My Christmas Stalker (4 page)

     “Yeah. Sure.” She answered a little more in control of her exuberance.

     
N
ora shut the door after Jeff had stepped into the elevator. She leaned on it and sighed. “Ooooh.”

     “Are—you—nuts?” Whitley hissed at her best friend. “You don’t know anything about him!”

     “Well, that is what dating someone is about…getting to know them.” Nora pushed off the door. “What do you think is in the dress boxes? Those are dress boxes you know.”

     “Don’t change the subject!” Whitley commanded. “What if he is a serial killer or worse?”

    “What’s worse than a serial killer? Give it a rest, will ya?”  Nora faced her friend. “He could be my dream man for all you know.” Whitley’s faced softened.

    “I am just worried about you.” The girls moved over to the couch with their boxes still in their hands.

     “Thanks, but I am a big girl. And besides, you can’t have all the nice guys in New York City begging for your attention. I deserve at least one!” Nora said in earnest. “Besides, not every guy you don’t know is a psycho.”

      “You’re right. I know! I know! I’m a paranoid, hopeless case.” Whitley stared at their boxes. “What do you think it is?”

      “On the count of three, let’s open them together! One, two, three!”

      The lids flew off and the tissue papers were pulled apart at the same time. They gasped in unison and stared at the contents of their own box. Several seconds of silence filled the room.

      Nora started stomping her feet with her mouth open, but no sound coming out. Whitley sat with her mouth opening and closing like a fish in a fish bowl.

      Whitley found her voice first. “Oh—my—gosh!” Her breathy sound whooshed out!

      Nora stood up and pulled Whitley with her. They started hopping up and down. They opened their mouths and finally gave sound to their inner screaming.

      Britney and Karla came on the run from their rooms. Karla had a baseball bat raised to her shoulder.

    “What?” Britney scanned the area while Karla stood ready to swing. “Who is it? What happened?” They watched their two roommates continue to jump up and down, screeching and hugging. The stunned girls approached the couch to see what was in the boxes.

     Their mouth’s dropped open and their hands came out to caress the dresses one by one.

     Nora and Whitley finally settled down and stopped for breath. Nora spoke for the both of them.

    “I can’t believe it! Those are the exact dresses we tried on today!” Whitley held her head in her hands for a moment. She reached in reverently and pulled out the dress and held it up to her body.

     Britney reached out to touch it again. “Where did you get these? More to the point,
how
can you afford these?” Karla’s eyes bugged out of her head as she picked up the box lid and read the store name.

     “Bella Noche`!” She let out an excited scream topping the other two’s highest pitch. “Who? When? What?” She collapsed on the nearest chair. “You bought dresses at Bella Noche`?”

     “You won’t believe it! Whitley and I delivered the pastries to the upstairs staff at Bella Noche` today and—we were the one thousandth customer!” Nora squealed again as she stomped her feet, her hands fisting and shaking in front of her. “We won their prize!”

     “Both of you?” Britney sunk into the large blue recliner.

     “They said we walked into the store together, so they gave out two prizes. But this! This is more than I can comprehend!”

      “Well, put them on, girls!” Karla yelled. “I gotta see ‘em on ya!” Her hands waved them out of the room. “Go, go!” The lucky winners raced to their rooms.

     Whitley and Nora modeled their dresses. Their roommates gaped at them and fanned themselves.

    “You are gorgeous!” Karla shook her hands in front of her then clapped and whistled.

     “You are to die for in that blue, Whitley. And that red! Nora, that is so you!” Britney beamed at them. “You are going to be the bells of the ball!”

     “You are going to wear them to the ball, aren’t you?” Karla asked.

     “That is the next part of the story!” Whitley said to the girls. They swerved their attention to her. “Nora now has a date with the deliver guy to the ball, who happens to be…a returned missionary!” The other girls squealed again as Whitley watched them all go crazy. “Excuse me…but he is a perfect stranger! Nora never learned about stranger danger!” The other girls paused and then burst out laughing at the same time.

    “Oh, Whitley! You are something else!” Britney giggled.

