Alex Harris 00 - Armed

put together your résumé for me and I’ll look it over.”
    “I don’t see why I should have to.”
    I sighed, tired of going in circles. “If you want me to recommend you for the position, I need to see your résumé. I’m not promising anything, but if your qualifications fit, then I can submit it. As long as you’re here, can I ask you a few more questions?” I wanted to ask her about the plans for the museum. I wasn’t sure if Joanne knew about the special project and I didn’t feel it my place to mention if Mr. Poupée wanted it kept under wraps. I hesitated a moment formulating my thoughts. “Does Mitch ever show you his designs?” I began hoping this might lead somewhere.
    Joanne shrugged. “Sometimes. Why?”
    “I just wondered if he worked on anything special lately.”
    “The usual stuff. He’s working on some new mannequin accessories. I think he may have help with the new designs for the museum project in the early stages but that’s about it. That’s Ron’s project.”
    Good. Joanne knew. “So you never saw any of the designs, then?”
    “No. They’re kept under lock and key.”
    “Do you have any idea what they’re all about?”
    This time Joanne sighed. “No. Elvira did all the work on the proposal. What is this? Why are you asking me about that?” Joanne’s voice rose to a whine.
    “No reason. I might be helping Mr. Poupée with temporary staff for the project and I wanted to get a feel for what kind of work it would be,” I lied and amazed myself at how quickly and easily I did it. Not a good habit to acquire.
    “Then why don’t you ask him? You work so closely together,” Joanne said, sarcasm frosting every word.
    I smiled. “I guess I will. With all that’s going on lately, I didn’t want to bother him. I thought maybe you could help.”
    “Well, sorry. But I don’t know anything about it.”
    I walked Joanne to the door and then went back to my office to get my things, ready to call it a day—a very long day. I turned out the light looking forward to a salad and NCIS reruns when the front door opened again. I called out, silently admonishing myself for leaving it unlocked yet again.
    “Hello?”
    “Hello.”
    “Detec… John. What are you doing here?”
    “I thought I’d check and see how you are. You must be happy this whole thing is almost over.”
    I smiled. “Thank you. That’s very nice. Does this mean you’ve questioned Emmanuelle already?”
    “No, not yet.”
    He stood there looking like a little boy. A little boy with a sexy five o’clock shadow.
    “You look like you want to say something,” I encouraged.
    “Maybe it’s just all in my head, but I think we might feel something toward each other. At least I know I’m attracted to you.”
    I nodded. “I’m attracted to you, too.” I’ve got us pretty much married and kitchen curtains picked out, I thought thinking back to my conversation with Sam.
    “Well, I see you’re ready to go. I’ll walk you out.”
    “John, do you like salad?”

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

    Three years ago I took one of the biggest steps of my life by putting down my life’s saving on a little two-bedroom, one good-sized bath house. It came with an updated kitchen, a small dining room, and a living room with a fireplace. It had a pleasant yard where I barbecued in the summer and a one-car garage that protected my Honda from the cold New England winter. I loved my house; sometimes I thought it might be the place where I would live for the rest of my life. But sitting on my living room floor eating a salad, baked goat cheese, and crusty bread with John Van der Burg, I suddenly had my doubts. I didn’t think it would be big enough for two people. We would have to find a bigger place.
    Winston would probably have something appropriate to say at my sudden impulsiveness but I couldn’t think of anything at the moment. And besides, I had no plans to ask the man to marry me on the spot or even in the next year, or maybe ever. I thought I might be the living together type, but not the marrying type. All at once, I felt like this was what I had been waiting for my whole life without even knowing it. Of course, I couldn’t tell John any of this. He would find out all in good time. Right now I needed to concentrate on getting to know my future mate.
    “Both Sam and I hired ourselves out on more than one occasion in order to meet the needs of a client, then things got better and lately it’s been very slow again, but