like to think of my work as more of an old hobby.”
“Most people collect stamps, not culture samples,” she pointed out.
A strange glint slipped over his eyes and he lowered his voice. “Maybe I’m not like most people.”
“You’re right. Most people would have swiped their card by now,” Lenore returned.
He blinked. “Pardon?”
Lenore pointed at the credit card swipe machine. “It’s asking you to swipe your card or pay with cash,” she told him.
“Oh, right. Sorry about that.” He pulled out a card and swiped it, but his eyes flitted behind him at the empty aisles and check stands. “So you get off when the store closes?” he asked her.
“Yep, and that’ll be in about-” she checked her wristwatch, “- ten minutes, give or take five if we need to herd people to the front so they can pay for their stuff.”
“There’s no one else here,” Nick told her.
He spoke with such conviction that she raised an eyebrow. “You’ve looked around?” she asked him.
A crooked smile slipped onto his lips. “Just a hunch,” he replied.
“Uh-huh. Well, hunch or no hunch the place still needs to be searched.” Lenore glanced over her shoulder at the her lone fellow checker. “Becky, could you look to see if we have stragglers?”
“All right,” Becky regretfully agreed. She tore herself from her check stand and strode down the aisles at the far end of the store.
Lenore turned back to Nick, who still stood there smiling. “You’re going to have to leave, too,” she told him.
“Then I’ll wait for you outside and walk you to your car,” he offered.
“You really don’t have to. I can-” Nick took her hand in his and planted a soft kiss on the top of her fingers. Her face flushed and she wriggled her fingers out of his grasp. “You don’t waste any time courting a girl, do you?” she asked him.
He chuckled. “Humans don’t have much time to waste,” he countered.
“And speaking of time, it’s time for you to get out and go home.” Lenore walked around her counter, took the crux of his arm and pulled him toward the doors. She let go of him at the front doors, and he turned to her with a smile.
“So does that mean you give me permission to wait for you?” he teased.
Lenore rolled her eyes, turned him around, and gave him a gentle but firm push out the doors. He stumbled into the parking lot, and she returned to her check stand.
Becky came from the aisles with a wide grin on her face. “I think he likes you,” she commented.
Lenore snorted. “I think he likes something he sees, but did you see anyone in here?”
Becky shook her head. “That guy knew what he was talking about. There’s nobody here but you and me, so I can go home and you can go to him.”
“You’re enjoying torturing your boss, aren’t you?” Lenore asked her.
Her fellow employee shrugged. “How often do I get the chance? Besides, I just clocked out, so I can tease you all I want,” she pointed out.
“Not until I clock out so I can tease you back,” Lenore insisted.
Lenore went to the back room to clock out. She made one last check of the back room, clocked out, and hurried to the front. Becky escorted her outside and the two found Nick leaning against Lenore’s car.
He pushed off the car and faced them. “I was starting to worry you’d stood me up,” he teased.
“Not when you have my ride home hostage,” she pointed out. Lenore noticed Becky standing beside her own car. “Staying the night here with us?” she wondered.
Becky sheepishly grinned and pulled out her keys. “I guess I’ll go. Goodnight,” she replied.
“Goodnight,” the other two replied. Becky drove off, and Nick glanced back to Lenore.
“I don’t think I properly thanked you for showing me to your brother. I think we’ll get along quite well,” he told her.
She shrugged. “You need him and he needs your money,” she teased.
“I still want to thank you. How does dinner tomorrow night sound?” Nick asked her.
“It sounds wonderful except I work tomorrow,” she told him.
“We can have it after your work, if you’re not too tired,” he persisted.
“And your house is a mess,” she reminded him.
“I can clean up the dining and kitchen rooms enough to make them serviceable,” he insisted.
“And I hardly know you.”
“That’s what I’m trying to change.”
“And I have a tremendous appetite. I’ll probably end
up gnawing on some piece of expensive oak furniture.”
Nick grinned, stepped forward, and set his hands on her wide hips. “That’s fine. I like my women with a little meat on her bones.”
Lenore blushed from the tips of her work shoes to the top of her head. “There you go with all that cute talk. I might have to start thinking you’re into me.”
“Start thinking because it’s the truth,” he cooed. He leaned down and captured her lips in a possessive, lustful kiss. When he let go her lips were so hot she felt like she’d been branded.
“You have a way with lips-I mean words,” she stammered.
“Then it’s a date?” he persisted.
She sighed, but nodded and smiled. “It’s a date.”
“Good. Oh, and I expect you to come by with your brother tomorrow. I didn’t get a chance to show you the grounds today.”
Lenore never thought she’d say the next words about visiting the Morley house, but Nick was fast changing her mind about that place. “I’d be glad to come.”