Prince Charming and the Little Glass Bra

by Annette Archer

  What did she say? A paying job, and a chance to spend time away from her aunt. How could she possibly turn that down?

  “Tell him yes, you idiot,” her aunt said to her. “We could use the money.”

  “To be fair, ma’am, I was only going to pay Christina here to do the work. I’m sure that I could find you something to do, though, if you really wanted me to.”

  Virginia puffed on her cigarette and turned away as she mumbled, “Can’t work. Bad back.” She coughed. “Lungs.”

  Averton didn’t say anything to that, and the eye roll he gave Christina was just for her.

  Christina looked at him again. He was seriously cute. His clear blue eyes were fixed on hers and that lock of hair had fallen across his forehead again in that unruly way it had. She wanted to reach out and push it back into place for him. A sudden, quick thought about how soft those lips of his must feel left her mind burning and the heat rising in her cheeks. She realized, if she accepted Averton’s offer, she’d be spending a lot of time with him.

  She liked that idea.

  “Alright,” she said finally, shifting her hips, suddenly not sure what to do with her hands. “I’ll, um, I’ll do it.”

  “Great!” Averton stood up and set aside his mostly full cup of tea. “Ms. Virginia, thank you so much for allowing me into your home. Christina, let’s go.”

  “Wait. Now?” She couldn’t believe he meant for her to go with him right away. “I’ve got homework,” she sputtered, and was horrified to hear how she sounded like such a little girl. She was eighteen years old, for the love of God. She was old enough to make decisions for herself.

  Still, she looked at Aunt Virginia for approval.

  The older woman lit another cigarette and shrugged her shoulders. “Suits me. She needs to be back here by midnight. She has school in the morning. And I’d better see some money from you for this, Christina.” She wagged a finger as she said it, and then turned away, like she could care less if Christina left or stayed.

  That was as much as Christina could have expected. Suddenly she saw how it had always been that way between them. Virginia never really wanted her here. All Christina was to her was someone to do the housework and make her meals. And now, she was expected to earn a living for her aunt, too.

  Averton’s hand on her arm brought her out of her thoughts. A tingling sensation spread from his touch and suddenly she felt like she had just remembered to breathe. She hadn’t realized that tears had started falling down her cheeks until she looked up at him and her vision swam. She swiped at the corners of her eyes angrily with her fingers.

  “Come on,” he whispered, in a gentle voice that somehow made it all right, “I have a car waiting for us.”

  Christina turned and didn’t look back as her aunt said, “And don’t expect me to wait up for you!”

  Outside the house, Christina took a deep breath of air that seemed much clearer than it had on her way home from school. Something about what she had just gone through in her aunt’s duplex had tainted her view of her life. She had always known that her life wasn’t perfect. But she’d never thought of it as bad before. She’d never thought that maybe she deserved more.

  That thought tickled in the back of her mind and she angrily pushed it away as hard as she could.

  “Are you okay?”

  She turned her face up to him. She wasn’t sure what he expected of her. “Why did you come here tonight, Mr. Averton?”

  He chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment. And then ignored the question. “Why don’t you call me Luke?”

  He stepped away from her before she could respond, down the front steps of the house to the sidewalk. On the street, a long black stretch limo pulled up to the curb and a man in a gray uniform complete with a driver’s cap got out from behind the wheel and went to the back door to open it for them. Mr. Averton—Luke—must have called for the limo before she got home, she figured.

  Luke Averton went to the car door and only then did he turn back for her. “Coming?”

  Christina sighed as she stepped past him and into the limo. What had she gotten herself into?

  The inside of the car was upholstered in white. White seat, white roof liner, white cabinets and white console. And then on the seat next to where she sat, there was a slim, rectangular white box. She eyed it suspiciously.

  Luke climbed in behind her and sat down in the backward facing seat across from her. He smiled as the car began to move and pointed at the box. “Shouldn’t you open that?”

  “What, it’s for me?”

  “Sure it is. I don’t usually buy myself gifts.”

  “Usually.”

  He laughed. “You have a very dry sense of humor. I like it.”

  She pushed back strands of her long hair over her ear. Her? Funny? She’d never thought so before. No one had ever said so to her. “But seriously, you bought this? For me?”

  “Go ahead. Open it and find out.”

  Her hands trembled as she picked the box up and held it on her lap. The top came off easily and she set it aside. Then she saw what was inside and she covered her mouth with her fingertips.

  The dress. The dress from the shop that she had tried on yesterday when she first met Luke. “It’s…”

  “Beautiful? Perfect for you? Yeah, I agree. I saw you in it, and I knew that you had to have it. You deserve things like this.”

  She looked up at him suddenly. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, um… Well. How do I put this? I sort of asked around about you. I know your life hasn’t been easy. I can’t imagine not having a family. Other than your aunt, of course. And she’s definitely a…unique woman. But there hasn’t been anyone in your life to give you things like this, and you deserve to have that.”

