Holiday Sparks

“Yeah, well, if Tom had to deal with it then there might have been punches thrown. That man was no joke yesterday.” She rubbed her hands together. “I felt really bad for him. His daughter fell off her bike, so he was truly just upset about that.”

“Yeah, but what did he actually think would happen when he brought it in?”

Darcy sighed. “I don’t think he was thinking.”

“Obviously.”

“Between the cops and the tree it was bedlam.” Darcy shook her head as they hustled down the hallway at the rear entrance of Blackstone’s. “The lights pulled free and fritzed out, singeing a few of the branches.” For a split second she’d wished the tree had gone up in flames.

No, not really. Okay, maybe a little, but then again dealing with a fire would have been a lot worse.

“I can’t believe he took out the tree. I always miss the good stuff.”

Darcy laughed. “I just wish it hadn’t been when Black Widow was on,” she said under her breath.

“Oh man. Jaime didn’t tell me she was on last night.”

“Yep. It wasn’t pretty. I didn’t get out of here until nearly seven last night. Then I go home and find my house lit up like Christmas on an acid trip.”

Kelly laughed. “You are terrible. I don’t know anyone that hates Christmas more than you do.”

“Yeah well, unfortunately I lost my cool with my tenant last night and now he knows. In detail.”

Kelly bumped the employee break room door open with her butt. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, I did. You should have seen his face.” She looked down at her bag, fussing with the zipper. She felt bad about laying into him. He’d been shocked and possibly a little amused that she hated Christmas. People who weren’t in retail just didn’t understand how bad it could be.

“I don’t think I’ve met your tenant.”

Darcy sighed. “He was perfect. He pays his rent on time and I never hear a peep out of him. Well, until the holiday music came blaring out of some speaker he had set up under the porch. Kel, you should have heard the songs. It was awful.”

Kelly snickered. “I can only imagine.”

“I think I would have handled it better if I just hadn’t had to deal with the Black—” She stopped as Kelly’s blue eyes widened. “The Blackstone’s store catastrophe,” she said quickly.

“I’m still not happy with the tree, Ms. Tucker. I’d like you to concentrate on that with Mr. Anderson this morning. The store must look perfect. My parents are coming in tomorrow and the decorators aren’t available to come back and redo the tree before Friday.”

Darcy hung her head. More tree crap, and with her favorite manager. Perfect. “Absolutely. I’ll take care of it.”

“I want it to be classic and fun. Santa will be coming in for the children all weekend.”

“On Black Friday weekend? Are you insane?” Shut up, Darc. But that was the worst weekend even to contemplate doing something like that. People would be tripping over themselves for the sales, not bringing their children in for Christmas pictures.

“The directive came from my father, Ms. Tucker. I want this store perfect.” Miriam left the room, her stilettos clicking over the sandstone tiles.

“Are you crazy?” Kelly tugged her into a chair. “I can’t believe you said that.”

“I can’t believe they’re doing this for Thanksgiving weekend. Are they out of their minds? It’s going to be chaos in here.” Darcy gathered her hair away from her face with the hair tie she always had on her wrist. Putting her hair up before six a.m.? It was not going to be a good day.

“I know,” Kelly sighed.

“Deep breath,” she muttered and stood. “And now I’m off to deal with Grabby Gary.”

Kelly dragged her in for a hug and patted her back. “Stab him with your box cutter.”

“Don’t tempt me,” she said with a laugh. She swiped her badge to log in for the day and hit the floor. Darcy was responsible for the front end and the jewelry department officially, but at Blackstone’s titles meant less than their words. She’d worked every department in the twelve years that she’d been with store. And gearing up for Black Friday meant all hands on deck. The only good thing was that it would go by quickly.

She waved to the cleaning crew who were buffing the floors as she headed for the front end. The store didn’t officially open until eight and there was plenty to do before then. She opened the cash box door with her badge. A brunette of indeterminate age sat at the long metal desk, candy-apple-red kitten glasses balanced on the tip of her nose. A half-dozen cash drawers were stacked and ready for the cashiers. “Morning, Mo.”