Page 61 of Outside The Wire

“There,” he said, pointing to a smaller picture as we walked to the back. “See? It’s perfect.”

“No, that’s too big.”

He shook his head. “By your calculations,” he said pointedly. “That dresser comes up to about my stomach. Now, that leaves up to my head, plus another half of my body at the very least—according to your measurements—until you reach the ceiling. At that rate, we could most definitely fit this picture above your dresser.”

“I think we need to measure that.”

“By all means.” He walked over to the picture and stood next to it, showing where the dresser would cut off, then used my own measuring skills against me, proving that the picture would fitabove the dresser. I hated him for it. He wasn’t supposed to do that to me. I was supposed to come out the winner today. And instead, he was going to make me get that damn rooster for my own house.

I think I loved him a little for that.

“You know what? I think you’re right. It is perfect.”

I grinned at him and picked up the smaller picture, tucking it under my armpit. “I think it’ll be perfect when you come with me to bed. All I’ll be thinking about is cock.”

I sighedas I unboxed the last of the shipment. I was surrounded by items that still needed to be stocked by tomorrow, and it was only five o’clock. Noelle had been working the front while I dealt with the delivery, and it had basically been chaos all afternoon.

“Hey, Mr. Fluffington,” I smiled as my orange cat purred, rubbing up against me. He was the sweetest cat, but shed so much wherever he went. I was constantly cleaning up after him, but with this delivery keeping me busy, I hadn’t had time to pay him any attention today.

“Do you want some nummy nums?” I stood, wincing as my body protested being unfolded after sitting in a crumpled-up state for such a long time. Mr. Fluffington followed me to the pantry where I kept his Greenies. I shook a few out onto the counter as he jumped up and rubbed his body against my outstretched hand. He was the sweetest thing. I thought about bringing him home many times, but he was the store cat. I couldn’t imagine him not being here every day.

“Holly?”

“Back here!” I called out, scratching him under the chin.

“Ugh!” Noelle cried out dramatically, falling onto the counter after entering. “The last customer is finally gone and I locked up.”

“How did we do?”

“Good. Really good.”

“Thank God. I was beginning to think business was never going to pick up again.”

“I know, right? We finally sold that clock you love so much.”

That made me extremely happy. “One more day here and I would have found a spot for it at my house.”

“You don’t have room for it.”

“I know.”

“And that lamp you love so much found a home.”

I frowned, sad that it went so quickly. “That was the only one.”

“I know. I really liked it, too.”

I couldn’t get upset every time my favorite things sold. I couldn’t afford to buy everything I liked, and I didn’t have enough space in the world to keep everything. “Well, did the person that bought it at least love it?”

“I made them fill out a ten-point questionnaire first.”

“At least I can part with it knowing they passed.”

She nodded. “So, what needs to be done?”

I thought of all the other rooms and internally groaned. “I got through all the unpacking and checking it against the original order. There were a few missing pieces and a few mistakes I had to call about. We still have to enter everything into inventory, price it, and find a place for everything.”

“So, just a few hours,” she grinned, knowing it would take that and so much more. “Not too bad.”

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