  He looked away from her, and she thought he looked embarrassed to have said so much. Her hands wouldn’t stop trembling. She had never had a man say anything like that about her. Not even her loser boyfriend, Peter. He never said anything nice. He barely even kissed her; all he ever wanted was sex. Who was this amazing man who had just dropped into her life?

  She took the dress out, its light blue fabric soft and strangely magical in her hands. She held it to herself, trying to convince herself that it was hers.

  There was something else in the box. When she saw what it was, she felt her cheeks turning red all over again.

  Her bra. He had brought her bra back to her.

  “It’s not quite a glass slipper,” he said to her, eyes carefully focused out the car window. “But I suppose I could have you try it on to make sure it fits?”

  Was he flirting with her, she wondered? On the heels of that thought came another.

  She really hoped he was.

  3.

  The Averton Mansion was huge.

  It didn’t seem that way just because she was used to living in that cramped duplex, either. Just the mansion house itself covered an area bigger than her school. She could see from the outside that there were three stories of white stucco and thick windows. She hadn’t seen hardly any of it from inside, however. She had been into the main rooms downstairs, and into the playroom and library on the second story, as well as in the room just off the library that they had given her to use.

  Her room.

  Oh, dear God, she thought to herself now as she woke up on a Sunday morning in the huge queen-sized bed. This room was immense! There was a closet that she could have fit her entire bedroom from her aunt’s place. There were two dressers and a big wooden desk and a separated area for her to change clothes in and then there was a private bathroom attached through a double set of doors.

  And it was all for her.

  This was crazy. She was supposed to be the dog-sitter! Luke treated her like royalty.

  She lay underneath thick purple and pink blankets and blinked into the bright sunshine slanting through the tall window in the wall next to the bed. Luke had been amazing. After school every day for the last two weeks she had come straight here in
a taxi that was always waiting for her. She spent hours here doing her homework, watching television on a huge screen TV and being served dinner by the Averton’s butler. All the while, she would look after Luke’s golden retriever, Mandy. The dog was fun and full of energy and a bit of a prankster. Luke had been right, the dog just needed a friend.

  Luke wasn’t here much, not during the week. He popped in sometimes, though, later in the evening after he was done at his family’s offices in the nearby city. Even though he always came by with the excuse of playing with Mandy, he would spend the evening talking to her. Just talking. They talked about everything and anything and Christina looked forward to every minute they shared.

  He was gentle and kind. And even though he had seemed so out of her league when he had shown up in his shiny limousine, he was really just a normal guy trying to do his best for his mother and father. His mom was in poor health with a disease that robbed her strength and left her pretty much an invalid. Luke’s father had given up most of his duties at the business to tend to her. Luke had stepped up, putting his college education on hold, so that his parents could take care of each other and not worry about anything else.

  She could hear the emotion in his voice when he talked about his parents. He loved them very much, and he was very worried about them, even though he tried to keep it a secret.

  Just last night, while he had been talking about how his mother might have to go into the hospital again, she reached out without thinking and put her hand over his. The touch was electric, something that she felt all the way into her soul. It stole her breath for a moment.

  He’d felt it, too. She could see the spark that lit up his eyes.

  She rolled over onto her back in bed. She didn’t understand what she had felt at his touch any more than she understood why Luke was doing all of this for her. She didn’t try too hard to understand it, either. She figured if she did, it all might evaporate like smoke. Everything she’d ever had that was good in her life had been taken away from her and she didn’t want to lose this, too.

  Okay, enough of that. She had one more day here before she had to go back home to start another school week. Christina wasn’t going to waste it on petty regrets.

  Actually, today she and Luke were supposed to go out to the park with Mandy. Christina had told Luke that she didn’t think Mandy was getting enough outdoor time. It wasn’t good for a dog to be cooped up in a house, apparently even one the size of a small country. With Luke at work all day the only time Mandy got to go out was when Christina came over after school or on the weekends. Mandy needed some time with her real owner. Luke had agreed with her suggestion.

  She slipped out of bed now, stretching like a cat, her pajamas riding up her belly. Her muscles were sore today. She and Mandy had played hide and seek all morning yesterday downstairs. That dog was a master at getting into small spaces.

  Over in the corner of her room, on a plush pile of doggie pillows, Mandy lifted her head now, her shiny blonde coat catching the morning sun. She cocked one ear at Christina and her tongue lolled out in a smile as if to ask her if it was playtime.

  “In a little bit, girl,” Christina said to her with a yawn. “I need a shower first. And breakfast. You hungry?”

  The dog barked at her and Christina took that as a yes. “Good. Give me five minutes, okay?”

  Mandy humphed and put her head back down on the pillows. Christina laughed at her.

  In the bathroom, she stripped out of her pink flannel pajamas and tossed them to the white tiled floor. The shower was one of those floor-to-ceiling jobs with tall, frosted glass doors and a shower head on either side. Christina shook her head and wondered what it would be like to live in this kind of wealth. More importantly, she wondered what it would be like to live in a family that loved each other as much as the Avertons obviously did.

