“Yeah,” Juniper said. “But I bet he knows. It might not have gone into her permanent record, but your dad runs a pretty tight ER department.”
“True. Look what Elf Resources puts people through just to work here.” Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was something they would have passed on. “Well, it’s not my business anyway. But wow, right?”
Juniper and Buttercup both nodded. “Right. Yep.”
I checked the time on my phone. “Pizza should be here any second.”
Buttercup put her hand on her stomach. “You should have ordered an extra one for us.”
I grinned. “Who says I didn’t?”
She fist-bumped me. “You’re awesome.”
I lifted one shoulder. “I know.”
Juniper pointed at the door. “Did I just hear knocking?”
I jumped up. “I’ll check.”
Sure enough, the Salvatore’s delivery guy stood at my door.
“Hey, Franklin. I’m over here.” Yes, I ordered enough from them to be on a first name basis with the guys who brought the food.
He turned around. “Hi, Miss Frost. Big order tonight.” He turned and handed the stack of boxes to me.
I promptly handed them off to Buttercup and Juniper, who stood at the ready. “Yep, company in town.”
He pulled the receipt and a pen from his apron. “I just need you to sign this.”
I took the receipt, added a generous tip and my signature, then handed it back. This was going on the company credit card. “Thanks, have a good night.”
“You too. Enjoy.” He waved and left.
“Which one is ours?” Buttercup asked.
“Half meat, half veggie. The rest go upstairs.”
“Found it,” Juniper said. She put that box aside.
“All right, let’s deliver these, then we can eat.” We each took a few boxes and trekked upstairs, by elevator since we were carrying precious cargo.
Sanders met us at the door. “Good evening, ladies.”
“Your dinner has arrived,” I announced.
“And in such style.” He inhaled and smiled. “What could be better than pizza delivered by three gorgeous women? Come in, ladies, come in.”
Even Buttercup smiled, which wasn’t something she typically did around strangers. But being around Sanders had that affect.
We set the pizzas on the dining table, then I introduced the girls again. “You remember Juniper from earlier, I’m sure. And this is Buttercup. She’s the evening shift manager.”
“Of course, I remember Juniper.” He extended his big hand to Buttercup. “And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Buttercup. Thank you both for helping Jayne with the pizza. I wish you all happy dreams.”
Juniper’s eyes went a little blissful. I’m not sure what she’d been hoping for, but it seemed like she’d just gotten it.
“We’ll let you and Olive eat.” I looked around but didn’t see her, which was odd since she’d been glued to him earlier. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Just then, Olive walked out of the second bathroom, wrapped in a robe, a towel turban holding her hair. “Tempus, we should go over…” She stopped when she saw us, pulling the robe tighter. “I didn’t hear you come in. I guess the pizza is here.”
“It is,” Buttercup said.
Olive paled a split second after her gaze landed on Buttercup’s face. Then she cleared her throat and took a few steps backwards. “I should get dressed. If you’ll excuse me.” She disappeared into the second bedroom.
Sanders clasped his hands in front of him. “Thank you again, ladies.”
“You’re welcome.” I herded Buttercup and Juniper out the door.
No one said a word until we were back in Juni’s apartment.
Buttercup spoke first. “She definitely remembers me.”
Juni nodded as she grabbed plates out of the cabinet. “Did you see the look on her face? Like she’d seen a ghost.”
I took a plate and helped myself to a slice of veggie. “This could be weird.”
Buttercup went for the meat. “Not on my end. If it’s weird for her, that’s her doing. I don’t care what she did all those years ago.”
“She’s just embarrassed,” Juniper said. “Caught off guard. Working with Sanders means she’s been out of the Pole for a bit. She probably didn’t think she’d run into anyone she knew.”
I took my slice to the table. “I hope you’re right.”
Buttercup took the seat across from me. “I know you’re on the line for this event. I promise, I’m not going to do anything to screw that up for you. I swear.”
