Tinderella (7 page)

****

PEARCE

He hadn't really been expecting to hear back from her, so when he got the text he was more startled than anything else. It had her address and a time to meet. That was it. He knew now why she had run out. Or at least he thought she did. It was the purchase offer. But he didn't see it as the obstacle that she obviously did. He wondered why that was, but maybe it had something to do with her having built her business and him essentially inheriting his work. He freely admitted that his father's company meant very little to him.

She had said to meet at 10pm which seemed late to him, but whatever, at least he could return her coat. As he pulled onto her street, he peered at the numbers in order to figure out which apartment exactly was hers. It was a cool damp evening, the rain had lifted but the sidewalks were still damp and had leaves on them.
 

The cloudy evening made it difficult to see and he squinted as he drove past the numbered doorways. Suddenly, looming ahead was her pumpkin VW, he had read about it in the brief of her company. He slid his car in behind it, and paused for a moment. Just the thought of her made him feel warm all over. Not like "get lucky" warm, but something different. He hoped she would give him a chance, he really wanted to explore this feeling.
 

He slid out of the driver's seat of his SUV and walked to the door. He rang her buzzer, but nothing happened. He looked up, there appeared to be just a few apartments in this building, then he noticed the front door was propped open with a small rock. He slipped in and headed up the stairs.
 

It was an older building, majestic in its day no doubt. Polished wooden railings, wooden floors, solid walls and doors. A nice old place. As he got closer to her door he smelled it. Smoke! He crossed to her doorway in a couple of quick steps and banged on her door. Nothing. He felt it with his hand, it wasn't hot to the touch. That was good.

He knocked on the door again, and there was still no answer. The door was too thick for him to bust down, and he was pretty sure that only worked in movies anyway. Thinking quickly he lifted the small welcome mat, nothing. He ran his hands along the top of the doorway, searching for a key. Still nothing. He was about to start knocking on other doors when a young woman came up the stairs.
 

"I smell smoke, you wouldn't happen to have a key to the apartment here would you. I can't get Cyndi's attention but she told me to meet her, I think she's in there."

"Yeah, we swapped when I moved in, hang on!" the young woman said. She unlocked her door and went in, then quickly came out again holding her phone. "I'm calling 911, here's her key."

He unlocked it and flung the door open. The apartment was hazy, smoke lingering in the air. He charged through, and found her lying in her room on her bed.

Lifting her gently he walked quickly to the doorway, and pausing only to speak to the girl with the key, he said "follow me, does anyone else live up here?"

"No," she said breathlessly, "just us, the others are vacant."

"Good, let's get out of here."

"Is she okay?"

"She's breathing, maybe she was overcome by smoke? I'm not sure but fresh air will help."

The rest of the night passed in a blur. The fire department came and determined that it was a small electrical fire. They put it out but closed the building and shut off the power until it could be inspected and fixed.

The EMT's had been there within minutes and they had her on oxygen and responsive right away.
 

His heart was pounding in his chest, and he sat with his head in his hands. When the Ambulance went to leave for the hospital they turned to him.
 

"You coming, man?" asked a burly young paramedic.

"Nah, I'm not her boyf..., I mean...I'm nobody. Go ahead, I'm not sure who to call."

"We'll figure it out, man, no problem. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Go. And thanks."

And just like that she had slipped away from him again. He was happy he had been able to get there just in time. God, he hated to think what might have happened if he hadn't come over. He got up and walked toward his car, and that's when he saw it. He still had that damn coat. He opened the door and got in, and put his hand on the coat. This damn quest might have saved her life. He smiled at the thought, he knew he'd see her again. He'd have to make sure of it

****

CYNDI

"Hello Sarabeth, how can I help you today? No, no I wasn't planning on attending the party. Thank you though.... Yes, I got the invitation...No, no, it's just not a good time for me, I have...What? I know your girls will be there, " Cyndi rolled her eyes, the prospect of a lawn party that stretched into the evening was not in any way enhanced by the attendance of her two unfortunate looking stepsisters.
 
"I'm not sure that's true, I don't think my dad would have wanted me to come to a party I didn't feel I had time for.... Okay, okay, I'll think about it, alright? Yep, thanks Sarabeth, mmmm hmmmm, you too, bye now."

Good Lord, she felt no warmth for that woman. Didn't much matter though, she needed to be nice to her. The family estate was all tied up with her, and she didn't want that messed up. She didn't care at all about the money, but there were some things in the house that had been her mom's and she wanted to be able to secure them when the time came. She had a running inventory in her head and checked each time she went out to the house.
 

Sarabeth wasn't evil, at least she didn't think she was, but she did seem to have her own agenda much of the time. She was quite intent on finding "suitable" husbands for her girls, and this party was part of her grand scheme. She held it every year and invited all eligible, and some not so eligible but willing men to the party.
 

Usually Cyndi was good natured about it, but she really didn't have her heart in it this year. Particularly with her recent near miss with Pearce. She wanted to stay home, eat ice cream, do her job and forget about men for a while.

She figured she could just make an appearance though, what could that hurt?

It would involve shopping though, that was Gooch's domain. She picked up the phone, "Hey Gooch, drop what you're doing, we're gonna go buy me a dress!"

"What's the occasion?"

"I'll tell you when I get there, and bring your wallet, you're going to need one too."

Cyndi met Gooch outside of Serenity's formals, and together they walked inside. The bell on the door tinkled their arrival and a woman came out from the curtained doorway leading, Cyndi supposed, to the stock area.

"Hello, I'm Blair, how may I help you ladies today?"

