Page 459 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“Obviously.”
Chadwick pushed off the door, spun around, grabbed the handle, and flashed a cocky smile over his shoulder at me. “I’ll be back for you.”
“I’ll be here.”
He tugged at the handle.
I sighed and rubbed at my eyes again. “You know, in order to come back for me you have to physically leave first.”
“Uh… about that.”
I lifted my chin from my knuckles. “Don’t say it.”
Chadwick let his hand fall from the door and faced me. “Okay. In that case, we’re not locked in.”
“Damn it, Chadwick!”
“I didn’t know the handle was broken.” He gave me a sheepish smile and scratched at his chin. “I know this might not help things, but it’s a little funny that this is almost the exact same thing that happened to you when you got locked in this store ten years ago.”
“Except for the part where I was locked in an entire department store, and you’ve locked us in a closet.” I stood up with my fists bunched at my sides. “Now feels like the right time to tell you that I’m claustrophobic.”
His lips pressed together in a fine line. “That’s unfortunate.”
“Mildly,” I grumbled as the walls inched inward. “Let’s use our heads here. Do you have your phone on you? Let’s call the store. Maybe one of the cashiers will answer and they can send someone to try to unlock the door from the outside. They must have a set of keys somewhere.”
He patted himself down until he found his phone in the pocket of his jacket. Chadwick held it up and gave it a little wiggle, as if reassuring me that we were saved. But then his screen lit up, and his eyes flicked to the top bar, and his brows drew together, and a dejected sound came from his throat.
“Let me guess,” I said dryly, “no service?”
He shook his head and put the phone back in his pocket. “No service. Looks like we’re doing this the old-fashioned way.”
“Which is?”
Chadwick turned and pounded his fist on the door. “Help! We’re in here! Can anyone hear me?”
I groaned and rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “There’s no way they’ll be able to hear you unless they come back here. This store is way too big. And guess what? Those shelves out there are fully stocked specifically for the VIP shoppers. Nobody is going to come into the storage room until tomorrow morning.”
“Someone will notice we’re missing. I’m too charismatic not to be missed, Tinsel.”
“Or they’ll assume that we ran out like we did last time.”
Chadwick slumped against the door and massaged the outside of his fist, which had turned red from pounding on the door. “Shit.”
“Yup.” I fell heavily back down on the stool. “Shit indeed.”
Chadwick slid his hands into his pant pockets and rocked back on his heels. “It’s not all bad.”
Did he not realize how dire this situation was? For starters, the closet had no heat, and I was fairly certain that the back wall was an exterior one, which meant it would only get colder over the next several hours until the sun hit it at dawn—if the sun even came out to play, of course. On top of that, we had no food, no water, and no guaranteed timeline of when we would get out of here.
Despite the cold, I felt suddenly hot.
I returned to my feet and tugged at the collar of my long-sleeved shirt, which felt too tight around my throat. “It’s all bad, Chadwick. I’m freezing and sweaty all at once. I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, and I can already feel an anxiety rash starting on my chest.”
He moved toward me. “All you need is a distraction.”
I threw my hands in the air over my head. “A distraction! Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?” I planted my hands on my hips and turned in a full circle, looking at all the distraction-worthy items in the storage closet. “We could make a tower out of toilet-paper rolls. Oh, or better yet, we could unravel it all and use it as a blanket to lay on. Grab a roll.” I threw one into his hands.
Chadwick promptly set the roll of toilet paper back on the shelf. “Tinsel, take a breath. You’re spiralling.”
