Page 12 of Glitter

“Huh?” I tore my gaze from Henry, noting a tiny smirk on his lips, before I focused on my best friend, who was now sitting in the chair at Henry’s table. “Oh, are we sitting?”

“Mmhmm,” she said smugly, a trace of laughter in her voice. “I was saying how fortuitous it was that Henry, who’s been working here for four years now, was still around on Friday night.”

I was in the process of sitting down when her words registered, and I stumbled into my seat and stared at Henry in astonishment. “Four years? Really?” How on earth had I not seen him before?

He nodded, the tiny smirk growing larger. “And unlike your friend here, you’ve been here for one.”

My eyes widened and mouth gaped. “How…?”

His eyes twinkled under the generic overhead office lighting. “I notice things that interest me.”

My jaw slowly closed, and a thrilled smile bloomed on my face before I turned to Amy and raised an eyebrow in a can-you-believe-this-guy look.

She sat back in her chair and fanned her face. “Yeah, you sit here and catch up. I’ll grab our lunches.” She used my shoulder to leverage herself off the chair and patted it before heading to the fridges.

I turned my attention back to the man sitting opposite me and sat back in my chair, crossing my arms in astonishment. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

He took a sip from his drink bottle before responding with a tilt of the head, “Where else would I be?”

I leaned forward, my crossed arms now resting on the table in between us. “I was pretty sure you worked here, but I thought I was going to have to hunt you down. Did you know there are five other Henrys that work for Eckersley’s?”

He smirked. “No.”

“There are! And one of them works in the shipping department.” I cupped my hand around my mouth like I was telling him a secret and lowered my voice to a stage whisper. “I didn’t even know wehada shipping department.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” He seemed genuinely confused by my statement, even though his smirk remained firmly in place.

“Whywouldwe?!” I threw my hands up in the air and sat back. “Wouldn’t most departments look after their own shipping?”

“Oh my God, are you still on that?” Amy asked, dumping my lunch box in front of me and taking her seat again. “Let it go, for fuck’s sake. Eckersley’s wouldn’t waste floor space on an unnecessary department. If they have a shipping department, there must be a reason for it. We don’t need to know everything that goes on in this place.”

Henry chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners as they flitted between Amy and me.

Before raising the lid on my lunchbox, I lifted it just enough to check the weight. I breathed a sigh of relief as it felt like it was full, then ripped the lid off to get at the leftovers within, wiggling a little in my seat. “Been looking forward to this all morning.” I lifted out the fork that I’d covered in cling wrap to protect it from the pasta salad within the box, unwrapped it and dug in, moaning at the first mouthful.

Amy rolled her eyes at me and dug into what looked like a thick chicken salad sandwich, while Henry stared at my lunchbox intently, like he was trying to work out a puzzle. Heraised his eyes briefly to meet mine before he dropped them to the box again. “No stealing today?”

I swallowed. “Nope. Thank God. I don’t think I could’ve handled that after Friday.” My voice got quieter as the sentence went on and I pushed my fork around in the food a little, shifting in my seat from awkward nerves. I didn’t want Henry to make a big deal out of it in front of Amy. It’d only make her worry. I peeked up at him and let out a tense breath when he gave me a small smile and a nod.

“Maybe you could tell me—”

“I have an idea about that,” he said at the same time as Amy spoke, tilting his head toward my lunchbox.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amy scowl at the missed opportunity to find out more about Friday night from Henry, but curiosity got the better of her. “An idea about the stealing?”

Henry glanced at her and nodded; his eyes drawn to my lunchbox again with a slight frown. “You said you needed concrete proof in order to report the thefts, correct?”

“That’s right,” I said, now intrigued myself. I shoved another forkful of pasta into my mouth and chewed while I waited for him to speak further.

“I can get you that proof,” he said quietly. “But I’d need your lunchbox for a few days.”

Confused, I looked down at my unassuming lunchbox, then back at Henry. “Huh?”

His sparkling, mischievous eyes flicked to Amy, then back to steadily meet mine. “Blue, what do you know about glitter bombs?”

Chapter Five

Henry

---