Meant To Be Mine

Eddie nodded. “You get what you pay for,” he told her simply.

She had a feeling that he was conveniently omitting one little fact. “And you get a percentage of all those high-end prices, right?”

She thought she saw him stiffen ever so slightly, as if he’d just taken offense. “I’m charging for my work,” he pointed out. “The price—the actual price—of any fixtures gets passed on to your mother. You’re welcome to take a look at the bills of sale if you want to.”

She wasn’t going to bother beating around the bush. “Then you don’t increase the price of each item?” Tiffany challenged.

He shook his head. “That’s not the way I do it,” Eddie told her, although he doubted she believed him. But he had no intention of trying to convince her. She could believe him or not, that was her prerogative. He had better things to do than to try to prove his trustworthiness.

Tiffany shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

“Let’s just get this over with,” she told him with a deep sigh. Maybe he was actually telling the truth, maybe he wasn’t. She just didn’t want to waste any more time over this than she had to.

* * *

It surprised her how many choices there were of absolutely everything and how many stores were devoted exclusively to just one or two types of items. It was like entering a completely different world.

Although she had initially just wanted to point and go, Tiffany was stunned to find herself deliberating. Specifically, she was having a hard time picking out the kind of bathtub she wanted and exactly what she wanted built into it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tiffany caught a glimpse of her “guide” in this gleaming fixture jungle, smiling to himself as she vacillated between two different models.

“You tricked me, didn’t you?” she accused with only a slight frown.

Eddie spread his hands wide, the picture of total innocence. “I’m just the one who brought you here,” he told her. “You’re the one who’s trying to decide between two kinds of bathtubs.”

“Which I wouldn’t be doing if you hadn’t shown them to me,” Tiffany pointed out, exasperated that she had been put in this position.

Eddie took the blame graciously. “Ah, but think what you would have been missing out on if we hadn’t come here,” he said.

Tiffany’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “You can’t miss what you don’t know,” she countered stubbornly.

The expression on his face all but told her that he knew she didn’t believe that, even though, out loud, he made it sound as if he was capitulating. “Whatever you say.”

Tiffany realized they were going to stand here in this little shop until she came to some sort of a decision. With a huff she pointed to the tub that came loaded with top-of-the-line Jacuzzi features.

“That one,” she announced. “I’ll take that one.”

Looking solemn, Eddie nodded. “Good choice.” And then he stopped her dead in her tracks as he asked in a very mild voice, “What color?”

Completely frustrated, Tiffany threw up her hands. “Arrgh!”

“I don’t think it comes in that color,” he replied evenly. “How about light blue?”

For some strange reason, the man was enjoying this. She could have strangled him.

“Fine.” Tiffany bit off the word. “Get the bathtub in light blue.”

The corners of his mouth curved. “See how easy that was?”

Her fingers began itching again. She would have loved to wrap them around his neck. “You’re lucky that I’m not strangling you,” she informed him from between clenched teeth.