  The water was steaming as she stepped into the spray. She sighed happily and worked up a good lather on the bath sponge before washing herself up.

  “Hello? Christina?”

  Oh, no. Was that Luke? She pressed her hands up against the shower door. The glass was opaque enough where no one could see through but she still didn’t want it to accidentally slide open and have him see her like this! What was he doing here in her room?

  “Are you in here?” he asked, his voice closer as he came in the bathroom.

  “I’m in the shower!” she called out, hoping that would take care of the whole mess.

  It didn’t. She could see his shadow on the other side of the door as he came in and leaned up against the sink. “Good morning.”

  “Um, Luke. I’m kind of naked in here.” She wished she could get over blushing around him. At least he couldn’t see her this time.

  “I should hope you’re naked. Taking a shower with your clothes on doesn’t work very well. Don’t worry, I can’t see anything.”

  “Luke!”

  He laughed softly. “Okay, okay. I’ll go in just a minute. I just came in to ask if you wanted to get breakfast in town this morning? I know this great coffee house with outdoor tables so Mandy would be able to join us.”

  She relaxed a little. He was staying where he was, and like he said, he couldn’t see anything. “Um, sure, I guess. Do you always come into a girl’s bathroom to ask them that question?”

  There was a pause. “You’re the first.” His voice sounded so serious, like there were layers of meaning to those simple words.

  Then he added in a lighter way, “Mandy let me in.”

  “Mandy? Your dog let you in my room.” She left the question mark off when she said it.

  “Sure. Mandy is a really smart dog. She’s very good with doors.”

  “Uh, okay. Anyway. How about you let me finish in private and then we can get going?”

  Another pause. She bit her lip, wondering what he was thinking.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs,” he said finally. She watched his shadow walk over to the bathroom door. “Don’t take too long, okay?”

  After he was gone, she heard Mandy pad her way into the bathroom, her toenails clicking on the little square floor tiles. The dog sat outside the shower and woofed at her.

  “Good dog, Mandy,” Christina said with a smile. “Good dog.”

  ~ ~ ~

  The café was one Christina had passed any number of times but had never gone into. Money was always tight with her and her aunt, so eating out at places that charged four dollars for a cup of coffee just wasn’t something she had ever considered. As it was, the money she was making from this job Luke had given her was all going into Aunt Virginia’s pockets. Since Christina was still technically living under her roof, her aunt felt it was her right to demand it from her. Christina ground her teeth and knew it wasn’t fair, but did it anyway.

  Mandy was tied by her lead to the white metal leg of the little table Christina and Luke were sitting at outside the café. The day had turned warm with just a little breeze to it. She had dressed in a pair of white shorts and a ruffled blue top. She didn’t have many clothes at Luke’s place, but somehow every time she spent a weekend there would be more and more outfits in her drawers. She’d never seen this one before. But she liked it.

  Luke had dressed in a pair of khakis and a tight black t-shirt. She had to say she appreciated the way the shirt outlined his torso and shoulders.

  “How are you liking your job with Mandy?” Luke asked at one point, after they had sat for a long time quietly sipping coffee and eating bagels.

  Christina reached over to ruffle Mandy’s ears. “I love this dog,” she said. “Thank you, again, for this. It’s been a wonderful experience, you can’t even begin to know. Um. You’re not, like, firing me, are you?”

  His eyes got wider. “No! No, of course not. Mom and dad are still working out her medical problems up in New York. They need me more than ever, it seems.”

  He sounded a little upset when he said that, and she didn’t know if it was because of his mom’s sickness or maybe he didn’t like wor
king at his father’s company?

  She turned her coffee cup in her hand for a few seconds. Should she ask him? Would that be getting too personal? She thought of how he had listened to her talk about the way things were at home for her, or in school, or anything that was troubling her. He had been a real friend. So she decided it was her turn to be one back.

  “Luke, um, I don’t mean to pry, but do you like working at your father’s business?”

  He sputtered a laugh. “Oh, dear God, no.”

  He ran a hand back through his thick hair and the smile he turned on her was genuine. “Do you know how long I’ve kept that bottled up? I mean, mom is sick, and I’m worried about her just like dad is and someone has to take care of this little internet empire that dad built up. I’m the only one he trusts to do it right. So I’ve been the good son and stepped in and did everything I was supposed to, but I really, really hate working in a corporate office.”

  She watched him as he talked. She could tell this was something he had never told anyone else. It made her feel really close to him that he would open up to her like this. “Well, what would you want to do, if you could?” she asked him.

  He leaned back in his chair and rolled his eyes. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

  “No. No I won’t, I promise. Tell me?”

  After a moment of looking anywhere but at her he nodded to himself like he’d made some decision. “I want to be a writer.”

  “A writer?” she was surprised.

  She had just assumed the Avertons, all of them including Luke, were a family of money and influence. She’d never thought of him as someone sitting around for hours on end spinning stories.

  “Really? What kind of writer?”

  “See, I told you that you’d think it was crazy.” He swallowed the rest of his coffee and picked up his plate and cup as he stood up from the table.