Like a Boss - Annabelle Costa Page 0,24
at the tin foil package I’m clutching. “What’s that?”
I feel my cheeks turning red. “It’s these pastries my neighbor helped me make for you.”
Luke raises his eyebrows. “You told your neighbor about me?”
Now my cheeks really are red. “Just… you know, that you were my boss.”
He works open the tin foil and pulls out one of the triangles. “Hey, hamantaschen!”
“Wow, you know what that is?”
“Of course.” He grins at me. “I grew up in Newton. These things are like donuts over there.” He takes a bite and his brown eyes widen. He puts his hand over his mouth and I can tell he’s trying not to spit it out.
“They’re a little hard,” I admit.
“Jesus Christ,” Luke gasps. “Did you also tell your neighbor that you hate me and you want to kill me?”
Hmph. They’re not that bad.
Luke hands me back my failed hamantaschen, then he pulls onto Harvard Street and I grab onto the edge of my seat as a guy practically leaps in front of the car and we come to a screeching halt. “Idiot,” he mumbles as he guns the engine again and we barely miss a woman with a baby carriage. This is why I hate driving in the Boston area. “Can you go slower?” I ask weakly.
“Slower?” Luke makes a face. “How long have you lived here? You gotta be aggressive, Ellie. Mow down the pedestrians. Kill or be killed. That’s my philosophy in driving, in business, and in life.”
Based on some of what people have said about him on the internet, I believe it.
“Have you ever been in a car accident?” I ask him.
“Got rear-ended once in a traffic circle,” he says. “Total bullshit. People don’t know how to drive around here.”
Twenty minutes later, Luke’s Tesla pulls up in front of a smallish boutique. Even as I’m getting out of the car, I can see how expensive this place looks. I’m worried if I walk inside, the air will cost like ten bucks per breath. I wait as Luke grabs his wheelchair out of the back seat and pops the wheels back into place. As soon as he wheels up beside me, I lean over and whisper, “Are you sure about this place?”
It’s not just that the place looks too expensive—it’s too high class. I’m worried if I walk inside, they’ll ask me to leave now without making a scene.
“Calm down, Ellie,” he says. “I buy all my suits here. If they can make me look marginally good, you’re in very capable hands.”
Yeah, except Luke would look good in a clown suit. Or better yet, nothing at all.
Oh my God, where did that thought come from?
Sure enough, the second we get inside, a pretty Asian girl in her late twenties rushes over to us with a warm expression on her face. “Luke!” she says. “You need a tux for the art gallery tonight?”
Luke shakes his head. “No thanks, Irene, I’m good. Ellie here needs a dress.”
“Oh.” Irene looks me up and down with exactly the expression I’d expect to see from a person who worked in a swanky boutique like this. I shouldn’t let it get to me, but I feel my skin turning pink. On days like this, I’m glad I straighten my hair. Rosanna Rosannadanna would not go over well here.
“I told her you’d make sure she’ll look gorgeous for tonight,” Luke says.
Irene turns back to Luke, who is obviously a favorite client, and nods enthusiastically. “Of course! What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know,” he says thoughtfully. “What would you like, Ellie?”
“Um,” I say. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever even been to an art gallery, much less been to an opening of some exhibit. I have no clue what I’m supposed to wear. “Whatever you think…”
Irene rolls her eyes, but I don’t think Luke catches it. “Why don’t you browse a bit and I’ll see what I’ve got in the back.”
As Irene goes in the back, possibly to make fun of me while she pretends to search for clothes, I finger a simple white shirt that’s on display. I see the price tag hanging out and I gasp and jump back five feet.
“What’s wrong?” Luke asks, alarmed.
“That shirt is four-hundred dollars!”
“Oh.” He shrugs. “So?”
“So… it’s a white shirt! I could get that at Walmart for, like, fifteen bucks. The exact same thing.”
“Well, what are we doing here then?” Luke says. “Lemme get the car and we’ll go to Walmart. We can pick up some donut holes for the party on