“Thanks.” I nodded. “And I appreciate that, but you all have to be in the store together. I just hope Olive can let it go too.”
Juniper put a jug of lemonade on the table along with three plastic cups. “And if she can’t?”
I sighed and poured lemonade into the cups for all three of us. “Then I guess I have to be the manager and smooth things over.”
I lifted my cup and they joined me. “To a successful event.”
“Here, here,” Juniper said.
Buttercup nodded. “Ditto.”
We heard knocking as we finished making our toast.
“Sounds like your apartment.” Buttercup bit the end off her pizza.
“Yep. Going to see.” I got up, went to the door and opened it.
Olive Pine stood in front of my door.
“Hey, Olive. Over here.”
“Oh!” Olive turned, a little flustered, perhaps because I hadn’t shown up at the door she’d expected. She looked past me, but Buttercup and Juniper had stayed at the table. Olive’s gaze stayed on them, so I took the cue and stepped into the hall, shutting the door behind me.
“Does Sanders need something?” But after the way she’d looked at Buttercup, I had a feeling I knew what was up.
She sighed and finally made eye contact with me. “No, he’s fine. I…I just thought…” Another sigh. “Look, I’m going to be straight with you. I know Buttercup from school and before a story gets started, you should know that I had some difficulties in my past, but I’m well beyond that. The past really is the past. We all do dumb things when we’re young, right?”
“Right.” I smiled to reassure her and, for the first time, felt some sympathy for her. Behind the uptight, by-the-book exterior was a woman only a few years younger than me trying to make her way in the world. Sanders couldn’t be an easy man to work for and I got the sense that Olive was doing her best to not only keep him happy, but rise above her past. “Whatever happened, happened. And I’m sure you’ve got your hands full with Sanders.”
She smiled. “I do. But Tempus is a wonderful man and a joy to work for. I love my job. And I want this book launch to be as successful as it can be.”
“So do I. Let’s just move forward from here, okay?”
“Yes. Thank you. Would you mind speaking to Buttercup and asking her not to say anything to anyone about what happened? Granted, it’s within her rights but it would be easier if it didn’t come up.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Her shoulders dropped and she let out a breath. “I appreciate that.”
“No problem. I’ll see you and Sanders at nine a.m. then, and we’ll go over the schedule for the signing one more time.”
She nodded and started down the hall toward the elevator. “Nine sharp. Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome.” I opened the door to go back to my friends and my pizza. It looked like Buttercup and Juniper were already on slice number two. I took my seat at the table and grabbed a second one so I could catch up.
“Everything cool?” Buttercup asked.
I ate a bite of lukewarm but still delicious pizza. “She recognized you and wanted to head off any doubts I might have about her based on her past.”
“So she assumed I’d tell you?” Buttercup rolled her eyes.
I laughed as I put my pizza down to grab my drink. “Well, you did.”
Juniper wiped her mouth. “What did she say?”
“That her past is just that—behind her. And I believe her. She seems to love her job and definitely wants to keep it, so I get it. She doesn’t want something that happened years ago to mar her life now.” I looked at Buttercup and Juniper. “No one else hears about the grade changing thing, okay?”
They both nodded and Juniper crossed her heart.
“Good.” I picked up my slice again. “Now let’s finish this pie before it gets any colder.”
Juniper smiled. “Too bad Cooper’s not around to warm it up.”
“Speaking of Cooper,” Buttercup started. “Who’s taking you to the party tomorrow?”
I wrinkled my nose. They weren’t going to like my answer. Which is why I hadn’t told them yet. “Um…Cooper—”
“I knew it,” Juniper said. “I knew you’d come to your senses.”
“And Greyson,” I finished.
Buttercup’s mouth gaped open. “What? How did you swing that?”
“How could I not? How could I take one and not the other? I already went through this with the Halloween Ball. It’s the reason I didn’t go! And it wasn’t like I could hide it from either one. Nor would I want to.”
