Free The Charm Bracelet by Melissa Hill Page B

knew about things like camping – Holly would ask her about it later.
    She had been so deep in thought while walking that before she knew it she was standing inside The Secret Closet.
    ‘Thank God you’re here,’ Carole exclaimed when she went out back to her boss. ‘We are swamped – look how many boxes there are to go through. This is insane.’
    Holly looked around; the three boxes she had left unpacked yesterday had now turned into twelve, as if cloned overnight.
    ‘Oh my,’ she murmured. It wasn’t that they couldn’t go through them easily enough, it was that Carole was due to go out to Long Island that week to visit her daughter for Hanukkah, which was early this year. And Carole hated leaving unfinished business behind, and Carole hated not going through the boxes, or at least seeing every piece that came out, and whether she was going to sell it or not.
    She was always afraid that even her trusted Holly would let a vintage piece slip by. Usually when they went through boxes, what wasn’t kept went to the shelter at Sacred Heart a few blocks away. The last thing Carole wanted to see, she always said, ‘was a homeless person in a D olce and Gabbana overcoat’. As a percentage of all the store’s profits went to charity, it wasn’t that Carole wasn’t charitable, she was just obsessive.
    Holly put her hand on her boss’s shoulder, ‘Oh, you are such a control freak, I can handle it. I’ll go through one box at a time at the desk, OK?’
    Carole stood with her lips pursed.
    ‘And if I’m not sure about a piece I’ll call you, but I am usually pretty good at spotting the tags from Walmart.’ Holly grinned and gave her shoulder a little shake. ‘It’ll be fine, I promise.’
    Carole laughed nervously. ‘I know, you’ll be fine and that’s great, you can call me. I’m sorry sweetie, I just get wound up at the holidays.’
    Holly smiled. ‘We all d o that’s why there's eggnog. I'll take a box out with me now, all right? You go do what you have to do.’
    She loved having Carole as a boss, but she also loved having the shop to herself now and then.
    ‘You're right, I will.’ Carole pecked Holly on the cheek. ‘Oh, did you call UPS about the bracelet?’
    ‘Not yet, but it’s on my list.’
    ‘Great. I want to make a decision on whether or not we can sell that jacket. If it happened to get there by mistake …’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You and I both know there’ll be hell to pay.’
    But as it turned out the UPS service lines were jammed all morning, and try as she might, Holly couldn’t get anyone to answer her call.
    So, during lunch, she decided to take a walk over to the nearest UPS store and see if she could get her query dealt with in person.
    As she walked, a blast of icy wind hit her in the face. The weather had certainly turned colder today. 
    Reaching the address, Holly pulled open the door to the brightly lit store and was immediately comforted by the rush of warm air. Somewhat less comforting was the long line of customers who were waiting, albeit begrudgingly, for their turn with the sole – and seemingly harried – store clerk.
    She sighed. So much for being quicker in person…
    Still, it was all a necessary evil. Holly prayed that if – heaven forbid – she ever lost her charm bracelet, it would fall into the hands of someone who would try to return it to her.
    ‘It’s all good karma – especially at this time of year,’ she muttered to herself, taking her place at the end of the line. ‘Season of goodwill … pay it forward and all that.’
    Hearing her words, the man who was standing in front of her turned around quickly. He looked her up and down and she smiled politely at his frowning face.
    ‘Pay it forward?’ he barked. ‘I wish this line would move it forward. Bunch of holiday bullshit, can’t get anything done quickly.’ He turned back around and Holly took a deep breath.
    She plucked the charm bracelet out of her purse and studied it for what