Try Me On for Size

by Stephanie Haefner

  This is not happening. Mia held the receiver in her hand, the line dead.

  “Mia!” Penny said, appearing in the doorway. “I came as soon as I heard. What are we going to do?”

  “Get on here and remove these pictures.”

  Mia moved, letting Penny take her chair, and went out to the shop. Bryn had just hung up, but the phones went crazy again.

  “What do we do?” Mia asked, hoping Bryn had some amazing solution like she always did.

  “I don’t know,” she answered, then reached for the phone. “Thank you for calling Classy ’n’ Sassy. Bryn speaking.”

  The door chime sounded and the UPS guy strolled in, dolly full of boxes. Boxes full of more dildos. Dildos that women no longer wanted because the model was caught in some really racy and bizarre positions.

  “Where do ya want these?”

  OLIVER WAITED until Monday, when he knew his father would be at work. If he’d taken the day off on Friday, there was no way he’d be out Monday, too. Oliver called in sick. He’d probably catch flak for it, but he didn’t care. He needed to see his mother.

  Usually he knocked on the door of his parents’ home and waited for the housekeeper to answer, but he had a feeling she’d been ordered to slam the door in his face.

  He let himself in. Usually his mother spent her mornings with breakfast and a book. If it was a warm day, she’d eat on the lanai. The sun shone, but there was a chill in the air. He decided to check there first anyway.

  Her hair was neatly pinned back, shimmering silver, with a blanket around her shoulders. A plate sat next to her, only a bite having been taken from the wheat toast. The eggs and fruit looked untouched.

  “Good morning,” he said, hoping not to startle her.

  Ginny looked up from her book and smiled. “Good morning, dear. Come sit.”

  “How are you?” he asked as he pulled a padded wrought iron chair.

  “I’m okay. The fresh air helps.” She reached and patted his hand. “It helps to see you, too.”

  A woman’s voice bellowed from behind. “Oh, no. You can’t be here. Mr. Christensen forbid me to let you in. If he finds out you’re here, he’ll fire me. You need to leave now.”

  “Mary, please. I need to speak with my mother.”

  “No. Leave now.”

  “Mary, dear. My husband will not know of this, so there’s no need to fret. I want to speak with my son and I will. So either you leave and allow us to visit, or I will fire you.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Mr. Oliver, can I bring you some coffee?”

  “No, thank you.”

  Ginny shook her head. “That father of yours.”

  “I know he’s just looking out for your health.”

  “My health is better when I can speak with my son. I can tell there’s a lot weighing on your mind. Are you ready to explain what you were doing that day?”

  “I’m so sorry you had to witness that. I never wanted you to find out that way.”

  “I know. Alexiana dragged us there. Insisted we go to a party. If I’d known it was to embarrass you, I wouldn’t have gone.”

  “I never loved her,” he admitted, scared for her response.

  She stared out at the landscaped yard. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  “It all happened so fast. The pregnancy and engagement. And I was . . . stuck. I worried about what the confession would do to your health.”

  “My boy, you worry too much.”

  “I wanted you to be happy, to have something to look forward to.”

  She turned to him. “Something to live for?”

  “I guess,” he replied, shrugging.

  “Don’t you know I live for your happiness? You seemed excited for the baby and wedding, so I was excited.” She covered his hand with hers. “Accidents happen, I understand that, but if Alexiana was not the woman for you, you shouldn’t have promised your life to her, baby or not.”

  “I know that now. But it spiraled out of control so fast. And I’m not sure she was even pregnant. I think she might have faked the entire thing.”

  Ginny nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it had been her mother’s idea. Quite the manipulator she is. I’ve known her for more than fifty years. She didn’t exactly gain Mr. Ryland’s affections the proper way, either.”

  “When I suspected she was lying, I tried to find out for sure, but I made the mistake of telling Alexiana I didn’t love her and was canceling the wedding. Apparently she didn’t like that and took matters into her own hands. That’s how you ended up at the shop that day.”

  “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And I’m sure she didn’t like that you had found someone else.”

  Oliver fought to keep his jaw from falling open. “How did you know?”

  “I saw the way you looked at that woman in the store. She was devastated to hear about your engagement. And you hated for her to find out that way. She’s the friend you were helping?”

  “Yes. Mia. She’s an amazing woman, and I think I’m in love with her.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  “No. It’s not. She hates me for lying to her.”

  “Then you’ll have to make it up to her. Show her you are an honorable man.”

  “I don’t know if that’s possible.” His gaze dropped to his lap.

  “If it’s true love, you’ll find a way.” She reached for his hand again. “My poor boy. I’m so sorry you felt you had to continue this charade for my benefit. Had I known how unhappy you were, I never would have let it go on. I’ve failed you as a mother by not recognizing your misery.”

  “I didn’t care about myself. I wanted to make your last years happy.”

  “Your happiness means far more to me. Now go get that girl.”

  OLIVER LEFT his mother with renewed excitement. The weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The one that had been there for months, the pressure of keeping all his secrets. With it gone he was free to live his life how he wanted and be happy. With Mia. His mother would love her, just as he did. And his father, well, he could go straight to hell.

