Page 18 of Sweet Tooth
I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Goodnight Parker. Love you.”
Only once his door was closed behind me and I was faced with the to-do list that would likely span the rest of the night – dishes, kitchen floor, laundry, vacuum – did it occur to me.
Zane’s message.
I reached for the broom. What was the rush? It wasn’t like I was going to see him again. Even that first time, as I got to sweeping, moving the stiff old thing in spastic strokes across the linoleum floor, I still couldn’t escape it.
The hollow space in me that seemed to have opened up overnight. It had never really left, the space where Zane had been. But I’d at least forgotten about it, gotten safely ensconced enough in routine to not have it twinging every so often.
But now it was back. Damn him.
I flew over to the sink. There were dishes to be done too. A whole leaning tower of Pisa stack of them. And if I just let the water run…
My phone dinged once, and then again. I snatched it out of my coat pocket. If he was texting me again, I was going to lose my shit.
The breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in, left me. Just an order.
I clicked on the email notification and peered at it. Not just an order – a big one. One for a whole office – fifty chocolates.
Eyes narrowed with suspicion, I checked the order form. It was Systems Tech, some place in the business hub.
I swivelled to the sink and put on my neoprene dish gloves. I needed to take a big chill pill.
Zane had said he’d leave me alone if I’d go on a dinner with him, and that was just what I’d done. Now I could put that shit behind me and get back to living my life.
—
The next morning, miracle of miracles, I got Parker to daycare on time. At work, I went into the zone and ended up finishing the chocolates hours earlier than I’d hoped.
Throughout the morning I dashed from the counter to the back to restock the counter goodies as I sold them. I expected someone to call from Systems Tech., but no one came to pick up the chocolates or sent me any message about what to do with them.
On my computer, I pulled up the order form.
It was all as I’d read last night: fifty caramel-filled chocolates. Systems Tech. Address 54 Clair Creek Lane.
Hold up.
Most times, people just filled out their name and phone number, didn’t bother with the whole address part. Not unless…
Scrolling to the bottom, I groaned as I read the additional comments: Please deliver in person. Will pay $40 extra for delivery.
I mentioned delivery within Niagara Falls on my site, only to satisfy those who peppered my inbox asking about it. The forty-dollar price tag was supposed to discourage any reasonable person from requesting it.
I stepped away from the computer and shook my head.
Propping myself up on the counter, I glared at the gilt clock ticking crisply across from me, trying to figure out what to do. I didn’t need to pull up a map to know that I could get to Systems Tech and deliver the chocolates in good time. Nor did I need to pull up a web page of my dismal bank account totals to know that Falling for Chocolates could use the extra forty.
There was the option of calling up Jenna. She was my extra help for weekends and days I had to call in if Parker was sick. If she did it, that would save me the trouble, but foot me the bill of her time – change my profit to twenty-five instead.
I looked up at the clock one more time. It was my slower time of the day, so I flipped the sign and posted a hand-written note that I’d be back in forty-five minutes and headed out to deliver the damn chocolates.
As soon as I pulled up to Systems Tech, the lump in my throat swelled to a boulder. Chic all-black glass exterior, a pyramid-inspired architecture I’m pretty sure I’d seen mentioned in the local newspaper.
A tremor of recognition went through me. This was just the kind of place Zane would’ve had his company’s headquarters in.
Still, there was no sign of Smarty Pens or anything else to link Zane there. Thankfully.
Inside its sheened marble-floored interior, there was a front desk with a receptionist I could leave the chocolates with.
“I was told to have you bring up the chocolates to Systems Tech yourself,” she said when I asked her. “The boss wants to see them himself. Make sure they were done to specifications.”
I glared at her practiced neutrality. Of course they were done to specifications.
I was starting to get the feeling that I was being set up. This had Zane written all over it. I didn’t want to go up, but I needed to get paid for my product and my time.
