I chuckle. Once I take them off of my face I can see again. Now I head straight for the five boxes of truffles and various kinds of chocolate that I stashed here a couple of days ago.
Whew. Mission accomplished. I return to the door of the freezer and open it with my free hand. As I do, my sunglasses drop to the floor.
Fine, I’ll leave them. There’s no time. I make it out the door and into the hallway. And then I slam right into Vivian. The boxes in my arms wobble, but luckily I’m able to regain control.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Vivian says before she considers what’s actually going on. “Hey, guests are not supposed to be back here.” Then her eyes settle on the boxes of chocolate in my arms.
“Oh no,” I say. “This is not what it looks like.” What it looks like is that I’m a random guest sneaking into the kitchen freezer to steal desserts. Kaylee’s deserts. Scrumptious Chocolates. Like it or not, all my current co-workers know about my side hustle.
Vivian stares at my face. “Kaylee?”
Oh no. I should have run away when I had the chance. I just stood here like an idiot. And now I’m standing here silently cursing Chase for being the worst lookout in the history of the world. Seriously. He had one job. How could he be so bad at it?
“Kaylee what are you doing here stealing your own candy?” She looked me up and down. “In a bikini?”
I stop to think about which question to answer first and then consider just bolting without a word.
“Because Ralph is pissed.” Unfortunately, Vivian continues her train of thought for my benefit before I get to answer. “The rumor is you called in sick. You don’t look sick.” She raises an eyebrow. “You look like you’re out sunbathing during one of the busiest weekends of the season while the rest of us are working our asses off in a hot kitchen.”
Vivian, despite all her faults, is smarter than I give her credit for. Maybe I should have asked her to play lookout. I’d better think of something, and fast. “Hey, just because I don’t look sick doesn’t mean I’m not sick. The sickest people in hospitals look just fine.” I am a horrible liar, especially under pressure. Luckily, every single word of that is true. Surprisingly.
As soon as I see Vivian’s expression change, I know I’m in deep trouble.
“Oh no. I’m so sorry, Kaylee. What’s wrong with you? How bad is it?”
Mayday, mayday. Kaylee, what have you done? Now Vivian has caught the scent of both drama and gossip. Think. And whatever happens, don’t say something incredibly stupid. “I need an operation.” I blurt out. Because I suck at lying. And also at making stuff up on the fly that has anything to do with medical terminology. I am going to kill Chase.
Vivian’s eyes get as big as saucers.
It shouldn’t have been possible for me to make this situation even worse than it was a few seconds ago, but I’m just that good.
“What surgery do you need? Maybe we can raise money to help. I know some people.”
“No!” I blurt out. I must have looked terrified because she came in for a hug. I can’t even object because I’m still holding all of the chocolates in my hand. “There, there, Vivian. I’m going to be okay. Probably. Maybe? I just don’t know.” Oh shit. I just made it worse. Again. Shut up, Kaylee. I have to get out of here. “Look, it’s a tiny operation. No big deal. I’m going to be fine, okay? Please, just don’t tell Ralph I was here.”
I rush off to find Chase.
“Wait, why would you be in a bikini if you’re sick?” Vivian calls out after me.
I panic. Again. “Um, I’m supposed to get a bunch of Vitamin D- or else!”
Without looking back, I dart out of there just as fast as my legs will take me. Before long, I nearly run into Chase, making his way back to his post. Presumably returning from my pastry display area.
Anger flares inside me at the smug look on his face. At the very least, he should be sorry for screwing this up so bad. “What the fuck, Chase?”
“What?” he asks defensively.
I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. “The one person I absolutely couldn’t run into ran into me!” I whisper-yell at him.
Then I take a quick breath. “Okay, the second worst person. I mean Ralph would be the first absolute worst person for me to run into. And we’d better get out of here before that happens. The point is that you didn’t even warn me.”
“I did! I cleared my throat very loudly. Just like we agreed. There’s no way you didn’t hear me. It was loud.”
He seems very certain of himself. If he did clear his throat like he says, then why didn’t I hear him?
Because I was in the freezer. Obviously I wouldn’t hear him clear his throat if he were anywhere out here and I was inside the freezer. I feel my shoulders sag. I thought it was a good plan, but there was a flaw in it big enough to drive a truck through.
Fine, so I bear some responsibility in this crap show. Plus who knows what Vivian’s going to do now. At least I got the chocolates I need. That is literally the only good thing to come out of the last few minutes.
I hear footsteps and grab Chase by his tee shirt. “We have to go. I’ll yell at you more later.”
Once we get out into the hallway, he does a double take at me carrying everything. “Oh, hey, let me grab those.”
“They’re not that heavy,” I protest. Now that the danger is over, he thinks he’s going to swoop in and