  Next on his agenda was sweeping Mia off her feet. There was a huge connection between them; she couldn’t deny that. He needed to make her remember it, and forget the bad choices he had made. He had an idea, but getting Mia to go anywhere with him was going to be a challenge. Might have to be a little devious to make this plan work.

  He headed into the shop to get his work done, but when he walked through the door, it was filled with shouting women. Bryn was behind the counter on the register and Mia on the phone.

  He waded through the crowd and walked up to Bryn, her eyes overflowing with tears. “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll tell you what’s going on,” a woman in line said. “That other model is a pig. And we want our money back.”

  “What? There’s got to be some mistake.” He turned to Mia, who had finished on the phone. “What the hell is she talking about?”

  “I’ll show you,” she said, eyes matching Bryn’s, red and puffy, like she’d already been crying.

  He wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and make it all better. Instead, she showed him her computer.

  The shop’s Web site was littered with raunchy photos of Logan and a couple of naked men. Him taking it in the ass and giving it. His mouth wrapped around some guy’s dick. Was Logan gay? Some of the photos showed him wearing the Classy ’n’ Sassy hot pink underwear. Captions on the photos mirrored the obscene images. Who the hell would post these?

  “Penny’s been on the computer all day deleting pictures from Friendspace, but someone keeps putting them back up. They hacked into our Web site too. She’s trying to disable the site but she’s having trouble. It’s pointless anyway.” She broke down for what was probably the tenth time that day. “Why would someone do this to us?”


  Oliver took her in his arms and held her tight. “We’ll figure this out. I promise. We’ll fix this.”

  “No!” She pushed him away, tears falling. “There is no fixing this. It’s done. Over. The shop will not recover. So just go. Get out of here. We don’t need you anymore.”

  By the time she’d finished, she could hardly speak. He knew he’d probably get a right hook to the chin, but he went for it anyway. He stepped to her and wrapped his arms around her again. She melted against him, her legs seeming to go weak. They just stood there, silent, as she sobbed.

  I promise, Mia, I will punish the people who did this to you.

  CHAPTER Twenty-Four

  Mia pulled away from Oliver’s embrace, though if she was being honest with herself, she really didn’t want to. He was warm and strong, and when he told her they’d fix it together, she wanted to believe him. But there was no fixing this. Whoever did this had done it on purpose and was continuing to attack with the sole mission of destroying the shop. And it was definitely working.

  The list of suspects was pretty damn short, too. Her father. Her father. And . . . her father.

  Penny poked her head into Mia’s office. “Logan’s here, but Bryn can’t deal with him right now.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to him.”

  Penny hurried out and Mia snagged a tissue from her desk, dabbing her eyes. “You better go.”

  “I’d like to stay and help if I can.”

  “No. I need to do this myself.”

  He left without any arguments, thank God. She had enough to deal with.

  “What the hell is going on out there?” Logan asked as he stepped into Mia’s office.

  “Sit. Now.” She demanded. “What took you so long to get here? We called you hours ago.”

  “Um. I just woke up.”

  “You slept until three in the afternoon?”

  He looked like a toddler being scolded. “Yes.”

  Mia shook her head. “Whatever. Do you really have no clue why there is a mob scene in the store?”

  “Uh, no.”

  Mia swung her computer screen to him, a lovely photo of Logan on all fours with some guy’s penis in his mouth. The caption across the post on Friendspace read, “Looks Like the Newest Classy ’n’ Sassy Lingerie Model Likes It Down and Dirty.”

  Logan’s eyes bulged.

  “Does any of this look familiar to you?”

  “Oh. Um. I think I know that one guy.”

  “Nice. You screwed over our shop for sex with guys you think you know.”

  His gaze fell to his lap. “I don’t really remember last night.”

  “How could you forget this?” she yelled and poked the flat screen, a little too hard, since it almost fell over.

  “Well, I was at the club last night and met this guy.” He pointed to the one. “We had a couple drinks and danced a little, then he invited me back to his place. Typical night out.”

  “Wait. So you’re gay?”

  “Yeah. Does it matter?”

  “Well, no.” The point in hiring hot models was to get the women to fantasize about them and buy their dildo replicas. A gay man could flirt with women just as well as a straight man. But that didn’t really matter anymore since the shop was about to disintegrate. “Continue.”

  “I remember getting to his place, and I kinda remember some other people being there, but it gets fuzzy after that. I woke up in my bed an hour ago. I had to take a cab back to the club to get my moped. That’s why it took me so long to get here.”

  “So you really don’t remember someone taking pictures?” Mia’s already pounding head thumped even harder. She’d hoped Logan could give them answers.

  He shook his head. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could give you more.”

  “Okay. You can go. If you remember anything else, call us.”

  Logan left and Mia rested back in her chair, thumbs rubbing her temples. The noise from the shop seemed to have lessened.

  “Hey,” Bryn said poking her head in. “What’d he say?”

  “Nothing. He doesn’t remember a thing. Sounds like he was roofied or something.”

