Seeing Is Believing Read Online Free

friend. "I told you
yesterday, he's just a friend of Chester's who's down
on his luck. I offered him a part-time job to work in the mornings, while
you're not here."
    Tambi didn't look
convinced, though, and Leslie felt a twinge of guilt for lying to her friend.
She'd wanted to tell her the truth, but Reed had insisted it was a bad idea.
    "If she's not in on it, giving her that
type of information could make things dangerous for her, if the person, or
persons, responsible start asking questions. Best to let her think I'm just a
new co-worker. Only you, Chester and myself will know
the truth."
    At the time he'd said the words she'd
been convinced. But now, staring at Tambi's worried
face, she wasn't so sure. She had to shore up her friend's sense of belonging
at Spice is Nice.
    "I'm not firing you, and you can take
that to the bank. I just did this as a favor to Chester."
    Tambi nodded,
although she still seemed a little less sure of herself. Leslie knew Tambi needed the money from both her jobs to make ends
meet, and that seeing Reed behind the counter only made her think bad things.
    "Why don't you go and tell him he's
relieved," Leslie said with a smile. "Then you can work the after-school rush.
You can leave Josh here with me, if you want."
    "That's okay, my mom's coming by for him. She says she doesn't get to see him enough."
    Leslie wondered if that was the reason
for Carol's sudden interest in her grandson, or if Tambi asked her to come by because she thought Leslie didn't want Josh in the store
anymore. She decided not to push the issue, though, and nodded.
    "Fine. When you
relieve Reed, would you send him back here, please?"
    Tambi nodded, and
about ten minutes later Reed came through the door, still wearing his apron.
The sight made Leslie smile. The white garment meant to protect his clothing
did nothing to detract from his masculinity. He was absolutely gorgeous.
    "You rang, boss?" He winked and her
heart beat just a little faster.
    "Here are the tracking papers they faxed
to me. According to them the box weighed forty pounds when it shipped."
    He took the papers and frowned. "Would
you say that's how much it weighed? After all, you lifted it."
    "Yes, when it first got here that's how
much it weighed. But you know as well as I do that when we picked it up
yesterday afternoon and put it on the scale it weighed fourteen pounds."
    He nodded. " Sorta smart on their part, I think. A forty pound box is heavy, yeah, but not over
the top. Don't make it so heavy that someone will want to investigate, or
charge more for it."
    He sat down on the edge of her desk.
"How many boxes are coming in today?"
    "Three." She walked to her desk and
picked up a sheet of paper. "Then, next week, the shipment with the T-shirts
has five boxes."
    Leslie watched him consider the
information. "If I were them, I wouldn't put anything in the today's box; that
would throw you off, or so they would think. I would wait until next week, with
the T-shirts."
    She felt as if her world was crashing
down on her. "Of course, they may not do it at all anymore. Yesterday could
have been a one shot thing, not that we really believe that."
    "Obviously you don't, since you're still
hanging around."
    "Gee thanks, nothing hurts my ego like a
woman who says I'm still hanging around like I'm three-week old garbage."
    She smiled at him, her mood lightening
just a little. "I didn't mean it that way." She shuffled around just a little, then cleared her throat. "The truck should be here with my
delivery in less than ah hour. I'm going to make the
driver wait while I check out the box."
    "No, you're not."
    "Yes, I am." She gave a low grunt. "This
is my business we're talking about."
    "And finding out what's going on is my
business. Don't make me regret telling you what's happening."
    Leslie turned so fast she felt
lightheaded. She put her hand on the desk to steady herself. "Listen to me,
while I repeat myself very slowly. I agreed to act as if you worked here to
help