Page 3 of Secret Cinderella
“I have guests coming so I expect you to wear your… uniform.”
Finally. Guests. The maid uniform meant Nancy wanted to impress and the staff for the house was long gone, except the maid’s outfit fit her. Hopefully this was a romantic prospect that took her stepmother and her daughters out of Charlotte’s life forever. “I’m on it.”
She headed to the produce section and met Jack, who was unpacking the apples that had just arrived. She pitched in, opening a crate. He said, “You need serious help. None of this is okay.”
Her sister Linda giggled with her phone in her hand, clearly not working as she stood in the center of the store aisle. Charlotte stayed in the side aisle, dug into the box, and moved the apples faster while she said, “Jack, it’s not forever and I’ll beat her in the end.”
Jack tapped her arm, reminding her without words to slow down. “How?”
Mickey sashayed out of the break room and met Linda like they had no worries in the world, and they both laughed at whatever Linda pointed to on her phone. Charlotte stacked the apples. “Because she won’t make me abandon my inheritance.”
Jack stopped and glanced at the drafty back delivery door, where a shaft of light drifted into the dark shadows. “There is a world outside these walls. You can live your own dreams.”
She didn’t know about that, but her only hope was if she stayed and outlasted the others. Unlike her stepsisters, she didn’t bank on something artificial, like good looks. And in the end, she’d win. Charlotte held her head high. “Look, in high school the guidance counselor met with me weekly to talk me out of my plans. Ms. Pitts urged me to go to college.”
Jack elbowed her and said, “Ms. Pitts is why I enrolled to get a mechanical degree. In one year, I’m out of here.”
And probably leaving Pittsburgh and her too. If he found a job that is. Maybe if he gotten into the plumbing trade…that industry wasn’t going away and local so he’d be near her always. She needed to let that wish go fast as it wasn’t what he wanted. She forced her shoulders to relax. Charlotte wouldn’t have anyone to talk to during the day, but she’d survive. This past year he’d had a string of girlfriends, leaving her alone a few times anyhow. She’d learned a long time ago that she was the kind of girl who bounced back. “That’s the only thing I’m jealous about.”
His gaze narrowed as he asked, “What’s that?”
She continued moving the apples from the box. “I wish I had an end-date for when everyone finds love, marries, and gets out of the store. A deadline.”
Jack shook his head like he didn’t approve, but that didn’t matter. One day it would happen—she’d run this store and improve it. Jack would eventually fall for some girl so hard that he left too. She’d learned to ignore the pings of jealousy. When she had a minute for herself, she jotted down her ideas, they ran from simple to complex, in order to turn the store around.
They finished the apples and Jack carted the empty boxes away.
She intended to get a coffee with Jack and stare into his empathetic brown eyes for a while, but Nancy had her arms crossed and the bathroom cleaning schedule in her hand. “Charlotte, please clean up the toy aisle.”
At least she wasn’t on toilet duty today as someone else on staff had that fun assignment. She nodded fast. “Yes, ma’am.”
She started to leave but Nancy raised her eyebrow so Charlotte stayed put. “And Charlotte?”
Charlotte batted her eyes as adrenaline rushed through her. “Yes?”
Nancy held the schedule at her side and Charlotte glanced at it, hoping she wasn’t back on bathroom duty. “I wanted to talk to you for a minute.”
Her heart raced fast. “Yes?”
Nancy folded the paper in her hand and Charlotte stilled. “I know I’m hard on you sometimes.”
Understatement of the year, but Charlotte simply said, “Yes.”
Nancy’s voice softened and she leaned in, almost like they were family as she said, “I know the store has suffered because I’d never managed a store before I married your father. Until he died, I never had to work on anything but supervising my hair stylist.”
Right. Charlotte knew that, and it was why she’d pitched in so much but she hadn’t expected her “help” to turn into forever work. She swallowed and said, “I understand.”
Nancy’s lips pressed together and she stared so hard at Charlotte that Charlotte’s face heated. “I don’t think you do,” her stepmother said. “I need to ensure my daughters enjoy the life I lost when I married into middle class.”
Charlotte had heard the stories Nancy had told her daughters about a life with mansions and servants, but that all seemed so… strange. Her hands had only ever known work, not expensive manicures. “And I wish you, Mickey, and Linda every success.”
Nancy tilted her head in shock. “Why?”
Seriously? Charlotte lifted her chin. “Because then I get the store and we’ll all be happy.”
Nancy snapped to end their tête-à-tête. “Well, get back to work in the toy section.”
Her stepmother strode off with that bathroom schedule in her hand. Maybe Jack was right that there was a world outside the store. Maybe life would be better if she just walked away, but she couldn’t let her father’s store turn into another failed shop. Charlotte would have nothing left. So, she’d win against her stepmother and her stepsisters. There was no other choice.
