All I Want For Christmas Is You - Penelope Ward Page 0,23
me think very bad thoughts.
“… Mr. Shaw?”
Realizing my name had been said, I looked blankly over at Kerry. “Sorry?”
She flicked Evan a strange look before turning back to me.
I tried not to squirm over my event co-ordinator’s suspicious gaze.
“I asked if you were happy for us to post a competition on Instagram for locals to enter to win a chance to watch the Christmas tree being piped in?”
The Christmas tree at Shaw’s was an event in itself. We had to remove the side door to the building, and a crew of men carried the forty-foot tree into the atrium of the store. It was then erected by the use of pulleys, while people rappelled from the ceiling to decorate it in fairy lights. We had a bagpiper pipe in the tree and I invited staff to watch.
“Aye, that’s fine,” I replied. “Only two winners and their plus ones.”
Kerry opened her mouth to protest. I cut her off. “Part of the magic is customers asking how we get the tree into the store. They prefer the staff’s tall tales to reality.”
“Reality is pretty impressive too, Mr. Shaw,” she argued.
“I said no.”
“Okay. Two winners and their plus ones.”
“Now the sale,” I said, determined to focus on anything but the petite woman at my side who smelled bloody amazing. Three weeks ago, I’d caught Evan in the perfume department mooning over a perfume called Black Opium by YSL. It was one of the more expensive ones and she was bemoaning its price. It irritated me that Evan wouldn’t buy herself the perfume, even with her staff discount. I’d picked up a box and told Greta, one of the staff in the perfume department, to add it to my tab.
Evan had looked dumbfounded by the gift.
Not wanting her to read too much into it, I casually called it a bonus and walked away before she could question me.
Now she wore the perfume every day. It had a heady, musky scent to it that made a man want to chase it with his tongue.
Fuck.
Patrick would kill me if he ever guessed what ran through my mind when I thought about his wee sister.
And I’d deserve to die.
Slowly. Painfully.
Suddenly the door to the conference room flew open and a red-faced boy in the store’s uniform stood panting in the doorway. I tried to remember his name and failed.
“Mr. Shaw.” His were eyes round with panic. “We’ve had to call for an ambulance. Customer down in the men’s department.”
Shit.
I stood up, pushing my chair away with force. “George, Evan, with me,” I demanded, hurrying out of the room with my manager and Evan at my back.
The whole time we stood in the elevator waiting for it to reach the men’s department floor, I wondered what the hell I was going to do. We’d had fainting spells in the store before, but never someone who required an ambulance.
As it turned out, I didn’t need to do anything.
Evan pushed past us, striding after the junior staff member who’d alerted us to the situation.
By the time George and I caught up, Evan was kneeling beside a man in perhaps in his late fifties who was sitting on the ground, grey-faced and clammy. A woman of similar age stood to the side with Alan, the men’s department manager, looking ready to pass out with worry.
Evan placed a reassuring hand on the man’s chest. “What’s your name, sir?” she asked softly.
“Gerald,” he wheezed out.
“Hi, Gerald, I’m Evan. Are you experiencing chest pain?”
He nodded.
“And breathlessness?”
He nodded again, wincing.
“Are you allergic to aspirin?”
Gerald shook his head.
“Good.” Evan turned toward George. “Run to the pharmacy as quickly as you can and grab a packet of aspirin and some water. And make sure the side entrance isn’t blocked for the ambulance.”
My general manager didn’t even question her authoritative tone.
“Are you a medic?” asked the worried woman I suspected was Gerald’s wife.
“I’m a qualified first aider,” Evan replied.
How did I not know that? Surely that was something I should know about her. Especially as her employer. My entire staff should know who the first aiders in the building were.
The wife looked near tears. “Will my husband be okay?”
“He’s doing fine,” Evan evaded, patting Gerald’s arm. “The ambulance will be here soon.”
“Is he having a heart attack?” The wife began to cry.
Gerald shot her a concerned, pained look.
Evan rubbed her hand down Gerald’s arm to soothe him. “I don’t know for sure. But some aspirin should help until the paramedics get here.”