let her borrow anything that was too grown up, but a shirt here, or a vest there, never hurt.
Within seconds of entering the store she saw the chaos Eve had probably been dealing with all day. There were ten shoppers demanding attention so Alyssa tossed her bag behind the counter with her keys and she jumped right in. Her late lunch mixed with dinner could wait until things settled. She grabbed her spare set of casing keys from a drawer behind the counter and she started showing the requested pieces. Six sales later and the store had finally cleared out.
“Whew! Was it like that all day?” Alyssa tossed the spare keys back in the drawer.
“Off and on, but most of the people weren’t that pushy.” She shook her head. Alyssa understood, her day crowd was moderately milder tempered than the people who came in at night. She assumed maybe they were on their way home after a long day at work and they were just cranky as a rabid skunk. “Forget about it,” Eve waved her hand dismissingly. “How did it go today? It took you so long. Was it bad?”
She smiled. “We got delayed. My case didn’t get before the judge until three o’clock, and it wasn’t a wham bam thank you ma’am kind of hearing, but we won.” She laughed. “It’s over, at least legally. Mr. Dumas assures me it’s not over yet.” She hadn’t even heard Shane come out of the office. The man was too good at sneaking up on people. He alerted her to his presence with a firm, “he tries anything and it’ll be the last time he does it,” remark that was uttered with such conviction that she knew it wasn’t a threat; it was a promise.
“Are you okay?” He asked sincerely. She was okay. Her stomach was a complete mess because her nerves had been on edge since she received those papers, and that nervous tension had increased by a thousand when the day actually came.
Her stomach growled. Eve laughed. “You’re hungry obviously.”
“Starving,” she laughed. “I have not eaten since breakfast. I didn’t know it was going to be an all day thing or I would have taken some snacks or something.” Once she had arrived in the courthouse she stayed firmly planted on the bench outside the judge’s chambers. Her attorney had told her they should stay put because that door could open any second and if she wasn’t there then she would automatically forfeit her case. Actually, thinking about how long she stayed in one place reminded her of another problem, she really needed to use the bathroom.
“Go on up. Get some rest and I’ll close up.” Eve offered.
“I’ll just freshen up and come down to relieve you for the close,” she protested. There was no way she was going to leave Eve to work the entire time. She wanted her sister to have some time to herself while she was there too.
“No. You rest. I bought you a spa voucher too, so you can use it tomorrow.” Alyssa started to protest and Eve held up her hand, stopping any dissent within seconds. “I’m going to work the store. Since everything is settled I’m going to leave day after tomorrow.”
“So soon? Why?”
“I have to get my stuff ready to be shipped and I have a new job I have to start in two weeks.”
“London?”
“Hawaii,” she smiled. “I didn’t take the London job. You all wore me down,” she shook her head. Alyssa smiled and threw her arms around her sister. She was so happy that she wasn’t leaving the country. Hawaii was far, but somehow it just felt better knowing she would be there. Not much could go wrong in paradise, she initially thought until she realized she was dealing with Eve McGregor here and if anything was wrong, Eve was probably going to be the first person on board to uncover it.
“Are you sure you don’t want to move to Arizona?”
“Positive,” she chuckled before ushering Alyssa out of the store and back up to her place. “Go,” she had said, and so Alyssa went. She needed a bathroom, and she needed food, in that order. She would have time later to lecture her sister on being safe in paradise, and staying in touch once she got there.
Chapter Seven
“There’s a meteor shower tonight,” Shane said. “Would you like to come watch it with me?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “I mean, no.” She corrected herself. She was still his boss. She wouldn’t