  “Okay, well, we’re heading out. We took care of the last few customers and closed up. It’s three hours early, but I’m done. Being closed for a few hours can’t damage our reputation any more than it already is.”

  Mia nodded. “How many refunds did we give?”

  “I think about twenty-five.”

  They hadn’t wanted to give money back at all. The shop had a firm no-refunds policy on all lingerie and adult toys. But when a mob of angry women was in front of the counter, it was hard not to throw some money at them.

  “I guess in the grand scheme of things, that’s not so bad.” Bryn, always the optimist.

  “For now. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.”

  “Oh, and by the way, what should we do with the new dildo shipment?”

  Fuck. Mia had forgotten all about it. “I don’t know. We’ll deal with it later.”

  “Okay. I’m leaving, before I fall asleep right here.” She turned to look out into the shop, then turned back. “Oliver’s still here, you know.”

  “Oh, well . . . tell him to leave.”

  “I did. He won’t.” She managed a tiny smile. “He’s waiting for you.”

  Bryn gave a little wave and headed for the back door. Penny came to the office.

  “I finally got the Web site shut down. I tried keeping up with the posts on our social media pages, but whoever’s doing this is taking perverse pleasure in it. The only option is to delete the profiles completely. Do you want me to do that?”

  Mia’s head flopped backward. She took a deep breath then blew it out. “I don’t know.” She returned to Penny’s gaze. “I guess just let it go for now. Thanks for all you’ve done.”

  She nodded. “I’m leaving, too. You comin’?”

  “I don’t know. I need to try and do something.”

  “Mia, there’s nothing else you can do tonight.”

  “I have to try.”

  “Okay. Maybe Oliver can help.”

  Now Penny was pushing Oliver and her together. “I think I just need to be alone.”

  Penny left and Mia walked to the front counter, a pile of Logans laying there. Some in boxes, some not. Mia didn’t even want to think about where all these rubber penises had been. She grabbed the wastebasket, and using a paper towel to cover her hand, swiped them all into it.

  “What did Logan say?”

  She really didn’t want to get into this with Oliver. She just wanted him to leave. “Um, why don’t you go? We can handle it from now on.”

  “I want to help. And besides, I have to do the accounting work and add these returns into the system. You can probably write them off as defective merchandise.”

  “Thanks, but after today, we just can’t afford to pay you. It’s best if you go.”

  “Then I won’t take a paycheck.” He walked past her toward his office and continued over his shoulder. “So you have no excuse for kicking me out.”

  Mia was far too exhausted to fight him. She turned off the lights in the shop and went back to her office, plopping into her chair.

  She wiggled her mouse and checked the social media pages again. More pictures and more obscene comments. This was a nightmare. Mia let her head fall to the desk, her forehead hitting it with a bang. Surprisingly, the pain hardly compared to the raging headache she already had. The tears came, not for her pain, but for her disaster of a life.

  She tucked her arms under her forehead and continued to sob. Until she felt a hand on her back.

  Mia sprung upright. “Oh my God. I forgot you were here.”

  She grabbed a tissue and once again tried to mop up her face. Was there even a point in trying anymore?

  “We’ll fig
ure this out. It will all be fine.”

  “No. You’re wrong. I’ve entered hopelessness, as you can tell by my disgusting face.”

  “Can I see the photos again?”

  “Sure. Enjoy.” She stood. “I’m going to grab a drink from the break room. Want one?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  When Mia came back with two glasses of wine, Oliver had enlarged and printed some of the photos. Great. Just what she needed. Close-ups.

  “Look at this,” he said, showing her one of the shots. “I wonder if there is a way to identify these guys. Maybe find out who set this all up.”

  “That’s impossible. You can’t really see their faces, except for Logan’s.” And if her father was behind this, he no doubt hired people who could never be traced to him.

  “Is there anything in these photos that can help us?”

  “I don’t know.” She brought her glass to her lips. “I’m so sick of looking at these things.”

  “Hey, look at this.” Oliver showed her another photo of Logan tied to the bedpost.

  “Yeah, and? I guess gay people like bondage just like straight people do.”

  “No, look at what’s binding his hands. It looks like a tie.”

  Mia looked and nodded. “Yeah, probably. So?”

  “That tie looks familiar. I know I’ve seen it before. It looks a little like bricks. A yellow brick road.”

  Like a lightbulb, a flash of electricity sparked in Mia’s brain. She trotted out of the room without a word, returning two seconds later with a Dorothy and Glinda the Good Witch mouse pad. “I found it under Grant’s desk after he left.”

  “Yes! He wore that tie the day I signed my contract.”

  “So Grant is gay?” Mia asked. “And you think he’s behind the whole thing?”

  “My gaydar went off the second I met him. But yeah, possibly. You said he was pretty pissed when he quit.”

  “Enough to sabotage the business? No.” Mia was certain her father was behind this. He was the only one with enough motivation, and the balls, to do it. But if her father had gotten ahold of Grant, he was pretty good at convincing people to do just about anything. A determined Antonio Montanari plus a disgruntled Classy ’n’ Sassy employee made for a very lethal combination. “But I bet Grant can lead us to who I suspect is controlling the strings.”