Kristen Ashley - Law Man

“Mara, I know you a lot more than you think and you’re not only blind, you’re clueless.”

“I’m not clueless!” I hissed.

He clenched his jaw and stared at me. Then he leaned back and swept me from top-to-toe with his eyes before they locked on mine.

“Thought it was worth it,” he muttered like he was talking to himself. “Totally fuckin’ wrong. Not fuckin’ worth it.”

I knew what he was saying. I knew exactly what he was saying. I should have been ecstatic that he figured it out. Instead it felt like he’d shoved a knife in my heart and twisted.

Before I could get used to the pain, Mitch concluded, “You got it, baby? Go for it.” Then he turned and sauntered through the breezeway.

I saw him lift a hand and his chin slightly and my horrified eyes went to Bradon and Brent’s door to see Brent standing there. His head moved back and forth between Mitch jogging down the steps and me standing, breathing heavily outside my door.

“Hey Brent,” I called, my voice trembling just as the tears that I felt were in my eyes were doing.

“Hey girl, you okay?” Brent asked.

“Perfect!” I lied, trying to sound chirpy and totally failing so I decided to escape. “See you!” I said and I turned to my door, opened it and dashed inside.

Billy and Billie looked at me.

“Mitch can’t take you to school today but I can. After school you’re going to hang with me at the store,” I informed them. “Won’t that be fun?”

Billie’s arms went up in the air. I noticed she had grape jelly smeared on her face and I also noticed more than a little of it was smeared on the bar and her hands and she shouted, “Yippee!”

Mental note: do not leave Billie alone with the jelly.

I looked to Billy to see his eyes go to the door and he stared at it contemplatively for several seconds before his eyes came back to me. Then his face went hard.

Then he said, “Okay, Auntie Mara.”

I closed my eyes. Then I sighed. Then I hustled the kids through the rest of their morning and took them to school.

I looked through Mr. Pierson’s office window to the cavernous space that was filled with bed and mattress displays.

Yesterday, my first day with the kids, I’d finally pulled myself together enough to remember that Roberta had the day off. So I’d called her and told her all that went down (well, most of it, I left out all things Mitch). I asked if she could help out and she’d instantly said yes. So I took my lunch hour to pick up the kids from school, took them to Roberta’s and went to go get them after work.

Now they were out in the store. Billie, luckily being quiet for once, was standing next to Roberta who was with customers. Billy was sprawled on a bed playing a video game that Roberta brought in to help him fill the time.

Yesterday I’d also told Mr. Pierson about my change in life circumstances and asked for some leeway while I got the kids sorted. Not surprisingly, he’d agreed.

“Can’t make it a habit, Mara, honey, but until you set them up, do what you need to do,” he’d said. He then asked, “Now, how can Mrs. Pierson and I help?”

That was Mr. Pierson. Totally a nice guy.

Therefore, today the kids were in the store with me until I could sort out afterschool childcare. First I had to sort out how I was going to pay for afterschool childcare. I’d called a couple of places and what they’d quoted, especially since the hours I needed them ran late, was a resounding strike to my budget for just one kid. Two was crippling.

I had a nest egg which I had carefully built up so any unforeseen emergencies wouldn’t crush me. Once I had that at five thousand dollars, I let it sit in a savings account and started to build up my “I’m Going to Own My Own House One Day Damn It” account. This was building up too and was relatively healthy. Not to the point I could buy my own house, or even close, but it wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

Pierson’s Mattress and Bed was a big warehouse store, we had all your mattress and bed needs. Including entire bedroom suites and contracts with contractors who would build built-in wardrobes and units that surrounded beds and stuff like that. Our price range fit everyone’s budget. I didn’t do too badly. We moved a lot of product because everyone knew they could find something at Pierson’s and buy it from friendly, helpful salespeople. Then, after purchase, they had their wares delivered on time, during an unheard of two-hour window, instead of having to wait all day for the guys to show up whenever they showed up. Mr. Pierson guaranteed it on all of his commercials. That two-hour window set him above all his competitors. No one wanted to hang around waiting for their mattresses all day.

