Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
He meant well, but was just set in his ways, and didn’t think things needed to change. But considering it was almost impossible to walk around the store without bumping into a table or display case, it did. He especially didn’t factor in that women had bags, and when we turned, we sometimes didn’t realize they stuck out beyond our bodies, and therefore easily knocked things over. No big deal in a department store. A big, big deal in a store full of priceless and one-of-a-kind antiques.
It wasn’t until my stomach felt like it was gnawing at me that I remembered I’d never eaten that bagel that I had stored in my purse from the hotel buffet.
I’d just washed my hands, and was about to grab it when the door opened.
And in walked another suit-clad guy with the same carriage as Miko and Cosimo.
My gaze shot to Miko out the window and he gave me a distracted nod.
“Lunch,” the guy said, dropping a bag down.
“Oh, ah. I didn’t order lunch, though,” I said.
“Miko did,” he said. “For you,” he said, pushing the bag across the desk toward me. “And for him,” he said, lifting another bag. “You need anything else?” he asked, then genuinely waited like he was my personal assistant or something.
“Oh, ah, no. Thank you, though,” I said, giving him a smile that must have looked odd mixed with the bewilderment in my eyes.
He seemed unfazed, and walked back out to hand a bag to Miko.
I reached into the bag, pulling out a sub, chips, and a soda.
I moved out from behind the desk, peeking my head out of the door. “Do you want to come eat in here?” I asked.
“Nah. My job is out here.”
“Are you sure?” I pressed, knowing it would be hard to eat with nowhere to put anything.
“Yep,” he said.
“Okay,” I agreed, but I had an idea.
Turning, I went into the shop, finding a small wrought iron table my grandfather used as a display that I’d just moved into the back because it had been in the way, and bringing it out to Miko.
“There,” I said, nodding. “That’s better,” I told him, enjoying his amused smile. “Thanks for lunch, by the way.”
“Nah, don’t mention it.”
With that, I went back inside to eat.
Sometime around four, Miko brought another guy in, introducing him.
He wasn’t as memorable as Miko. He was average in looks and build and didn’t have all the charm that Miko did.
I tried not to feel disappointed by that.
They were here to protect me, not entertain me.
I busted my ass the rest of the day, and even managed to make a couple of pretty big sales in the process.
I hadn’t felt so accomplished in weeks.
After closing up for the day, my new guard and I headed to the hospital, so I could visit my grandfather, giving him the good news about the sales.
He seemed even more tired and out of it than he had been the day before, though. Enough so that I’d walked out to talk to the nurses, then the doctor. All of whom assured me he was stable. The doctor said that sometimes we are so used to working ourselves to the bone, that when we are finally forced to rest, we really crash.
I could see that.
My grandfather never took days off.
And, sure, he might have managed to nap on and off at the store, he was still an old man. He deserved to spend his day puttering around his apartment or in Central Park feeding the pigeons. He was doing too much.
It felt wrong, given the circumstances, but I found myself glad that he was in the hospital, being forced to rest and recover. Clearly, he needed it.
I didn’t stay long, wanting him to get as much sleep as possible, and wanting to get home to my apartment finally.
It wasn’t much, my apartment. None of them were. But mine was a studio, unlike my grandfather’s, where at least he had a separate bedroom.
The walls were an off-white that I’d been meaning to paint. But given all the holes and the cracks where the wall met all of the baseboards, to paint, I would also need to spackle and grout. And I just never had the time.
The little L-shaped kitchen had the most hideous yellow laminate countertops, and white appliances that weren’t quite white anymore, no matter how much I scrubbed them.
Because the living and bedroom space was so cramped, I’d foregone having any sort of dining table. As it was, the corner of my bed was butting up to the end of my couch. And I couldn’t move around my coffee table without slamming my leg into it.
You’d think after living for years in a dorm that I would be used to small living. But I was pretty sure all my former dorm rooms were larger than this apartment.