Authors: Ellen Lane,Taylor Young
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes, I think you can. I saw Mr. Farr come in here with you. You think he might make a moment for me?”
“I’m sure he would,” Lauren said, trying to remember how to flirt. God, had she ever been able to flirt? One thing was for sure…he wasn’t looking at her in the same way that he had been looking at Brittany and Shelly two days ago.
“Can you get him for me?” Riley asked, his tone indicating that he suspected she might be a little slow.
You’re ruining this, she thought to herself. How can you—
“Miss?”
She blinked her stupor away and, fuming with herself, abandoned her plan. It was just as well. If she have had stayed there under his gaze for much longer, she would have started blushing. And there’s nothing more helpless and pathetic that an awkward and blushing fat girl.
“One second,” she said, tearing her eyes away from him. “I’ll get him for you.”
She looked down to the floor when she walked around the counter and towards the back. She looked to her bland store uniform she had to wear to work and cursed it for not allowing her to show more cleavage. Maybe that would have gotten more attention from him. It was the one asset she had that she knew she could work to her advantage. Overweight or not, her breasts owed very little of their generous size to the extra pounds she had elsewhere.
Mr. Farr met her halfway down the aisle, oblivious to the man that was waiting for him at the counter. “There’s um…someone here to see you, sir,” Lauren said.
“Who is it?” he asked, looking over her shoulder. But from the look of shock and bewilderment on his face, it was clear that he recognized Riley Thomson. “Oh,” he said as if someone had punched him in the stomach. “Thanks, Lauren.”
Lauren watched him go, walking to the counter in a rigid posture that made him look taller. He’s doing that on purpose, she thought as she headed to the back. She’d made a huge fool of herself in front of the billionaire that Brittany and Shelly had so easily flirted with and she didn’t feel like digging that hole any deeper. So she retreated to the back and started to find shoes that had been misplaced the day before, returning them to their proper place. On occasion, she’d catch the voices of Riley and Mr. Farr. It was mostly muffled whispers, but there was the occasional laughter—a laughter that sounded forced as far as Lauren was concerned.
She couldn’t help but wonder what the conversation was about. From the look she had seen on Mr. Farr’s face, it was clear that he had not been expecting such a guest. And she found it hard to think that Riley and Mr. Farr ran in the same circles. While Mr. Farr had owned the shoe store for twenty years—inherited from his older brother whom had died in a car accident at an early age—and it had done rather well, he was still an aging blue collar worker that dealt with debt and bills. How he might have gotten mixed up with Riley Thomson.
As she wondered about these things, she heard another bray of laughter and then the strong and confident voice of Riley Thomson saying: “Thank you for your time, Mr. Farr.”
Lauren heard the little digital bell above the door go off as Riley left. She peered to the front of the store and saw that Mr. Farr seemed to be frozen in place. She was about to jump out of her skin to find out what the conversation had been about, but she didn’t want to pry. She and Mr. Farr were on good terms, but she didn’t think he’d appreciate her snooping.
After a while, Mr. Farr finally moved away from the counter and came down the aisle towards the back of the store where Lauren was still re-arranging the mixed up shoe boxes. He was walking like he was half-asleep but as he got closer, Lauren saw that it was more like an expression of shock.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Mr. Farr nodded and sat down on the small steps that led up to the back floor of the shop. “Yeah, I think so,” he said. And then he started laughing in a way that made Lauren slightly uneasy.
She wasn’t sure what to follow up with because she still didn’t think it would be appropriate to pry. However, he went on, unprompted by Lauren, and told her what had him so frazzled.
“Riley Thomas,” he said, shaking his head and grinning. “I assume you know that’s who that man was, right?”
“Yes.”
“He just offered me eight hundred thousand dollars for this store.”
“What?”
As if ignoring her completely, Mr. Farr went on. “When I turned him down, he upped it to an even million.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah.”
Lauren allowed a bit of silence before she cautiously asked: “Well what are you going to do?”
“I’d like to say I don’t know but…well, it’s a million dollars. How the hell can I say no?”
“Then why do you look like you’re about to get sick?”
Mr. Farr rubbed his forehead as if he was getting a headache. “Because this store has been in my family for fifty years. And he doesn’t want the store to make money from it. He wants to knock it down—along with the two businesses beside us—to make a lot for this huge real estate development.”
Unexpected anger rose up in Lauren as she heard this. What sort of egotistical creep could just knock down a family business that had been in operation for more than fifty years? Did Riley Thomson think that money was really that powerful?
Well, she thought, maybe it is. Mr. Farr looks torn.
“Are you…well, are you going to sell?”
“I just don’t know,” he said. “I asked him for a day or so to think about it. On the one hand, I’m the last one in the family that could run the place, so when I die…who knows what would happen to it? On the other hand, there’s the principle of the thing. It’s my family’s business and as mundane as it can get at times, I do it enjoy it here.”
The anger started to build as she continued to see Mr. Farr with such a weighty decision on his shoulders. Yet, at the same time, she couldn’t be all that mad. What would she do if given such a choice? For people like them, one million dollars was life-changing money.
“Well,” Mr. Farr said, getting back to his feet and doing his best to put on his business-as-usual face. “Looks like I have some thinking to do. In the meantime, it’s back to work.”
Lauren watched him go back to the front of the store and felt sorry for him. Sure, the money was a huge promise for his future, but still…it must be gut wrenching to be faced with such a huge decision.
