you taking my picture?” Indignation tightened her brow.
The customer had the good grace to blush and lower her phone. She quickly slid her card. “It says
wait for the cashier.”
Evelyn’s jaw dropped as she stared at the girl and her phone. She repeated herself, “Did you take
my picture?”
The customer’s mouth opened to form a reply, but said nothing. Her lips curved in something of a
satisfied smile and she suddenly said, “You know, I don’t need any of this stuff after all.”
Dodging the cart full of groceries she tucked her phone away and turned to flee the store. What the hell?
“Hey!” Evelyn called. She abandoned her register and caught up to the girl at the automatic doors
just before the chain of shopping carts. Her fingers curled around the girl’s sleeve. “Why did you take my picture? What about your groceries?”
She smirked and Evelyn’s blood ran cold. “Thanks for the interview.” She tugged away and bolted
into the parking lot.
Fucking paparazzi!
Evelyn’s knees tightened as she thought to chase after her.
“Evelyn.” She stilled at the sharp tone in Mr. Gerhard’s voice. Gritting her teeth, she turned to her
waxy-faced boss. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Speechless, she fumbled for an explanation. That woman had stolen pictures of her and—oh God,
what had she told her?
“My office. Now.” Her manager turned and stalked to the back of the store.
Anger boiled up inside her chest. She marched back to her register and flicked off her light.
“What the hell was that?” Nick asked as he sent a customer on their way.
Hands trembling with outrage, she snapped, “That woman took pictures of me and left all her crap
here!”
“Pictures? For what?”
She grabbed the stack of tabloids she’d collected over the week. Inky words mocked her and
surrounded pictures of Lucian and his limo. Slamming them on the belt of Nick’s register, she gritted
her teeth. “She was a reporter.”
He glanced down at the newspapers and cursed.
“Evelyn, please come to the back.” The intercom interrupted the cheery music filling the store and
her stomach seemed to bottom out. Now she needed to deal with this.
She pressed the Process button on her register. The woman had slid a card, and Evelyn wanted a
name. Steering the cart out of the way, she trudged back to Mr. Gerhard’s office like she was visiting
the gallows.
Her heart clattered in her chest as her knuckles grazed the door.
“Come in.”
Her steps grew heavy as she pressed into the office. The floor, where she forced her gaze, was dusty.
A crumpled receipt sat in the shadows beneath his wooden desk. She waited for him to speak. The
words you’re fired, rang like a taunt in her head.
“Mind telling me what just happened?”
She shrugged.
“First I see you leave your register. Then I see you accost a customer. This is unacceptable.” When
she said nothing, he said, “Shut the door and have a seat.”
Keeping her breathing steady, she pressed the door the remainder of the way closed and slowly
paced to the chair across from his desk. Dropping into the seat, she kept her gaze down.
“You’re going to have to explain your actions.”
Her eyes closed and she sighed. “That customer was taking my picture, and then she said she didn’t
need her groceries and left.”
“And you thought the right thing to do was chase after her and grab her? We could have a lawsuit.”
She glared at him. “She was taking photos of me!”
“That’s no excuse for your actions.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping his
manicured mustache. He appraised her for some time then announced, “I’m changing your shift. I
think you’d be better suited for evenings.”
Her breath froze like tiny vines of ice in her lungs. If she worked nights, she wouldn’t be able to
continue her lessons. “I can’t do nights.”
“You’re still in the preliminary stage of employment. You need to be flexible if you intend to
become a permanent employee.”
She didn’t want the evening shift. That meant walking home after dark. Less time with Lucian. No
more working with Nick. And worst of all, no time to get tutored. All forms of pride took a backseat
as she blinked back tears. “Please, Mr. Gerhard. My schedule works for me the way it is. I don’t want
it to change.”
“I think you’d be better under Monica’s supervision.”
“Monica?”
“The evening store manager.”
Her mind ticked over solutions rapidly as she tried to figure out a reasonable argument. Maybe she
should go back to her housekeeping job at Patras. Maybe she could talk to someone above Mr.
Gerhard. She hadn’t even earned her first paycheck yet, and she had the sinking suspicion there
wouldn’t be another.
She stood. “I’m sorry you feel that way. My schedule doesn’t allow for me to work a night shift.
I’m afraid if you insist on changing it I’ll have to put in my resignation.”
His brows shot up from behind his coke-bottle glasses. “Now, I didn’t say you had to leave.”
Maybe this was for the best. Lucian offered to pay for her tutoring and the more she considered his