IF THE SHOE FITS
Chapter 9
"Sorry, what?"
"I said I'm interested in you."
Yeah, Edward had heard that part too, but he wasn't even ready to peek behind that door until he'd sorted out the first little bomb she'd dropped. "Who's Alice?"
A bright burst of laughter bubbled out of not-Alice. "Wow. Okay. I kind of thought you might go in a different direction there."
Edward slammed his eyes shut. Idiot! This girl always seemed to be two steps ahead of him, and no matter what he did, he couldn't quite catch up.
"Hey, buddy. Mind?" A harried man pushed to the middle of the window and slid his ticket across the counter.
"Sure, sorry." Edward staggered out of the way.
The coat-check girl—whoever she was—picked up the ticket and disappeared into the back. The guy, meanwhile, dug out a bill and slipped it into the tip jar, undoubtedly something more appropriate than a hundred.
On a night filled with too many faux pas to count, lurking at the coat check—while wearing his coat—probably wasn't Edward's smoothest move. But what could he do now? Leave in the middle of their conversation without saying goodbye?
Pfft, as if she'd even notice!
She returned with two coats and shot Edward a giant smile he couldn't help but return. Her expression didn't register even a sliver of surprise that he was still there. And that's when her words echoed back from somewhere inside his thick skull: I'm interested in you.
The man thanked her and left, unlike Edward, whose oversized shoes stood rooted to their two spots on the floor. The cashmere coat was making him hot and clammy—or was it the girl?
"So," said not-Alice, sauntering over to his side of the window. When she got close enough, he could see that teasing glint in her eye again, causing the hairs at the back of his neck to stand on end. "I was racking my brains back there trying to come up with some wild story about this girl Alice you're so curious about."
Edward could feel his shoulders slump. "I'm not actually—"
Her cute little huff stopped him from spewing whatever gibberish was about to leave his mouth when all he really wanted to say was, It's you I want to know better.
"But I couldn't do it," she said.
Edward answered by raising his eyebrows.
She giggled. "You're way too nice. I mean, you wouldn't even be here tonight if you weren't so darn nice."
"Nice, huh?"
"Does that bother you?" she asked.
Yeah, she'd read him right. Edward shrugged. "You know what they say about nice guys."
She waved away his words. "Eh, what do they know? Anyway, all I know about Alice is that she's some chick who blew off work at the last minute tonight—hence why I'm here alone."
Edward bolted up straight, powered by a curiosity that seemed infinite where this girl was concerned. "So you're pretending to be Alice to save her job?"
She let out a half-snort, then quickly covered her face. "Um, no. I'm not as nice as you. I borrowed Alice's name tag for the night because the genius who made these didn't bother to check his work." She reached into her skirt pocket, pulled out a name tag, and held it up for Edward to read.
"Fella?" His puzzled expression met her twisted smile, and they both burst out laughing.
Just then, a pair of female partygoers swept up to the window and handed over their tickets.
"Excuse me a sec?" not-Alice, definitely-not-Fella asked, and Edward heard in her voice an unspoken question: Will you stay?
"Sure thing, fella," he said.
She shot him a pretend murderous glare, rolled her eyes, and spun toward the coats with a grin across her face—a grin he'd put there. Well okay, then. One for the nice guys!
Fella, fella . . . What could that be?
Della. Nella. Bella. Stella?
Cruella!
The Disney villain took vivid form in Edward's head. When his mystery girl returned with a fur coat in her hand, Edward had to stifle a laugh.
"What?"
For once, he didn't give voice to his embarrassing thoughts. "I'm going with 'Bella,'" he said.
From the eyebrow pop, he guessed he had it right. "Not bad for a piano teacher with small feet."
"My feet aren't small! Emmett's are freakishly large!"
Bella—now he knew for sure—giggled again. "Man, you're easy."
Edward sighed. It was so true. And not always a good thing. He was so easy, so trusting, fell so quick and so hard. Like he was doing right now.
"Yep. Easy and nice. I'm afraid that's me."
She leaned in. "Why don't you take off your coat and stay a while? I happen to know hanger number sixty-nine is available." She shot him a wink that made him pretty sure she'd given him that number on purpose the first time.
The sound coming from the theater changed from garbled speeches to the blare of a band in full-on party mode. They must have transitioned from the auction to the dancing. Any moment now, Bella would be slammed with the first wave of people demanding their coats. The last thing Edward wanted was to get in her way.
"Only if you let me help out with the coats," he said boldly.
"What?"
"Wasn't this supposed to be a two-person job tonight?"
"Yeah, but I can handle it."
"I'm quite sure you can, but wouldn't it go faster if I helped?"
Edward wasn't waiting for an answer. He was already shrugging off the coat. Ah! So much better.
While Bella stood staring at him in disbelief, he opened the latch on the half door and let himself into the closet.
"What are you doing? You can't be back here." She glanced around the vestibule, but they were alone. "There are insurance issues with all these furs and—"
"Don't worry," he said. "Nobody will even know I'm here. You deal with the customers up front, and I'll hand you the coats. The tips are all yours."
"Man, you are way too nice," she said in mild protest, but her smile had already agreed.
"This has nothing to do with being nice, Bella. The faster you're done here, the sooner I can take you for a walk."
"You're taking me for a walk in the combat zone after midnight?" She was teasing him again, but he didn't mind because she'd just agreed to go for a walk.
"I will take you anywhere you want to go." And that, he realized in a moment of profound clarity, was the absolute and utter truth.
Edward had been moving toward the back of the closet while they were chatting, with Bella trailing after him as if she still couldn't believe he was for real. He located hanger number sixty-nine, gave her a big, goofy smile, and hung up his coat. "There. The deal is sealed."
When he turned back, Bella was standing in front of him, hands on her hips, shaking her head and grinning. "Are you sure?"
The vestibule door opened, and a group floated out on a swell of music. Edward shooed Bella to the window. "Go, go! We have customers."
Author's Note: Well, that's a first- this girl writing Edward INTO the closet! Looks like he finally found his happy place.
Thank you for the warm reception for my "debut novel" - First Quiver! It's fun to hear the "offline" reviews from some of you who have met my Cupid. And thank you to those who upvoted my book over at the Reedsy Discovery blog. In the end, I finally overtook the cat book for the #1 slot! Yay for fandom!
Many thanks, as always, to chayasara for helping me whip these words into shape and to Patrizia for doing that thing she does... Until next time... stay safe!
XOXO
~BOH