Page 30 of Stocking Stuffers
Sasha gladly grabbed a tart and took a bite. The pastry was crispy and buttery, the goat cheese and fig filling heavenly. The honey complemented the sharpness of the goat cheese perfectly. She moaned as if the tart was the best thing she’d ever tasted.
It might have been. She wanted to fall at Valerie’s feet in worship.
“Lead the way to the tea sandwiches, oh great temptress,” Sasha said.
Valerie laughed, an evil glint in her eye. “Why don’t you go on through to the breakfast room, and I’ll bring them out?”
Sasha readily agreed but stopped in her tracks when she realized she’d been duped. The breakfast room was craft central. Everyone was lined up like little elves at the North Pole and surrounded by pinecones, ceramic figurines, winterberry swag, glitter, paint, glue, and all manner of other craft goods.
The ornament-making activity Valerie had been threatening … or, uh, advertising … this morning was in full swing.
So much glitter.
Damn it.
“You don’t have to participate,” Perry said in her ear when she faltered in the doorway. “I can snag you food and sneak it to your room?”
“Would you be joining me in said room?”
He smiled and shrugged. “Nah. I want to make some ornaments.”
He probably needed a break from her and her whiplash.
Louise and Andie were sitting at one of the round tables and waved her over. The other person at the table with them was the emo teenager, who was painting a ceramic Christmas tree. His tree was matte black from top to bottom.
Ah, her kindred spirit, at it again.
With a roll of her shoulders, she joined them, Perry on her heels. Within seconds, Valerie plopped a plate of sandwiches and tarts in the middle of their table. It might be worth enduring craft time for the finger foods.
She grabbed a pinecone and a paintbrush. To the teenager, she said, “Can I borrow your screw-Christmas black paint?”
He grinned and passed it over.
Perry also grabbed a pinecone and paintbrush, as well as gold glitter. He’d undoubtedly paint the prettiest pinecone in all the land, and Sasha suddenly resented that.
She ripped into another fig and goat cheese tart, then gobbled up a salmon and caper salad tea sandwich on soda bread.
The atmosphere in the room was cozy and festive, everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, but Sasha couldn’t fake it. She felt more separate from the happiness of the season than normal.
She was halfway done painting her pinecone black with hot pink seed tips when Andie interrupted her concentration.
“So, Sasha, how long have you been working in”—Andie threw a hasty glance at the teenage boy at their table, her eyes shining—“uh, sales?” Today Andie was wearing a chunky wool stocking cap over her short fro and bright purple lipstick that popped against her dark skin.
Sasha smiled. “I got my degree in marketing but started working at my current company after my best friend founded it seven years ago. She needed a marketing manager, so I stepped in. What do you do?”
“I’m getting my PhD in microbiology, but I also bartend a couple nights a week because the tips are stellar.”
“I hear that,” Sasha said. She’d waitressed in addition to her Lady Robin’s Intimate Implements job until the company had exploded into success. “Where do you bartend?”
“It’s a place in midtown called Rod’s.” Andie then mouthed, “Strip club.”
Sasha smiled and nodded. She knew of Rod’s. It was a fancy, upscale place that had a women’s night once a week where there were male dancers. She’d known a guy in college who had worked there. She imagined the tips were more than stellar considering the rich clientele.
“Did you ever think you’d be marketing the type of … umm …” Andie trailed off, obviously at a loss in how to describe sex toys in front of the teen boy, who didn’t seem to be paying them any mind.
“Gizmos,” Perry said, without glancing up from his pinecone. His ornament looked straight out of a West Elm catalog. He’d painted the seed tips dark green and was finishing them with golden glitter. It was the fanciest fucking pinecone Sasha had ever seen.
Andie laughed. “Yes, gizmos. Did you plan to go into gizmos? Or did you fall into it?”
