CHAPTER TWO
"Excuse me, Mr. Stein?"
"Ah, Miss Street? How are you? No ill effects from your fall?"
"None at all, Mr. Stein. Just a small scratch. But have you seen Mr. Mason? I can't seem to find him."
Richard Stein smiled. "Mr. Mason has gone to retrieve his car. I am to take you to meet him out back. Your packages are already there."
Della shook her head ruefully. "I told him I was fine. I could have taken a taxi home."
Stein shook his head. "No, no. A gentleman like Mr. Mason would never allow his lady to take a taxi when he was available. He is looking after you as you deserve."
"I'm just his secretary, Mr. Stein… but you are right that Mr. Mason is a gentleman. So I will accept gracefully."
~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~
"So, Miss Street, could I interest you in dinner? Perhaps a little pre holiday dancing, if your hurt leg allows you to?" Perry asked as he expertly maneuvered his car through late afternoon traffic.
"That sounds wonderful, but I really can't tonight."
'A date,' Perry immediately thought, disappointed.
"I'm already booked." Della turned and gestured toward the bags in the back seat of Perry's spacious Cadillac. "Presents don't wrap themselves. I'm taking the early bus to Riverdale so I need to finish them all tonight."
"Maybe you'd like some help?" The offer Perry blurted out surprised both Perry and Della.
Della raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow as she stared at her boss. "Somehow you don't strike me as the present wrapping type, Chief."
Perry shrugged. "I've wrapped a few gifts in my day. Maybe I just want to hear more about the children. Besides, that's a lot of wrapping for one person." His voice had taken on a wheedling tone.
"Well… I guess an extra pair of hands would be useful. We could pick up Chinese take-out from the place on the corner?"
"That sounds like the perfect evening!"
~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~
"Just put the bags on the sofa. Would you like something to drink?" Della asked nervously as the couple entered her apartment. Even though Mason had been there before he had never really been inside for any length of time. Her flat was neat and tidy but small, and Perry's large frame made the space shrink even more.
"Judging by the décor, eggnog or wassail? Wow! Look at this place! Everything is so festive!" A slender but beautifully decorated live tree stood at one end of the small fireplace, near the window. A nativity set graced the small mantle and several poinsettias were scattered about the room.
"Sorry… scotch or gin are the only offerings of this establishment." Della smiled. "I don't do a lot of entertaining."
"A beautiful girl like you? That boss of yours must really be a slave driver."
"You have no idea." Della laughed. "If you will excuse me for a few minutes?"
While Della was gone Perry started to unpack various packages, curious to see what his secretary had picked out for the children she had talked so knowingly about. He lined each gift up, boys separated from girls, by what he assumed was age appropriateness, then surveyed his handiwork. 'She spent her entire bonus and then some more,' he thought as he assessed the purchases.
In her bedroom, Della gave herself one last check in the mirror. To say she was nervous about entertaining her boss would have been an understatement. She had been more than surprised when he offered to help her wrap gifts, but truth be told, she was grateful for the help. And the ride home. She knew that travelling on the bus tomorrow with all of those wrapped gifts was going to be extremely difficult. Fleetingly she wondered why Perry wasn't spending the evening with his latest flame, a young female attorney who Della cared nothing at all for, not that she ever said anything or gave any indication. That just wasn't her place. But come to think of it, there hadn't been any calls routed through her from this Laura in several months and Perry hadn't mentioned her either. Shrugging her shoulders, she gave her hair one last pat and headed back to her hosting duties.
~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~
"You look fantastic, Miss Street." Perry grinned widely at Della when she walked back into the room. She'd changed from her work clothes into a green and red plaid skirt and slippers, and a tight red sweater that clung to every curve. He had to fight back the whistle that leapt to his lips.
"Why thank you, Mr. Mason! I see you have been busy." She gestured at the gifts and the furniture he had moved out of the way to create a large work space in front of the small fireplace.
"I found the wrapping paper and tape in the bags but I wasn't sure where you kept your scissors and I didn't want to just start digging through drawers…"
Della retrieved the scissors from her utility drawer and they settled on the floor with the first gift between them.
"Joey, right? Wants a dolly?"
Mason could tell that Della was pleased he remembered. "That's right. Josephine to be exact but she is so tiny she needs a smaller name. Marilee called her Josie but Katie, the next youngest child, pronounced it as Joey and it stuck." Together they carefully measured out the paper, Perry holding while Della cut. Folding and taping took a few more minutes when Della accidently caught Perry's tie in the packaging and it had to be redone.
The tie was quickly removed, two buttons coming open with its removal. Perry picked up the next gift, a boxed set of beginner's books. "Tell me about Katie…"
~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~
"Eleven little presents all taken care of!" Perry surveyed the pile of packages with satisfaction.
"But there are still six larger gifts to deal with," Della reminded her boss, pointing at the remaining stack.
"Hmm… you do have a point, Miss Street. I have been pondering this one all evening." Perry picked up a hockey stick. "And I still haven't come up with anything!"
Della's nose wrinkled as she surveyed the oddly shaped item. "I have an idea."
"Of course you do! That's why you are in charge!"
"Ha, ha." Della smirked at Perry as she stood and moved to a closet. After digging around for a few minutes she emerged with some cardboard and a bottle of glue.
"We can make a frame of cardboard to hold the stick and make it square."