Doubt clouded Juniper’s eyes. “How is this going to work exactly?”
“Cooper is taking me and Greyson is bringing me home. They each get half of the evening.”
Buttercup snorted. “And who’s refereeing the time?”
“They’ve agreed to be cool about it.” And that had better be the case. Not that I thought myself so special that these two amazing guys would be fighting over me, but men were men and things happened. In theory, they were mature enough to behave, but if they weren’t, being at Elenora Ellingham’s ought to reinforce the need for civility. Especially since they both technically worked for the town and the Ellinghams ran the place.
“Can’t wait to see how that goes,” Buttercup mumbled.
Me either, but I wasn’t saying anything more about it. I shifted the conversation to the big book signing tomorrow and we finished our pizza while talking about it.
I helped clean up, then said good night and went back to my apartment. Tomorrow was a big day, and we had a lot to do so I was headed straight to bed.
After feeding Spider, of course. He was sitting by his food bowl. I guess in case I’d forgotten where it was.
“Hungry,” he yowled.
I reached down and scooped him up, holding him like a baby and kissing his nose. “I know, you poor thing. You’re just starving, aren’t you? It’s like I didn’t even feed you three hours ago.”
“Hungry.” But this time it was more of a statement than a demand.
I put him down. His bowl was empty. “Chicken Party?” Because these days, he rarely ate anything else.
“Chicken Party,” he answered enthusiastically.
I grabbed a can and his bowl and got to work. I was pretty used to having a talking cat now. So much so that it didn’t seem weird to me at all any more. And since Spider had yet to talk in front of anyone but me, I didn’t have to explain it, which made life simpler.
I dumped the pate into the bowl. His vocal prowess had happened accidentally a few months ago thanks to a wish granted by an imp, but this was Nocturne Falls. Weird was normal and strange was routine. I put his dish down in front of the petite velvet Elvis-as-a-cat painting I’d bought to decorate his dining area. “Here you go, dig in.”
Spider went to town, making happy little noises as he ate.
I went to clean my face and brush my teeth. I had a feeling tonight was going to be one of those nights where I fell asleep instantly.
That didn’t stop me from doing a little reading, though. And about five minutes after I was settled in with my e-reader propped on my stomach, Spider sauntered in. He jumped onto the bed and curled up against my side. The snoring started shortly after.
I laughed softly, and since I could feel sleep tugging at me, powered the e-reader down, turned the lights off and closed my eyes.
Juniper had been so sure Sanders was going to give us some kind of extra-special dreams that I couldn’t wait to see what happened.
I woke up in a pitch-black room with sweat dripping off me and my heart pounding. I sat up, unable to shake the terror that had just had a hold of me. I’d dreamed that Spider had turned into an actual spider, trapped me in his web, and was coming to eat me. His fangs were enormous.
Okay, that sounded a little silly now. But my breathing was only starting to slow. It had been so real. So much for the Sandman’s sweet dreams.
I reached out, feeling the warm weight of Spider near my hip. I gave him a scratch, more to reassure myself than anything. “You wouldn’t eat Mama, would you, Spider-cat?”
He yawned, tightened into a ball and muttered, “Spider likes Chicken Party.”
Apparently, it was a good thing I wasn’t a tasty poultry pate. I shook my head, my nightmare fading. “Go back to sleep.”
I lay down and took my own advice.
By morning, the nightmare was forgotten in the hustle of getting ready for the day. The signing didn’t start until three, but Sanders had the reading first. That was at ten at the Nocturne Falls library. We figured that was a safe place for him to put the kids of town to sleep. And when the parents saw how well the book worked, they’d flock to the store this afternoon to purchase the book.
But I was meeting Sanders and Olive in my office to go over the day’s schedule before the car service arrived to take us to the library, and I needed to be down there at nine.
That meant breakfast was a package of frosted cinnamon toaster pastries, a handful of gummy bears and a Dr Pepper. That might not seem like a healthy breakfast to most people, but winter elves needed their sugar.