This meant I lived well. I had a nice car. Great furniture. Decent quality clothes. A nest egg. A house account. The money to be able to afford to buy my friends really, freaking great birthday and Christmas presents.

But I didn’t live large. No way.

And I didn’t want Billy and Billie to live small. Just taking on afterschool childcare, living small was exactly where life was leading us and I didn’t know how to do anything about that.

Then again, they’d been living small for awhile, tiny, so anything I could do was better than what they were used to.

“You need beds,” Mr. Pierson announced behind me and I turned to him.

He was a couple inches shorter than me when I was in heels; very skinny and had white hair sprinkled not very generously with black cut short around the sides and back of his head. The rest was bald. On the looks scale, he was around a Three. Add his cheery personality, his kindness and his generosity and he was totally an Eight Point Seven Five.

He was sitting behind his desk, smiling at me.

“Yes, Child Protective Services are coming around on Friday and I need to get their room sorted before they do.”

“Right,” Mr. Pierson nodded. “Take two of the Spring Deluxe Singles. I’ll give them to you wholesale, with a twenty percent discount, plus your employee discount added on to that.”

My mouth dropped open. The Spring Deluxe mattresses were the best of the best. The cream of the crop. I had one and I loved it. It was ultra-comfy.

But they were expensive. I’d had to save for three months and buy mine during a store-wide sale. I could only afford it because Mr. Pierson let us use our employee discounts even during store-wide sales.

“I –” I began.

He waved his hand in front of his face. “Otis over-ordered. For months we’ve been sittin’ on an inventory of Spring Deluxes we can’t move. They’re pricey. People don’t often spring for the Spring Deluxe, not even when you’re sellin’ them.” He grinned at me and continued, “Why he ordered that many, I do not know.”

I didn’t either but then again, this was Otis. It was my experience that everyone had an annoying cousin and Otis was Mr. Pierson’s. I figured Mr. Pierson kept him working in the warehouse because no one else would keep him working for more than a couple of days due to the fact that Otis wasn’t all that smart. He was a nice enough guy (although I had to admit I thought he was creepy and Roberta agreed) but he wasn’t all that smart. It wasn’t a nice thing to say but it was true.

“They’re just takin’ up space in the warehouse. Space I need. You’d be doin’ me a favor,” Mr. Pierson finished.

He was full of it. He was losing money on the deal he offered me. Big time. He was just being nice.

“Mr. Pierson –” I started but stopped when his eyes caught mine.

“Kids need good beds,” he said softly.

He was right. They did.

God, I loved my boss.

“I love my boss,” I told him and his face melted into a smile, the whole of it, just like he always smiled. I loved my boss and I also loved his smiles.

“You’re off tomorrow. I’ll set up delivery,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

“Mitch!” I heard Billie screech from the showroom floor. I whirled around to look back out the window only to see Billie tearing through the maze of beds in a direct trajectory to Mitch.

She aimed, she fired, she hit her target, throwing her arms around his hips and giving him a big hug.

I watched Mitch’s hand settle on her hair. Then I looked at all that was Mitch and I really wished that I wasn’t still kind of in love with him.

What on earth was he doing there?

I turned back to Mr. Pierson who was also looking out the window, undoubtedly at Mitch.

“That’s my, um…neighbor. I think I need to go talk to him,” I said to Mr. Pierson.

His body visibly jolted and his eyes slid to me. “Neighbor?”

“Look!” I heard Billie shout and I turned back to the window. “I’m wearin’ one of the outfits you bought me!” She had let him go and was yanking her t-shirt out at the bottom hem to show him.

I watched Mitch smile at her and he said something I couldn’t hear because unlike Billie he wasn’t shouting.

Then I felt a whoosh surge through my belly at witnessing his smile.

I forced myself to turn back to Mr. Pierson who was now standing with his eyes back at the window.

“Yes, my neighbor. Do you mind…?” I trailed off and he looked at me. Then he looked to the window. Then back at me. Then his eyes quickly darted the length of me.

Then he grinned a grin I’d never seen him grin before and he advised, “Don’t forget to ask him if he needs a bed.”

I nodded knowing there was no way in hell I was going to ask Detective Mitch Lawson if he needed a bed and moved quickly from the office.