    “Oh, pooh. Everyone is a stranger until you meet them. Did you get his name?” Karla asked in mocking innocence, batting her eyes at Nora. She grinned back.

     “Yes. His name is Jeff Carlisle!” Her teeth flashed the room from her overzealous smile.

      “Jeff Carlisle!” Karla exclaimed. “Really?”

      “You know him?” Whitley asked, hope filled her eyes.

      “Nope, never heard of him!” Karla slapped Whitley on the back, laughing even louder. “Girl, you have got to lighten up.”

     “Some girls have all the luck!” Britney sighed.

    
D
avid sat waiting in the car at the curb. He taped his fingers, switched the radio station from one station to another, not focusing on what was coming out of it. He whistled without a tune. He chewed on a hang nail and then got out of the car. He pulled his coat around him and leaned on his car. He then ran up the stairs and read the occupant list. There she was. W. Spencer. Underneath it was Nora Wolf and a Britney and Karla. His mind didn’t register the full names of the other girls. They didn’t matter to him.

    David ran up and down the stairs five times until a tenant came out and stared at him with a funny expression. He returned to lean on his car.

    Finally, Jeff came out of the door. He wore a smile as wide as the Mississippi River. David rushed to meet him.

    “Did you get it? Did you deliver the dress? What did she say? Is she going to the dance?” David fired the questions at him.

      “Get in the car, man. I got to get home to call my date for the dance!” He punched his fist into the air. “Whoot! Whoot! Whoot!” David ran to his side of the silver Porsche as Jeff crawled in the passenger side.

      He shut the door and turned to his friend. “This car isn’t moving one inch until you tell me what happened.”

       Jeff was still grinning like a Cheshire cat. “She is so hot!”

      “Spill it, dude!” David growled.

      “Okay! Okay!” He laughed and took a deep breath. “Your lady is paranoid or shy or something.” Jeff commented.

      “Did you get her phone number?” David demanded. He was about to come out of his skin as it was!

      “No, she refused. She is careful about giving out her info to anyone.”

      “Shoot! Start at the beginning and don’t forget anything.”

       Jeff told him the whole thing. He laughed as he described the way Whitley’s hand was sticking out the door, trying to reach for the box without letting him in. David chuckled with him.

      “So, you got your woman and I still have to work to get mine!” David shook his head. “Okay! I am up to the challenge.”

     “I don’t know. She has a date already with that Shawn dude.” Jeff countered.

     “I have two weeks till the dance, remember? We better get to work.”

      “What do you mean ‘We? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?” Jeff kidded him. David stared him down.

     “You have the number to her best friend. You are the connecting link to my future.” David put the key in the ignition of his Porsche. “You get on that phone and make your date with Nora and invite her friend along. Set us up as a blind date.”

       
L
ater that night, the girls had finally calmed down from the high they had been on since the dresses had arrived. Whitley mulled over the probability that
the
dress she had been trying on was the one she had received as her “gift”. She sat up from her relaxed position on her bed. The cameras!

    She hopped off her bed and ran across the hall. She burst in on her friend.

    “I know how they knew what dress to bring us! The Cameras! The Cameras!” Whitley spoke with her hands, her voice loud. Nora shushed her and waved her quiet.

     “Just a sec, Jeff, Whitley is flapping about something.” She looked at Whitley with raised eyebrows. “What? Can’t you see I am on the phone?”

      “Hang up! Hang up! It is a set up!” Whitley hissed. “He probably stole the dresses!” She tried to grab for the phone. Nora stood up on her bed.

    “Whitley! That is enough!” Nora held her hand over the phone.

     “This is serious!” Whitley huffed. “He is the security guy. He had access to the store cameras. How else would he know what dresses we had tried on?”

     “Oh, Whitley! Please!” She expelled an irritated breath. “I have been talking to Jeff for the past two hours. He is really cool.” She shook her head. “He isn’t a peeping tom.”

     Whitley threw her hands in the air, then turned and crossed her arms. “I am right. I know it!”

     “Please excuse me, Whitley.” She glared at her. “Oh, and he wants to know if you want to go out for a yogurt tomorrow night with us. He has a friend he wants you to meet.”

