Only after she’d gone to greet some other new customers did I dare glance over at Owen. His eyes were firmly locked on the display case, but his cheeks were still a bright red that had nothing to do with the cold wind outside. My own face felt a little too warm for comfort. There weren’t too many situations more awkward than being mistaken for an engaged couple when you were just friends, especially if there was even the slightest undercurrent of more than just friends from either side. I felt like she’d pulled my deepest, most hidden feelings out for public display.
“See anything you like?” I asked.
He pointed toward a delicate brooch that looked almost like someone had taken a feather and dipped it in gold. “That’s it. It’s her.”
“Wow, that was easy,” I said, turning to get the saleslady’s attention. She was with another customer, and the moment I saw who that customer was, I ducked behind Owen.
“What is it?” he asked.
“That other customer—no, don’t look!—is my former boss. She’s evil. She’s worse than Gregor in ogre mode, except she doesn’t actually turn green and grow horns.”
In spite of my warning, he turned to look. “She doesn’t seem so bad.”
“That’s what’s so evil about her. She seems perfectly nice, totally rational. And then in the blink of an eye she turns into this monster. You never know what might set her off. With any luck, she’ll get out of here before she recognizes me.”
Of course, that pretty much jinxed me right away. It was as good as saying a magic spell to make her notice me. “Katie, is that you?” Mimi said, crossing the store to give me an insincere air kiss.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said.
“And how are you doing in your new job?”
“Great.”
She raised a thin, overplucked eyebrow. “Really? I find that surprising, given your skill level. I would have thought you’d find it a real challenge to take on a new job.” Even though the words were venomous, she maintained a pleasant tone and expression.
I felt like I was right back in my old position, when she could make me feel so helpless I wanted to burst into tears. I’d only managed to stand up to her when I already had the new job lined up. Otherwise, I’d spent my time trying not to set her off.
“It must have something to do with the quality of the management, then, because Katie’s already been given a big promotion,” Owen said in the kind of smooth, calm tone he tended to use in business meetings when he was intimidating people. It was as good as a knight in shining armor coming to my rescue.
Mimi glanced at him, got the appreciative look in her eye that women tended to get when they saw him, then turned to me and sniffed disdainfully. “You would have needed a lot more training and experience before you were ready to move ahead in our organization.”
Bolstered by having Owen staunchly at my side, I tried to match her saccharine smile and tone. “And that’s why I looked for opportunities elsewhere.”
She pulled the tall, silver-haired gentleman she was with closer to her. “You’ve met Werner, haven’t you? We’re here looking at engagement rings.”
“It’s good to see you again, Werner. Congratulations. And this is Owen Palmer. We work together. Owen, Mimi used to be my boss.”
With the kind of almost evil smile I wouldn’t have thought him capable of, Owen said smoothly, “I must thank you for making it so easy for us to recruit Katie. She’s been invaluable to us.”
Mimi blinked like she had to mentally diagram the sentence in order to figure out what he’d said and how she should react to it. The moment her nostrils began to flare, Werner took her arm and said, “It was nice seeing you again, Katie. A pleasure to meet you, Owen.” Then he dragged her back to the engagement ring display.
“I see what you mean,” Owen said softly, raising one eyebrow. “Rod could have probably come in lower on the salary offer and still lured you away from that.”
The saleslady returned to us. “Is there a piece you’d like to see?”
Owen maintained his business cool long enough to point to the feather brooch and say, “That one, please.”
“Excellent choice, sir. I love that one.” She slipped the key chain from around her wrist and unlocked the case, then took out the feather brooch and laid it on a black velvet cloth for inspection.
“I’ll take it. And can you gift-wrap it?”
“Of course, sir.”
He handed over a credit card without even looking at or asking the price. I caught a glimpse of the price tag and almost choked. I’d driven cars that didn’t cost that much. I knew he had to be pretty well off, given that he lived in a neighborhood where a million might buy a modest place, but I hadn’t actually given much thought to how rich he might be. I guessed he was making up for years of gift baskets.