"Hi Blair," Gooch led off, ""We need daytime formal wear, suitable for a formal party at a home on the beach. I'm thinking for me, something in peaches or pastels, and for my friend, we'll need blue, lilac something in that family, to bring out her eyes."
 

"Okay, well over here we have..." the sales woman, Blair, began as she walked toward a rack of dresses. "Sizes," she said as she walked. Cyndi hated this part, she was not a skinny girl, and she hesitated. The sales woman turned to her, and looked at her appraisingly, "You know what, you have beautiful hourglass curves. You work out, don't you?" Cyndi nodded,"I can tell. And you'll probably never be skinny, but it's a look plenty of women would kill for. Don't hesitate to work with them, and be proud. You're both beautiful girls, now follow me."

Several hours later they left with nothing.
 

"I just wasn't feeling it, you know?"

"I know," said Cyndi. "And honestly I'd be happy to not go, but I feel like I have to."

"Oh, we're going, don't you worry, come with me."

"Where to?"

"My favorite thrift shop in the world, c'mon!"

Gooch was no stranger to the thrift store employees, obviously, they greeted her like an old friend.
 
The sign outside said, Fairy Godmothers Thrift. "Bailey, Tamara, Evelyn!" Gooch exclaimed, hugging each one in turn. When she told them what she needed they scurried around like mice, plucking one thing from one rack, and something else from another. Cyndi went into the dressing room and undressed, and put on the dress one of them had handed to her. When she came out of the room, the employees circled her, pinning something here, draping something there, putting her hair up, and securing it with pins, and when they were done they stood back to admire their work.

Gooch turned to look at her, and said simply, "Wow!"
 

Cyndi spun to look at herself in the mirror and for a minute wondered who was looking back at her. "This, this is amazing,' she said, pulling at the cobalt blue peplum top. The color made her eyes pop, and the cut made her "girls" sit up and take notice, and she had to admit that the effect was stunning.
 

"I'm not, I mean, I don't think I can do this again--"
 

"We got this, sweetie," said Gooch, "I was watching, we're all set. You look stunning, truly. Your stepsisters are going to be green."

"That wasn't exactly what I was going for."

"But it's a nice add-on, right?"

Cyndi laughed, "Right, not a bad side effect. Now let's see what we can do for you. And by we I mean them, of course."

When they were done, they headed to Gooch's place to play with make-up and try to recreate Cyndi's hair. Gooch was the make-up queen.
 

"Okay, we're ready."

"Gooch, we're two weeks out, I had no idea you'd be so gung-ho!"

"Well, I like to be prepared. Want Chinese?"

"Sure, I'm starved! I'll have the usual."

Later, when they were satisfied their outfits were unique and perfect, and they had their make-up routines down, and the coffee table was littered with carryout boxes, they leaned back against the sofa at Gooch's and surveyed the destruction.

"That, was a good day," Cyndi said. "There's nothing like spending time with friends, you don't need a lot of money to have a lot of fun."

"True, although I'm sure a yacht and an island are fun in their own way," Gooch paused, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why are you ignoring your phone?"

"Ignoring it?"

Don't play cute, I can hear it vibrating in your bag even if the ringer is turned off. Who are you avoiding?"

"Oh, him. He wants me to meet him so I can get back my coat. He sounds like such a nice guy, too bad it's not going to work out."

"How'd he find you?"

"Business cards in the pocket," she scrunched up her nose. Bad planning.

"I think you're being silly, just sayin'. Not that I get a vote or anything."

"No, I'm not being silly. It puts us both in a weird spot, with his dad trying to buy me out, and me refusing to sell. He's nice, well more than nice, but this is just too awkward."

"Right, I heard you the first 50 times you told me, but seriously, why not give him a chance? Maybe there's a graceful way out?"

"No, there isn't. What can he do, ask his dad to go easy on me? Ask him to pay me more, or to stay out of my territory? He's not going to do any of those things, and it would be embarrassing if he did. No. Just no."

"Have it your way girlfriend. I hate to see you lose a coat over the deal. Damn," she snapped her fingers, "we should have got one at the thrift store. What was I thinking?"

"Let's talk about something else," Cyndi said, turning on the TV, "or watch re-runs. You got any popcorn?"

"Yep, it's in the cabinet next to the fridge. You gonna make it your old fashioned way?"

"Absolutely, one giant bowl of stove popped popcorn coming right up."

Cyndi went to the kitchen and took her phone out of her bag, 3 missed calls and a couple of texts, all from him. He knew, he must know, who she was and why she bolted. She deleted all the messages and blocked his number. Nice guy or not this was complicated and they hadn't even gotten past first base yet. She thought about his hands on her, his face close to hers, his lips...yeah, she needed a new hobby.

"Where's my popcorn?" Gooch called from the living room.

"Hold your horses, I'm working my magic." Cyndi thumbed her phone for a minute, then unblocked his number. It was nice to be wanted, even if there was nothing she could do about it. She sent him a text.
We'll talk later
, was all it said. It was enough.

Cyndi made her excuses after the popcorn was gone, claiming she was tired, which she was. She texted him again on the way home, with her address. Here we go, she thought. No better way to get him out of her head than to force him out.

****

PEARCE

He hadn't really been expecting to hear back from her, so when he got the text he was more startled than anything else. It had her address and a time to meet. That was it. He knew now why she had run out. Or at least he thought she did. It was the purchase offer. But he didn't see it as the obstacle that she obviously did. He wondered why that was, but maybe it had something to do with her having built her business and him essentially inheriting his work. He freely admitted that his father's company meant very little to him.