He unrolled the paper on the table and placed the small box in the middle.
Riley may have been devastatingly handsome, but he was not skilled when it came to gift-wrapping. He used far too much paper. The scissors tore the paper rather than cutting cleanly. He used enough scotch tape to repair the Liberty Bell. When the job was done, the box looked like it had been wrapped by a child.
I struggled not to laugh as he handed it to the woman proudly. “Here you go, ma’am!”
“He’s currently in training,” I explained to her. I reached for the gift and said, “I can re-wrap that if you—”
She snatched the gift away from me. “Absolutely not! I love it.” She turned back to Riley and practically melted before him. “Here’s thirty dollars. For the dog shelter.” She gave him another smile before walking away.
Riley grinned at me. “Thirty dollars. That’s pretty good, right?”
“That’s… That’s great,” I said.
“In spite of Riley’s poor wrapping job,” Harper said.
“Poor wrapping? She loved it!” Riley replied.
“Hmm, I think her fondness for you colored her opinion of the job you did,” Harper said pointedly.
“No way. I did a great job. Right, Christie?”
The way he said my name made my stomach do a back-flip. “It was fine. A very good first try. Mind if I give you a pointer?”
“Sure,” he said hesitantly.
I leaned across the table to grab the wrapping paper. My arm brushed against his, and I caught a whiff of his scent. I couldn’t tell if it was cologne or just deodorant, but he smelled amazing. I wanted to stay within his reach and keep smelling him.
“You want to use as little paper as possible. For the box you just wrapped, rather than using the entire width of paper you should probably cut it about here, removing an extra couple of inches. Then it won’t bunch up when you wrap it.”
“Okay, makes sense,” he said. “Any other pointers?”
“Try not to use a ton of tape. You only need a tiny sliver. Like this.” I pulled off a piece of tape that was half an inch long. “The less tape you use, the more it blends in.”
He nodded along like a good student. “Less paper, less tape. Got it.”
Another customer finished checking-out and started to walk by. “Hello,” Harper called to them. “Can we wrap your gifts for you? For a donation? Wait, I mean, it’s free,” he quickly added. “The service is free, although we do take donations. They’re voluntary.”
Despite his awkward pitch, the customer came over and gave him a box to wrap. What Harper lacked in salesmanship he made up for in wrapping ability. He maneuvered the scissors precisely, measuring and cutting with skilled hands. The length of wrapping paper was the perfect size to cover the box, with only a millimeter or two of room to spare. When he was done he grabbed a roll of ribbon and quickly tied a big bow around the box with a flourish. The customer put a five dollar bill in the jar and then left.
“Okay,” Riley admitted. “I can see where my wrapping needs improvement. Harper’s a pro.”
Harper nodded smugly. “It’s not hard. It’s all math.”
“I still got a bigger donation,” Riley pointed out. He waved at the next customer who came our way. “Would you like us to gift-wrap your purchase today? We’re working for the Happy Bones dog shelter.”
I shook my head with wonder. I couldn’t believe I was working with two guys like them.
3
Riley
I couldn’t believe I was working with a woman like her.
I’d done my fair share of volunteer work here in Flagstaff. Usually the people we reported to were older than us. Sometimes old enough to be retired. Nobody that was ever our own age.
And certainly none who looked like Christie.
She was a cute little thing. Petite with auburn hair that flowed like water down her back. Jeans that hugged every inch of her body. When she leaned across the table to show me how to wrap a present? Well, let’s just say it took all of my willpower to watch what she was doing instead of watching her.
“How am I doing?” I asked her after the next two customers.
“You’re getting better. Still heavy on the tape, but that’s okay. Ready to set up another station?”
“Another station?” I asked.
“When we have multiple people, I set up several gift-wrapping tables throughout the mall. I think you can handle one by yourself.” Her full, red lips curled up in a smile.