It was doing a body good.
My standard work outfit was usually more casual, but today I’d opted for a pencil skirt, silk blouse, and low, sensible heels with my diamond stud earrings and the strand of pearls my aunt and uncle had given me for graduation (diamond clasp in the back). I pulled my hair back in a low pony, added some simple makeup and checked myself in the mirror. Classy and understated. Perfect for today. After all, I was not the star of this show.
Even if I was the Winter Princess.
I grabbed my purse, my phone and my keys and blew a kiss to Spider (who had two very full bowls of food to keep him going) as I headed out.
Juniper was already at the elevator. “Hey. You look spiffy.”
“Thanks. How was your night?”
She grinned. “I had the most amazing dream. Unicorns, flying, cotton candy clouds…it was beyond. And I feel like I could run a marathon this morning. You?”
“Wow, that is super cool.” I didn’t want to tell her about the bad dream I’d had. She’d been so sure Sanders was going to give us all some kind of miraculous sleep that I didn’t want to ruin it.
The elevator doors opened and we got on.
“It was. I can’t wait to see what Buttercup dreamed about.” She looked at me a little closer. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so…corporate.”
I laughed. “I’m taking that as a compliment because that’s what I was going for.”
She grinned. “You really do look nice. And there’s a little bit of that hot-for-teacher thing going on too.”
“Hah! Too bad I’m not meeting one of the boys for lunch. I might have to put this outfit into rotation.”
“Like they’re not already interested in you enough.”
The elevator stopped and we got out. Juniper went toward the shop door. “Have a good day at the library. I’ve got everything under control here.”
“I know you do. And thanks. Oh, and don’t forget Rowley’s coming in at noon. Put him to work shelving those new robotic kits.”
“Will do, boss.” She shot me a finger gun.
I laughed and headed to my office, leaving the door open. I only had a few
minutes before Sanders showed up. I straightened things up a bit, more a nervous thing than because my office was a mess—it wasn’t. I worked hard to keep it tidy. I got my schedule out, laying it front and center on my desk, and went over the day once more.
Sanders walked in exactly at nine a.m. He was dressed pretty much as he had been last night, in a loose tunic and matching pants. Yesterday’s had been toffee colored; today’s were sky blue. The best way I could describe them was fancy daytime pajamas. I’m pretty sure it was his uniform and, given who he was, the outfit made sense.
But there was one thing different about him today. A length of silk cord traversed his hips like a sash and off that cord hung one of the most curious objects I’d ever seen: his gold hourglass. The crystal chambers top and bottom held tiny grains of gold, supposedly one for each person in the world, and with that hourglass he safeguarded and regulated the sleep of every person on the planet, human and supernatural alike.
The hourglass was generally considered one of the most magical objects in the known universe (along with my uncle’s time-traveling sleigh and my dad’s ice scepter). I had no idea how the thing’s magic worked, but it was so pretty and shiny that I couldn’t stop myself from staring.
Sanders laughed. “Morning, Miss Frost. I see you’ve spotted my hourglass.”
I forced myself to make eye contact. “It’s beautiful. And good morning! I’m sorry for staring, but it’s hard not to.”
He nodded and patted the hourglass. “I understand. Do you think I should leave it off for today? I just don’t like to be parted from it.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s who you are, after all. And the kids will love it.”
Olive cleared her throat. “Speaking of the children, we’d like to get to the library a little earlier than scheduled. Just to make sure things are set up properly.”
I had no doubt they were. The librarian I’d worked with to set the event up was a very smart woman and excited to host the event. Of course, Miriam Newburg thought that Tempus Sanders was coming dressed as the Sandman, not that he actually was the Sandman, but she was human so allowances had to be made.
Whatever. I wasn’t going to argue with Olive. “That’s fine. I’ll call the car service and see if they can be here sooner.”
Miss Frost Saves The Sandman: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 3) Page 2
