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Only after she’d gone to greet solance over at Owen His eyes were firmly locked on the display case, but his cheeks were still a bright red that had nothing to do with the cold wind outside My own face felt a little too warm for comfort There weren’t too ed couple when you were just friends, especially if there was even the slightest undercurrent of more than just friends from either side I felt like she’d pulled s out for public display

"See anything you like?" I asked

He pointed toward a delicate brooch that looked alold "That’s it It’s her"

"Wow, that was easy," I said, turning to get the saleslady’s attention She ith another customer, and the moment I saho that customer was, I ducked behind Owen

"What is it?" he asked

"That other customer--no, don’t look!--is re row horns"

In spite of , he turned to look "She doesn’t seem so bad"

"That’s what’s so evil about her She seems perfectly nice, totally rational And then in the blink of an eye she turns into this ht set her off With any luck, she’ll get out of here before she recognizes ht away It was as good as saying a ic spell tothe store to give me an insincere air kiss

"Yeah, it’sin your new job?"

"Great"

She raised a thin, overplucked eyebrow "Really? I find that surprising, given your skill level I would have thought you’d find it a real challenge to take on a new job" Even though the words were venomous, she maintained a pleasant tone and expression

I felt like I was right back in my old position, when she could make me feel so helpless I wanted to burst into tears I’d only ed to stand up to her when I already had the new job lined up Otherwise, I’d spentnot to set her off

"It e promotion," Owen said in the kind of ss when he was inti arot the appreciative look in her eye that woet when they saw him, then turned to me and sniffed disdainfully "You would have needed a lotand experience before you were ready to anization"