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As she walked over the bridge linking the offices and the mall, Angie admired the holiday decor. Garlands of red, green, and silver and gold swooped down from the ceiling. The hum of activity from the mall moved over her as she entered the throngs of people shopping for their loved ones. Even close to lunchtime on a Thursday, the place was packed.
It would only get worse as the holiday neared.
Taking a detour, she found the information booth where she remembered. There was a line of people in front of the empty stand. They were clearly short-staffed, and Angie wondered if she should call Maya to confirm her interest.
Choosing to ignore the bustling counter, Angie quickly passed by, leaving Maya to decide her fate.
In the food court, holiday music played from the speakers, barely audible over the conversations around her. The lines at most of the stands were outrageous, but she had nowhere to be. She chose a sandwich wrap place she’d never tried before. While waiting, she scanned the area, fully expecting to run into more people she knew.
What would she say when they asked about her life and her job? She could lie, but Brett was a prime example of lies blowing up in people’s faces. She wasn’t that person, despite her embarrassment about her desperate need to get work after living in California.
After she paid for her turkey wrap, she waited off to the side for her order.
A guy in a charcoal-grey suit approached the counter. She blinked, immediately recognizing him. If she weren’t so concerned with the growling in her stomach, she would have fled the scene. Heat bloomed within her, and she regretted her choice of thick jacket. There was no way she could avoid him.
When the guy from the café turned around and met her eyes, his polite smile fell as recognition flooded his expression. His eyes narrowed slightly as he approached her to wait for his food.
‘It’s you,’ he said.
Angie gave him a shaky smile. There wasn’t much else she could do after he called her out like that. She got a better look at him without his jacket on. His tailored suit shaped his fit body. He looked like a runner.
‘Oh, hi.’
‘Hi.’ He smirked, and a chill ran down her spine. It was the same confident grin Brett always had for his employees. It was the same one which helped her fall for him.
Silence stretched between them, making the crowded food court close in around her. ‘Thanks again for the other day. I can pay you back for the bagels.’
He waved his hand in front of him as if to say it wasn’t a problem. ‘You figured it out, then?’
‘Yes, thanks.’ She wrung her hands in front of her, unsure of what to do with them.
‘I hope you enjoyed your breakfast,’ he said.
It seemed as if both of them were terrible at small talk. For some reason, it made Angie smile.
‘What did I say?’ he asked with a hint of a grin.
Angie tucked her hair away from her face, trying to cool off. ‘Nothing. So, are you Christmas shopping today?’
‘No, I’m on my lunch break.’
It made sense that he worked nearby since she had met him at the café the other morning.
‘I’m Nick, by the way,’ he said.
‘Angie.’
He cleared his throat.
‘Angie!’ a young man from the food stall called.
‘Excuse me.’ She sprinted to the counter to get her tray.
‘Nick!’ the guy called next.
Angie glanced around at the nearby tables and chairs. There were only a few open tables. She could take her food to go.
‘Do you want to sit together?’ Nick asked.
‘Sure.’ If he wasn’t going to take her money, it was the least she could do to repay him for his kindness.
When they sat, Angie was aware of his movements. His knee brushed against her leg, and he muttered an apology. She sipped from her soda and unwrapped her sandwich, desperate to look anywhere but at him.
‘What are you up to today?’ he asked. ‘I thought you said you said you were an online shopper.’
‘Good memory.’ Angie hesitated about the real reason for her being there, but she needed to get over herself. ‘I applied for a job today.’
‘Here?’
She inwardly cringed, unsure about how much she wanted to reveal about her life to this guy. ‘Yeah, I’m unemployed right now. I worked at a hotel as an event planner in California. Right now, I need a temporary place to work until I get back on my feet.’
‘Well, you came to the right place at the right time. The holiday season is perfect for a temporary job.’
‘When I was sixteen, I worked here. I blew all of my paychecks on new clothes.’
‘Which store?’
‘Oh, everywhere. I started at the Smoothie Shack, then the movie theater as an usher. I worked for a little while at Bloomfield’s department store. I was the best bow-tie-er in town.’ Angie laughed, and he joined her. ‘That was during the break of my freshman year of college. I never came back after that.’
‘You got around,’ Nick said. His eyebrows rose as if he was impressed. Angie’s barometer of men was off lately, and she wasn’t sure what to make of him.
‘Well, I only did one sport, and I loved to shop.’
‘I’m sure you have a good shot at getting the job.’ He took a bite of his sandwich as the words hung between them.
Angie had the urge to engage him more. The image of the door closing behind her in his face brought another wave of flames over her body. ‘For some reason, I was nervous about the interview. To make it even worse, I know the girl who interviewed me. We didn’t get along well in high school. I know I’m more than qualified for the position, but I hope she doesn’t use that against me.’
‘It couldn’t have been that bad,’ Nick said.
‘It wasn’t great. It makes me slightly anxious to think that Maya holds my future in her hands.’
‘I’m sure it will all turn out as it’s supposed to.’
Angie was supposed to be in California with her boyfriend and the life she’d spent so many years building. Working at her high school job wasn’t exactly her plan.
‘Do you come here a lot?’ Angie asked him. ‘Since you work nearby?’
Nick wiped his mouth with a napkin and smirked. ‘I like the food here. I’m not much of a cook. You?’
‘I know my way around a kitchen.’ Thanks to her mother. ‘But the takeout in California was much tastier than what I could cook up with the amount of time I spent at work.’
