the boutique carried, and often gave rave reviews on her blog—that’s one of the reasons she’d wanted to work here in the first place—but the spring line was too ordinary for her. Soft pastels in a plain cream finish.
River liked some pizzazz on her nails. Bright colors or deep rich tones with multichrome flakies were her favorites. Maybe some flashy design in strong metallic tones. Or a leather finish with studs.
Cream pastels just didn’t do it for her. So she’d worn one of her own creations, a duochrome that shifted from turquoise to a rich blue depending on how the light hit it.
“Make sure when you come in on Saturday that you’re wearing one of the spring shades”—Louise raised her eyebrow—“or consider looking for a new job. Understand?”
“But I’m not supposed to be working on Saturday.” River had already sent the e-mail confirming she would meet the person who’d paid so much to have dinner with her. She didn’t want to jeopardize getting the investment. Starting her own nail polish company was her dream and if she didn’t honor the dinner, she could lose that investment and the whole Kickstarter campaign would drop below the minimum and she wouldn’t get anything.
“I changed the schedule. It’s posted in the break room.”
“Please, Louise, I have something else to do on Saturday. It’s really important.”
“Cancel it. I need you here.” Then Louise turned and walked away.
* * *
“Tia, please. I’ll take any shift you want. Just cover for me on Saturday.”
“Sorry, Riv. I told you I’m going to my cousin’s wedding. I mean really, I’d love to get out of it, but if I don’t go, my mom’ll kill me.”
River sighed. “I get it. Sorry to be a bug.”
“You’ve already asked everyone else?”
River nodded. She’d phoned everyone in the store over the past two days, but no one wanted to give up a Saturday off.
“Okay, look, move the dinner back to eight,” Tia suggested. “Louise always takes off midafternoon and Wendy’s closing that night. If you’re lucky, it won’t be too busy, so just ask Wendy if you can take off a little early. If you offer to work for her on a Sunday sometime, I’m sure she’ll say okay.”
* * *
She wasn’t lucky. River glanced at her watch and it was already seven o’clock and she was still waiting for her customer to decide between Pink Fizz and Seafoam. River was almost ready to tell her to take both, one as a gift, and River would pay for it out of her own pocket, but finally the woman chose the Pink Fizz, the one she’d clearly favored all along, and took her purchases to the register.
Wendy hurried over as soon as she finished with her own customer. “Go ahead and take off. Sue and I can close up.”
“Thanks, Wendy.”
River headed to the break room and grabbed her purse. On the way through the store, the same customer stopped her.
“Excuse me, can you help me pick out one of these nail polish gift sets for my sister’s birthday?” It seemed she’d left her purchases at the counter and was talking another look around.
Oh, God, River was already late.
“I can help you with that,” Sue said, appearing from nowhere.
“Oh,” the customer said. “Okay, thank you.” She picked up two of the attractive boxes and showed them to Sue, who smiled and nodded.
River mouthed a thank you, then hurried out of the store.
* * *
As River approached the glass door of the restaurant, a woman in black pants, a crisp white shirt, tie, and red brocade vest opened the door from the inside and held it for her.
“Good evening,” the woman said. “Welcome to the Carousel.”
“Thank you.” River was a little intimidated by the posh décor as she stepped inside. “I’m a little late for a reservation. It’s in my name. River Cassidy.”
“Of course, Ms. Cassidy. I’ll take you to your table.”
River followed the tall, elegant woman into the dimly lit restaurant, candles illuminating the intimate booths. They walked down a hallway, River presumed to another section, but the woman stopped in front of a door and knocked, then opened the door.
River followed her inside and realized it was a private dining room with a chandelier of candles over the table, a lovely floral arrangement on the table and …
Her heart stopped as she saw the man rising to his feet from one of two upholstered armchairs arranged by a corner fireplace.
“River. How nice to see you again.”
Her chest clenched as she took in his