CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
The janitor hefted the trash bags a little higher at the sound of someone in the hall, thinking he was going to have to shuffle past the security guard with them, make room for him to come through. No one liked to have to squeeze by loaded trash bags, but in this smaller space, there wasn’t a lot of choice. He was almost done with his work for the night, now that all the mannequins were back where they should be. All but one of them, anyway.
The janitor looked up to meet the security guard’s eyes and almost flinched, so unexpected was the change. It wasn’t the guard at all, but a woman. A beautiful one, with blonde hair in a ponytail swishing behind her as she walked. She looked a little pale, a little tired, but that didn’t dim her beauty. If anything, it made her fragile and therefore more wonderful, like a hothouse rose that could wilt at any second. She was dressed in a sharp black suit like what the FBI wore on TV, but she was far too pretty and soft for that.
“Hi,” he said, just to break the ice. “Looks like you’ve had a long day.”
She gave a startled little half-laugh, pressing her hands against the top part of her cheeks as if to hide the bags under her eyes. “Oh, God, do I look that bad?”
He laughed and looked down a moment, abashed, before meeting her eyes again. “No, not at all. It’s just I don’t usually see a lot of people down here this late at night, and you look like you’re working. So it must have been a long day.”
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging her shoulders and smiling. She paused in the corridor just before she had to pass him, as if enjoying the conversation too much to continue on. “And it’s not over yet. I have some work to do over there, in the warehouse.”
“Oh, don’t let me stop you,” he said, smiling pleasantly. “You ought to hurry on so you can get back home to your family.”
“I live alone,” she said, with a sweet smile, before she started to move again. “But you’re right. I should get on with things.”
The janitor turned his head to watch as she walked away, and she glanced back over her shoulder too, blushing and giving a quick giggle before she disappeared through the door at the end of the hall.
The janitor walked on hurriedly, putting the trash into the containers outside just as the security guard looped around the other side of the building, the beam of his flashlight disappearing. The janitor’s shoulders slumped a little. Too slow. He’d wanted to talk to him.
He turned and went back inside the hall, pausing a moment as his eyes adjusted to the light again. Then she stepped back into the hall, walking towards him rapidly with a smile, and his heart swelled a little inside his chest.
“Done already?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just needed one quick thing,” she said. “Now I’m finally done. What a relief!”
“That’s a shame,” he said, with a sly little smile, ready for her to react so he could drop his next line.
“What do you mean?” she asked, almost a little shocked but not quite, still dazzled and pleased by the way their flirtatious conversation was going.
“Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to head out for a drink or dinner to celebrate finally getting done, but I’ve still got a few things left to do here.” He let the words drop into the air, leaving them open for her to respond, making sure to add an open and friendly smile alongside them.
“Well,” she said, toying with the end of a piece of her blonde hair. “Like I said, there’s no one waiting for me at home. I could wait around a little while until you’re done.”
“Then I better hurry up,” he said, grinning. “Why don’t you decide where I’m taking you while I finish up? Whatever you’re in the mood for, I don’t mind. My treat, of course.”
“Alright,” she giggled, and she stepped outside with her cell phone, already searching for restaurants in the local area that were still open.
He smiled, knowing how this was going to go already. Dinner and conversation, getting to know one another better and finding out they had so much in common. She would see past his job, know it was just a way to make a living. She would see him. He’d change into something smarter on the way and she’d see him for who he really was, the way that few people ever did. And she’d fall for him, the way he had fallen for her. By the end of the night, their first kiss…
The janitor shook himself mentally, telling himself to stop. This wasn’t the time. Not right now.
For just a moment he knew: she hadn’t flirted with him. And he hadn’t had the courage to flirt with her. They hadn’t even exchanged a word – only a nod. That was all he had managed. There was no point distracting himself with fantasies when –
But of course, that wasn’t real either, and –
He shook himself again, trying to fall back into the way things should be.
She was pretty, but he already had a goal for tonight. He had decided he was going to see his cousin. The security guard. They were going to spend some real quality time together in a way they’d never had the chance to before. They were going to hang out. He’d promised that. He couldn’t go back on his word now. Not even for a pretty girl.
He had to focus on one goal at a time.
He dumped the last of the trash in the massive garbage containers outside in the loading bay and then turned, dusting off his gloves. That was all taken care of. Now he could go and see his cousin and connect with him for the first time, explain to him about how they were related and neither of them had known about it for so long. He could finally have that real family connection that he had been craving for so long.
He walked around the side of the building, following the last place he had seen that beam of light go, ready to loop around through the warehouse again until he found him.