‘Did you go out a lot with friends?’
Angie tried to hide her burning cheeks. ‘Sometimes.’ She wasn’t ready to admit that she had the tendency to get swept up into the life of whoever she dated that she ended up seeing less of her friends than she liked. It was a habit she would make a point not to continue in the future.
‘I bet the nightlife is better there than here.’
‘I’m sure it’s not so bad.’
‘I bet you could make a night out here fun for anyone.’
Angie’s gaze dipped to the table, as a tingling sensation skittered up her arms.
Nick cleared his throat. ‘But I also bet you’re leaving town right after the holiday?’
‘It depends on if I get a more permanent job nearby.’ Would she go out with him regardless? There was no harm in having a little fun for herself. Though that was what got her in trouble with Brett to start.
‘I’m sure you’ll hear back from someone soon. If it were up to me, I’d hire you.’
‘Thanks.’
Nick wasn’t as bad as she originally thought. But the last time she fell for a handsome guy in a suit, he uprooted her life and forced her home. He was cute, but she wasn’t going to go down that rabbit hole again.
‘Well, I should get back,’ Nick said, crunching up the wrapper in front of him.
Angie sat up straighter. Seeing Nick twice in one week seemed like a strange twist of fate. ‘Maybe we’ll run into each other again?’
‘I hope so.’ He flashed a heart-melting grin. ‘See you, Angie.’
‘Bye.’ She watched him walk away and couldn’t help the slump in her shoulders. There was no way she would consider starting a new relationship with someone, never mind a crush. It was better this way.
Chapter 6 (#ulink_25c09c0d-e1d7-58be-9fdd-f3f40cea4f16)
On the way back to the office, Nick couldn’t believe he had run into Angie again. When he first saw her, he had noticed how she avoided his eyes. After not thanking him for paying for her food, he wanted her to be uncomfortable about the other day. But it seemed that it all was a misunderstanding. The banter they had from their brief encounter had returned, and he found himself wanting to be around her. It was a strange feeling toward someone he barely knew, but a sense of urgency had forced him to invite himself to eat with her.
Nick wasn’t happy that Angie lost her job. But with her applying to the mall an opportunity to help her appeared in front of him.
Maya oversaw the interviews, so she would have all the resumes. When he returned to the office, he couldn’t help gravitating toward her desk.
‘Did you have a good lunch?’ he asked, propping his arm on the divider of her cubicle.
‘It was fine,’ she said, sorting resumes.
Nick peered down, looking for Angie’s name at the top of one of them.
No such luck.
Nick couldn’t imagine Angie doing anything to have a strained relationship with Maya, but one thing he knew of the HR head was that she didn’t care for people who were on her bad side.
‘What’s going on with you?’ she asked.
‘What do you mean?’
Maya sat up in her chair. ‘This isn’t the time of year for you to be so happy. Or lie.’
Nick dragged a finger over the top of the cubicle. ‘I’m in a good mood. I had lunch with someone. It was interesting.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Interesting, how?’
Nick shook his head. ‘It’s not important. But I have a few minutes. Did you need me to approve anything?’
Maya trapped her bottom lip under her teeth. ‘Actually, yes. I wanted your opinion on a potential applicant for the information specialist position. I went to high school with her, and she’s a bit overqualified. I’m not sure if I should keep looking or not.’
Nick cleared his throat, leaning closer. ‘Who is it?’
Maya handed over a piece of paper.
Nick held the paper in front of him as if it was from any other applicant.
Angela Martinelli.
He pocketed her last name for later. Scanning through, he found out she had worked at a prestigious hotel as an event planner since she’d graduated from college.
Nick was more than impressed.
‘I have a few teens looking for work,’ Maya said, sifting through the other resumes. ‘They’re seniors, but all of them brought phones to their interview. They seem more into looking as if they are working than actually doing the work.’
Nick tapped his finger against the EMPLOYMENT HISTORY section of the resume. ‘Under relevant work, Angie – Angela, I mean, has worked at the booth. She has training.’
‘There isn’t much training involved, though. Is it weird if I pick her? She seemed a little desperate and sad. I don’t want this to be a conflict of interest. Since I know her.’
‘That was years ago. To me, it doesn’t seem like a conflict of interest.’
Maya raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘At least, I’m assuming, from what you said,’ he said quickly. ‘You have to trust your judgment.’
Maya swiveled in her chair. ‘I’ll think about it a little more.’
Nick placed the resume on her desk. ‘I know you’ll make the right choice, Maya.’ He walked into his office, not wanting to interfere with the hiring process. It wasn’t his place, but he hoped Maya would give Angie the job, he wanted to get to know her a little better. As he sat down, he woke up his computer. His eyes strained to stay on the screen instead of checking in on Maya.
The front of his office was all glass, giving him a view of Maya’s desk. He left his door open to hear her making phone calls to the applicants. After some time, his ears perked up when Maya said Angie’s name. She was on the phone, the top of her head barely visible over the cubicle wall.
Nick hadn’t expected to hear anything from that distance, but he crossed his fingers that Angie would accept. His water bottle stood empty at the edge of the desk, offering the perfect opportunity to fill it at the water cooler out front.
Nick slipped by Maya’s desk, but she wasn’t on the phone anymore.
With each desk he passed, his smile widened. A few of the other employees blinked away their surprise. Nick wasn’t the grinning type at work, especially with his father around.
With a full bottle, he made his way back to Maya’s desk. ‘How goes it?’