     “No! Never!” Whitley yelled as she stormed out of the room.

     
J
eff turned off his cell phone, his grin said he was pleased with himself. Then he focused on David. “She said no. Actually she said never. She was yelling and was pretty convincing to me.”

     “No?” David paced the small living room in Jeff’s apartment. “Man!” He felt the frustration begin to take over. “How is it that I can run a multimillion dollar company and one girl can reduce me to this…pathetic case of nerves?” He sat down across from his buddy. “Okay. Plan C.” He rubbed his chin. “I guess I go to the mountain.”

     “She won’t let you in, man.”

     “Not her apartment. I feel a need to eat a lot of pastry.” Jeff nodded his agreement.

     “Good idea. At least you can afford to eat there every day for the rest of your life if that’s what it takes.” Jeff chuckled at his friends determined look. “Lighten up, man. If it’s meant to be, it will work itself out.”

    “Yeah, but I have to do my part. So I have studied it out in my mind, made a plan and now I will pray for God’s helping hand.”

      
T
he new day came as any other day for Whitley. She had trouble falling asleep as she worried about Nora connecting up with a possible stalker and now the new day looked like it would be a normal day at work. She got up, ate her regular bowl of Cheerios, dressed and walked to the subway. She took the subway to the 112
^th
street. Got off and walked to ‘Patty’s Pastries’. She was due at work at 7:00 a.m.

      The owner, Patty Phelps, and one earlier morning employee put the fresh pastries, muffins, cinnamon breads, and other goodies into the baker’s ovens at 4:00 a.m. Whitley opened the store and started the morning coffee, three Latte machines and two different flavored hot chocolate machines. By 7:30 there was usually one or two people waiting at the door for their breakfast before work.

    Whitley turned the sign at the door to ‘open’ and greeted Mrs. Bartenneli with a cheerful, “Good morning!” and a smile. She turned her ‘I am happy to be at work’ face towards the man waiting behind her favorite morning customer. Her smile froze for half a second, she felt her breath hitch as she made eye contact with the most gorgeous man she had ever seen! She tipped her head shyly and said, “Good morning,” then she quickly position herself behind the counter to be ready to serve her customers.

     “Are you ready for your usual cheese Danish this morning, Mrs. B?” asked Whitley with a radiant smile for the old woman. “How is Clarence today?”

     “Oh, dearie, that silly old cat ate my favorite Christmas cactus. And right when it was about to bloom, too!” She shook her head. “I think I will try something new today, sweetie.” The woman looked the case over.

      Whitley waited patiently. This was the normal routine. She would say she wanted something new, she would look over the case and then decide on the cheese Danish. Her eyes wondered to the good looking new customer. She was sure he had never been in the store before, even though there was something vaguely familiar about him.

     For a few seconds they stared at each other. Whitley shook herself mentally. “
What has come
over you?”
she asked herself as she jerked her attention back to the older woman stooped in front of the glass case.

    “I guess I will have the cheese Danish. It has the creamiest texture! I just can’t resist it!” She laughed happily. Whitley fished the pastry out and stuck it in the little bag she had waiting.

     “There you go. Hope you enjoy that.” She smiled at the adorable lady as she took the exact change from her. She rang up the purchase and smiled with fondness at the sweet elder lady.

      “Bye, Whitley.” She stepped back and bumped into Mr. Gorgeous. “Oh, excuse me, sir!” She glanced up at the man and then she stepped back with large eyes as she looked him up and down. “You know, sonny, you are a pretty handsome fella and the young lady there, behind the case, is single and the most sweetest person you could ever know.” She winked at him and laughed as she waved over her shoulder at Whitley.

     Whitley’s cheeks had turned a darker shade of pink. He had notice they were tinted a soft pink when he had walked in, but now he could tell the old lady had embarrassed her. He smiled at her.

     “May I help you?” Whitley said softly.

     “Well, I will take the sweetest thing you got behind the counter.” He winked at her. “The lady’s recommendation is enough for me!” He smiled at her. Her bones melted slightly at his low voice. Oh, he had a sexy voice! Chills ran up and down her spine.