Perry wasn't convinced but he didn't have a better suggestion so he helped her cut the cardboard into strips and shape it around the stick. "Now, who is this for?"
"Mike. He's twelve and he loves street hockey, mostly because Eddie loves it and Mike really looks up to him."
A look of alarm hit Perry's face. "So we have to do another stick?"
Della couldn't help but laugh as she handed Perry the glue. "No, chief. Eddie already has a stick. I got him skates, thinking maybe Mike can use his old ones…"
"You really thought this out, didn't you? I'm impressed, Miss Street. And this glue… definitely not from the school supply section."
"If I glue something I expect it to stay glued. Right there…" Della pointed at an overlapping corner of cardboard… Perry dutifully spread the liquid adhesive over the two sides then stuck them together. They immediately flew apart, spreading droplets of glue over the surrounding paper. They looked at it for a while, both lost in thought.
"Maybe if we tape it?" Perry offered.
Della grabbed the scotch tape and pulled out a long piece. While Perry held the pieces of packaging together she attempted to wrap it around them. "Uh… you have to move your fingers… not that way…"
"Just move it over here…"
"That wrinkles it. Just lift right here… Oh shoot, let me get another piece…"
Many pieces of tape later and both Perry and Della using their arms like contortionists the material finally seemed to be staying together. Perry squeezed the hand that was lying next to his on the corner. "Teamwork, my dear!"
"And a whole lot of tape!" Della eyed the bits of tape stuck to both of them. She reached over to his thigh and brushed a piece away.
"Let this dry for a bit. We can wrap the next gift and come back." Perry leaned toward the remaining gifts, stretching to reach the top one. It was just out of reach so he rocked up on his knees to close the distance, only to find Della being propelled after him. He reached out to break her forward moment, only to find her arm yanked along with his. She yelped.
"Damn!" Perry swore softly as he righted them both on their knees. Cardboard hung from their hands. They gingerly pulled their hands away from each other, but they didn't budge. They pulled harder while Perry yanked at the dangling cardboard. Della yelped again as the glue, refusing to yield, pulled at her palm.
"Well…" signed Perry as he stared at their hands glued together. "We seem to be in a bit of a predicament."
"Yes." Della's voice sounded like the start of a chuckle.
"I guess that means I have to stay here tonight."
A silent pause filled the room before Della spoke. "You mean spend the night here?" Her cheeks were faintly pink and she couldn't or wouldn't meet her boss's eyes.
"No," Perry quickly protested, immediately concerned that Della might be offended, even to the point of quitting. "That's not what I mean…"
"It's what you said…"
"Well… yes… I just meant that being stuck together and all I couldn't exactly leave so I'd have to sleep here and… and… Shut up, Mason!" He gave Della his best charming little boy smile. "My foot is so far in my mouth I'm chewing on my knee, aren't I?"
Della laughed heartily. " And how does it taste, Chief?"
"Like smelly socks…"
They both laughed until tears were rolling down their cheeks, Della leaning against Perry's shoulder for support. Perry was simply grateful that Della hadn't taken his random statement too seriously. Although… Perry quickly shook THAT thought out of his head.
"So how do we get out of this predicament?" Della asked, eyebrows raised.
Perry thought a moment. "Maybe hot water would loosen it?"
"I guess anything is worth trying."
Perry shifted one leg from knee to foot in preparation to stand, bumping into Della trying to do the same thing. "Hang on." He wrapped his free arm around her waist and pulled her close then stood, taking her with him. "There."
They made their way to Della's very small kitchen. After ten minutes standing at the sink with their hands submerged in hot water Perry was ready to concede that his idea was a failure.
"Maybe the hardware store has something to dissolve it?" Della suggested as she dried their hands with a towel.
"That's a good idea… the bottle! Let's check and see what it says first."
Perry pondered the tiny writing on the glue bottle for so long that Della began to tap her foot. "Do I need to make you an appointment with your optometrist, Chief?"
"There is nothing wrong with my eyesight, young lady. The printing on this bottle is incredibly small!"
Della bit her lip to keep from laughing as Perry squinted his eyes tightly and twisted the bottle into the light.
"Aha! Do you have fingernail polish remover?"
"Of cour… Yes… I have some." Della's cheeks pinked up prettily, Perry noted.
"Then shall we get it?"
"It's uhm… it's in my bath room."
"I'll close my eyes if your room is messy." Perry teased.
Della snapped her lips shut on her sharp retort and made a face at Perry before heading toward the smart hall, dragging him behind.
Perry thought that Della's bedroom was charming, not that he had much opportunity to see it as she dragged him through. The room was spotless, the perfectly made bed covered in hues of pale blue and green evoking the sea. A small bookcase filled one corner. 'A very calm room, relaxing,' he thought. The room just 'felt' like Della Street.
The tiny bathroom was also neat and tidy, her cabinets perfectly organized, not that he would have expected anything less from his ultra efficient secretary. She knelt and reached deep into the cupboard, her sweater stretching tightly over her shapely chest, he noticed appreciatively. Her fingers must have locked onto the bottle unerringly because long before he was ready to stop enjoying the view she was standing up and tugging him back into and through her bedroom toward her kitchen.
'She definitely needs a bigger bed,' was Perry's final thought as the lights snapped off and they headed back down the hallway.