Chapter 3 - Harper
He was looking right at me. My heart is practically jumping out of my chest. Get it together! I’ve only had half a glass of wine and I’m already dizzy from one look. Who cares how good looking he is?! He’s a player! And he’s my BOSS.
I glance at Rosie and nod towards the lights. She grabs the strand of wire and we lift it away from the tree together. We move it up a fraction of an inch and then place it back down on the fake green branches. It looks exactly the same.
“There,” I say with exaggerated satisfaction, dusting my hands off in front of me. Rosie laughs. I glance at her and grin before turning back to the tree. At least it got me away from Greg.
“It looks perfect, Harps,” Rosie says. I can tell she means it.
“It better look perfect, it’s costing old Mister Zachary Moneybags a small fortune,” I laugh. “I still can’t believe he approved the expense.”
My eyes drift upwards and I notice that one of the bow-shaped ribbons is caught in a branch and twisted awkwardly. I reach up towards it, trying to wiggle it loose. It’s almost out of reach. I can just touch it with the tips of my fingers as I stand on the tip of my toes.
I take a small step forward and try to reach the bow again. The soft velvet of the bow tickles my fingertips and I stretch my body a tiny bit more until I can grasp it between two fingers.
“Come on,” I breathe, grabbing it and pulling it down to straighten it out. I have the bow in my fingers and pull gently, but something is wrong. It’s not budging as easily as I thought it would. I try yanking it a little bit harder to bring the bow out from the branches. I’m on the tips of my toes, taking a thousand tiny steps forward and back to keep my balance. I grab the bow once more between my fingers and pull just a tiny, tiny bit harder.
The bow wrenches loose and I finally get a grip on it, and then everything happens at once. I try to fix the ribbon but something is wrong. I’m still on the tips of my toes and I feel like the ground is shifting under my feet and I can’t regain my balance. My feet shuffle forward and back again a million times. My stomach drops and time slows down.
No, no, no, no, no!
“Harper!” I hear Rosie’s voice as if it’s coming at me from underwater. I hear her scream as I feel myself falling backwards, still grabbing on to that pesky velvet ribbon between my fingers. My heart leaps into my throat as I feel the ground falling away from me, sending me flying backwards. I’m spinning, falling through the air in slow motion. Finally I let go of that stupid bow and my arms fly up towards my head to protect my fall.
I hit the ground with a thud and the air gets knocked out of my lungs. My eyes are closed and the pain of the landing jolts through my body.
I land a second before the tree does. Before I know what’s happening, there’s a deafening series of smashes and crunches and shattering of ornaments all around me as the plastic branches collapse on top of me. All sixteen feet of the massive, expensive, unnecessary Christmas tree that I insisted on ordering falls down on top of me with an earth-shattering crash.
It takes a second for me to realise what’s happened. Miraculously I haven’t been impaled, but all I can see are green branches and shattered ornaments all around me. I’m pinned under the tree. I can’t move. When the ringing in my ears quiets down I hear shouting and screaming from my coworkers and I close my eyes, sighing deeply.
Oh. My. God.
The reality of what’s just happened slowly dawns on me as I lay there, trapped by my own decorations. There’s a plastic pine branch rubbing against my cheek and a hard ornament digging into my leg. I try to move my leg but all I can do is wiggle my foot back and forth. I’m well and truly stuck. I close my eyes and try to catch my breath.
I’ve just tipped over the sixteen-foot tree on top of myself at the annual Christmas party, in front of every single employee and all my bosses. In front of him - in front of Zach freaking Lockwood! The embarrassment is almost too much to bear. I lay my head down on the hard floor and close my eyes, trying to ignore the thumping of my heart and the burning in my cheeks.
Rosie’s voice calls out. “Harper! Are you okay?!” She sounds panicked. I try to answer but nothing comes out, so I clear my throat and try again.
“Yep, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” I answer, trying to keep my voice steady. I’m fine. I’m great, even. Fantastic. Never better.