Throughout the day, Lauren caught glimpses of Mr. Farr as they passed one another in the store. It was Thursday—the slowest day of the week—so it was just the two of them. He was usually rather chatty but kept to himself for most of the day. He went out for lunch, something he rarely did, and returned back to work just as solemn as ever. There were moments where he looked like he was in a great mood but was keeping it to himself. But most of the time, he looked burdened.
The rage towards Riley Thomson came and went. On the one hand, she found it generous to offer so much money for a business that wasn’t worth that amount. The again, it was contemptible to buy a business only to level it to the ground just because Riley had the money to do so.
These were the sorts of things on her mind when Mr. Farr approached her at the counter just after six o’ clock that afternoon. She had just finished ringing up a purchase for an elderly lady when Mr. Farr came out of nowhere. He looked on the brink of snapping—whether out of excitement or sorrow, Lauren couldn’t tell.
“No use in making up a lie,” he told her. “My stomach is in knots over this whole Riley Thomson thing. I can’t think straight and I’m all jittery. Can you hold down the fort if I step out a little early?”
“Of course. Are you going to be okay?”
“I think so. This is just much harder than I thought.”
“I’ll hold things down here,” she said. “It’s just two hours and let’s face it…we haven’t exactly been slammed today.”
“Thanks, Lauren.”
“No problem, boss.”
She watched him gather up his things and head out of the door. He looked like a man that was about to embark on some incredible journey with no clear destination in mind.
That was the sight that did it—that made the thought of Riley Thomson fill her with anger. Shelling out millions of dollars was nothing to him and he didn’t stop to think of the turmoil that his ego and wallet could cause. Billionaire or not, the guy was an asshole.
And if she saw him again, she’d tell him so. That was one promise regarding Riley Thomson that she intended to keep.
***
As it turned out, she got her chance less than two hours later. Fifteen minutes before the store closed, as she was sweeping up the aisles just to pass the time, the little electronic dinger above the front door went off. She set the broom down and walked to the front to greet the customer.
When she saw Riley Thomas standing there, she froze for a moment but then pushed on. She wasn’t going to let his status or ridiculous good looks befuddle her this time. She walked directly to the counter and didn’t even bother taking her place behind the register. It wasn’t as if this jerk was here to buy anything, anyway.
Well…just the store itself.
“Mr. Farr isn’t here,” she said, her tone filled with anger.
“I know,” he said.
“Then why are you here?”
There was venom in her voice and it was the only thing that kept her calm when she realized that she was standing less than three feet away from him. If she chose to do so, she could reach out and slap him in his terribly good-looking face.
“I wanted to speak with you,” he said.
This nearly froze her again, but she forged on somehow. Surely it was just some ploy. “Well,” she said, “based on what I hear you intend to do to Mr. Farr’s business should he decide to sell it to you, I don’t have any intention of speaking with you.”
He cast her a confused look that he quickly replaced with a devilish smile. Lauren felt her heart skip a beat and feared that a flush might be rising to her cheeks. Good grief, she thought. There’s no sense in anyone looking that good.
“I guess you’re thinking I’m the bad guy. Is that right?”
“You said it, not me,” Lauren said. She wanted to look away from him because his stare was both terrifying and, if she was being honest with herself, arousing at the same time.
“Educate me,” Riley said. “How am I the bad guy? I checked my facts before approaching Mr. Farr. This business is only worth four hundred and seventy thousand dollars right now. And it’s been declining over the last five years, at a steady rate. I believe my offer was beyond generous.”
“You can’t just throw money at people to get what you want,” she said, very aware of the fact that it sounded like she was lecturing a child. And was he actually smiling at her as she did it. Yes, he was. New fury rolled through her as she went on. “You want to buy the store to knock it down. You want to spend a million dollars to take a man’s family business and reduce it to rubble. And what for? Just so you can put up more real estate developments to further line your own damned pockets!”
“While that’s a rather crude summary of it all, yes…you are essentially correct. But I’m glad to see that you are passionate about it. I came here to sort of convince you to sway Mr. Farr.”
Lauren was aware that the flush was rising in her cheeks now. But it was out of anger and nothing more. Whatever parts of her were attracted to him ran in retreat as the anger came to the surface.
‘I’m good at what I do,” Riley said. “But yes, I do understand sentiment and why Mr. Farr might refuse my very generous offer. But I also understand the human condition…I understand that the advice of a friend can go a long way.”
“And why would I try to convince him?” She didn’t want to reveal the fact that she didn’t think it would take much convincing. She felt deep in her heart that Mr. Farr was going to take the money in the end.
“I don’t know,” Riley said. The look of amusement was gone from his face and any dreams Lauren had enjoyed of being able to flirt with him (and, in Dreamland, of him flirting back) were gone. “I saw the Assistant Manager title on your nametag and thought you might hold some influence.”
“Yes, but unlike you, I don’t use influence to bully people.”
“Ouch,” he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
He took a step closer to her and looked to her nametag again. His eyes lingered there and it felt like he was checking her out. She blushed furiously at this as his eyes lingered over the nametag just above her left breast.
“Mr. Thomson, please leave.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. And now there was something new in his gaze…something that looked like it wanted to be friendly, but didn’t know how.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
He stood there for a moment longer and looked as if he wanted to say something more. And God help her…she didn’t want him to leave. He was looking at her, paying her some attention and he had, for just a moment, seemed to be giving her what Shelly would have called the “once over” when his eyes had headed in the direction of her name tag.
He gave her a disappointed smile and then nodded. “Well then, Lauren…sorry to have wasted your time.”
With that, he headed out of the door, leaving her alone in the store. She exhaled deeply, not realizing until he was gone just how exhausting the confrontation had been. Her anger, arousal, and moral compass had all be spinning and she felt dizzy as a result.