Free One Bad Day (One Day) by Edie Hart Page A

and tugged her toward the row of benches and lockers. Next to her bag sat a giant girly, glittering light bulb head. The bulb head had blue colored eyes with curled eyelashes, blonde hair, and a purple sparkly hat perched jauntily on top. Tessa really hoped the bonus Irene promised would be worth it.
    Claudia pulled Tessa’s clothes out of her arms and placed them on the bench next to her bag. Then, she picked up the giant light bulb and put it over Tessa’s head. It came to her waist and had holes on the sides, which she stuck her gloved arms through. Mesh cutouts placed over the costume’s eyes allowed her to see out, but not very well.
    Claudia made a few more adjustments then said, “That looks great! I have to go. People are going to be checking in.”
    Through the mesh Tessa saw her limping her way out of the locker room.
    “Put your stuff away and come out when you’re done,” she called over her shoulder. Then she was gone.
    Tessa turned to pick up her clothes and accidentally snagged the handle of her bag. Change, dollar bills, keys, lip gloss, mascara, her driver’s license, a cell, and a variety of other items went scattering across the floor.
    “Tessa!” Irene called through the door, “Hurry up. They’re here.”
    On hands and knees, Tessa grabbed her bag, stuffing clothes and other items haphazardly into it.
    “What are you doing?” Irene laughed from behind her. “Here, give me the bag.” Her boss took the bag from her and hung it on the hook next to her coat. “You missed your keys and some change.” Irene picked up the mound and started to throw it in her bag.
    “Just shove it all in my coat pockets,” Tessa told her. She tried to stand up and bonked her light bulb head on the bench. “Crap.”
    Her boss grasped her arm. “Let me help you up.”
    After being helped to her feet, she tried to pull the skirt down.
    “You look cute. Stop fussing,” Irene told her. She grabbed her arm more firmly and led Tessa out to the convention.

Chapter Two
    Tessa made her way through the convention with slow and cautious steps. Damn. Why do they make mascot costumes so hard to see out of? The woven cutouts were teeny tiny, which meant she could only see straight ahead. Between the heels and the bulbous head she was lucky that she’d only bumped into one waiter and two displays. Thank goodness light bulb people had a sense of humor. They all laughed at her like she had done it on purpose and knocking things over were part of a show.
    She turned so that she could see the check-in table through the mesh eyeholes and saw that Claudia had already left. Irene was buzzing around in the crowd making sure that everything was flowing smoothly.
    ***
    Gray stepped outside of the hotel ballroom hoping the air would be cooler out there. He hated stuffy gatherings. Hell, he hated weddings. How two people could think they’d love each other forever was beyond him. Gray didn’t do love. Which was why he was stag at a co-worker’s wedding. He’d originally planned to invite Monique, but several months back she’d become demanding and talked about moving into his place with hearts and flowers in her eyes. So he’d ended it. Deep down, he’d known that she didn’t really want him . She wanted any warm body that would take care of her. She had slowly been trying to mold him into some GQ tycoon, telling him what to wear, how to act, and even going as far as telling him what he needed to do career-wise.
    A loud crash on the other side of the hall caught Gray’s attention. In the open ballroom across the way he saw legs. Glorious legs in strappy high heels. The beautiful legs were tangled on the floor and attached to an ass that was just as gorgeous. After taking a closer look, Gray realized that above the amazing ass was an enormous, white light bulb-shaped head with blue googly eyes. It had blonde hair and wore a glittery purple hat. The tangled-up legs and heels were flailing around in a pile of what looked like