Life After Dark: Book Two of the Dark Series

Chapter 64

"Mrs. Jensen?" the young teenager cautiously began.

"Yes, Lisa?" Carrie asked. She gave her prospective employee a gentle smile and hoped the young girl would just say whatever was on her mind and go. Carrie wasn't too proud of herself for feeling that way, but she couldn't help it. Lisa, with her multiple piercings and black lipstick, was her last interview of the day, and Carrie wanted it over with as soon as possible. Lisa seemed to be a nice enough person, but Carrie didn't want her to represent her boutique, not the way she was presently dressed.

"Well, um...your phone is off the hook," Lisa said, raising a tentative finger to point at Carrie's telephone.

"I know, hon. I did it on purpose," Carrie said with a smile. She only wished she had thought of it sooner. A series of crank calls had forced her to resort to desperate measures. The very first thing, the following morning, Carrie planned to have the telephone give her a new number. A phoneline tied up with senseless calls would not help her boutique serve her customers.

"Oh," Lisa replied, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Well, now, Lisa, your application says that you worked at a video rental store. Could you tell me a little bit about that?" Carrie asked, looking from the application to glance at the timid girl.

"Well, um...I worked there."

"Yeah," Carrie said, hoping the girl would continue before she lost her mind.

"Until I quit."

Carrie bit her lip to refrain from speaking the first thought that came to her mind. Instead, she said, "How were you with customers?"

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. I didn't work with any."

"Your application says you were a cashier. How could you not work with customers?" Carrie asked with a frown.

"I quit before I had to."

"Okay!" Carrie said, abruptly rising from her chair behind her makeshift desk. "Thanks, Lisa. It's been a pleasure meeting you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Jensen," Lisa said, taking Carrie's lead and rising from her chair, too.

As soon as Lisa left the boutique, Carrie released a sigh of relief. Running her hands through her hair, she quickly moved about her store. She straightened her desk and began to organize the applications of the people she had interviewed that day. She grimaced as she realized that none of them had the qualifications or the common sense she needed to help her make Carrie's Essentials a success. Her despair was so deep that she didn't hear her front door open and close.

"Carrie."

Carrie dropped the stack of applications she had been going through and her startled eyes flew to her unexpected visitor. "Stefan? Has something happened? Dawn is-"

"She's fine. I apologize for coming here unannounced. Dawn mentioned that your boutique would be open to the public soon, and I wanted to stop by and offer my congratulations," he said, his tone smooth as he allowed his eyes to gaze on her. She appeared to be at her wit's end, but she couldn't have looked more appealing if she tried. Her hair was mussed, her make-up was nothing more than a memory and her clothes were in a disarray, but Stefan couldn't help but find himself attracted to her.

Carrie gave him a faint smile and said, "Thank you, but as you can see, I'm far from a grand opening."

"Is there a problem?" he asked, genuinely concerned as his brow creased into a frown.

"Not one that I can't handle," she reassured him with a smile.

Stefan gave a slight nod in acceptance of her answer. He would be certain to not overstep his bounds again. She, like her daughters, was fiercely independent. They weren't prone to accepting help from anyone unless they trusted the person. He was not so foolish as to think he'd won her trust so easily, but he was sure that in time, he would.