Chapter One

Essie paused to stare as she walked through the doors of the big department store.

"Oi! Look where you're going!" said someone behind her, and she murmured an apology and moved aside.

Hope's Department Store windows had always been a big deal, especially here, in the centre of London. Tourists flocked to see them, and as a child she'd pressed her nose up against that very glass, staring at the displays. And now? Now she got to contribute to one of them.

"Miss Bell?" A quiet, slightly gruff cough accompanied the enquiry. "From Stuffie Hospital?"

"Stuffie Hospital London," she corrected, and spun on her heel to face the speaker. "Yes, that's me. Your store is beautiful."

The man in front of her was shorter than his voice implied, and the stubble on his chin made her hands itch, wanting to reach out and touch it. It was one of the reasons she'd become a designer, her fascination with textures, and his face looked like it would have all of the best stubbly feels. She bounced on the balls of her feet, letting out stimming energy subtly, and then settled down.

"Thank you." His face was fairly blank, and she couldn't read him. Essie didn't like that. Not being able to read people was one of her biggest nightmares. It was why she liked working at Stuffie Hospital so much; being surrounded by other queer and neurodiverse people made navigating the work environment that much easier. "If you'd like to come to the staff offices, I can show you what the window designer has in mind? And then you can work in tangent with them?"

"That sounds good," she said, smiling sunnily at him. Smiling made people like you; everyone knew that.

He didn't smile back.

"Are you going to tell me your name?"

He looked bashful then, a heat flushing through his cheeks that made Essie almost rush to reassure him, but she held back, something telling her that that probably wouldn't be the best move. "Of course, I'm so sorry Miss Bell. I'm Ben Jyles, Store Manager here at Hope's."

Essie swung her hand out to shake his. "Lovely to meet you Ben. And please, it's Essie."

"Yes, Miss Bell," he said, and Essie wasn't sure if he was ignoring her request on purpose, or if he was just so off-kilter because he'd forgotten his own name. So she followed him back to the staff offices and tried very hard not to squee over the fact that she was getting to see behind the scenes at Hope's.

‘Hope's Uncensored', her best friend Charlie had called it. Think of all the drama you'll get to see, of all the tea that would remain otherwise unspilled, he'd said. Charlie was a fan of drama, although you wouldn't know it from how professional he was with his Stuffie Hospital clients. But the moment they were gone, he'd come storming up from the Restoration Hub to her office, dying to tell her all. I'd burst if I couldn't tell someone, he said. And I can't tell people outside of work; that'd be in breach of contract.

Essie had very nearly pointed out that he was probably in breach of whatever nondisclosure agreement he'd signed by telling her, but she wasn't exactly going to tell anyone, and it was better that he tell someone inside the business.

But looking at Ben's smart jacket in front of her, she was beginning to think that there'd be no gossip to share at all. Disappointing.

"Here we go," he said, as he opened the door to a room flooded with natural light. There were designs spread out all over the tables, with fabric swatches, and Essie couldn't help but give a squeal of delight.

"You want to have a look at those?"

"Yes please," answered Essie, without looking up, and she skipped over to the table and started feeling the swatches.

"Thanks Ben," said the woman. "So you're Essie."

Essie looked up, startled out of her fabric hyperfocus. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"I'm Briana; Susie's one of my best friends," said the older woman.

"Ohhhh," said Essie, everything suddenly clear. "I guess that's how I've gotten this gig then?" Susie was the CEO of Stuffie Hospital London, her American cousin Abigail owning the entire brand.

"It did make sense to bring you guys in when Hope's said that they wanted soft toys in this summer's window display."

"Cool!" said Essie. She turned to say thank you to Ben, but the quiet man had already gone. "Where did Ben go?"

Briana laughed. "Ben's pretty quiet, especially for a manager. I'm used to them being more loud and demanding, but he manages to run the place pretty well. And he's surprisingly sweet—when he deigns to speak, that is."

There was something in Essie that felt a little disappointed that Ben hadn't stuck around to see what her plans were for her part of the window, but she guessed he was just super busy. "Shall we talk through the plans then?"

"Yes, let's."

Briana's summer window display plans were pretty clear; she wanted each section of the window display to be inspired by a different book: she'd chosen a Jenny Colgan romance for beachwear and picnics; the new Alyssa Cole thriller to match the gothic style furniture that was in vogue; a queer cosy fantasy about orcs and coffee shops to match the cottagecore clothes from adult fashion; and finally, a picturebook called Willow and Bunny, for the children's department.

It was the last of these that Essie was going to work on.

"In the book," explained Briana, "there's really only one bunny, called Bunny. But for the display, I'd really like it if we could have a whole host of bunnies. And Hope's are going to donate them to a children's hospital once the display is done."

Essie nodded, thoughtful. "In that case, these bunnies have two purposes: one, to brighten your display and attract the eyes of little ones; and second, to bring joy to little children afterwards."

"That's right. I spoke to Susie, and you're more than welcome to work here, if you'd like. We've plenty of materials and we'd pay all of your expenses, of course. It would just help me to be able to see what your ideas are, so I can adjust mine accordingly."

"Sounds like a plan!" Essie's fingers were itching again, to grab her sketchbook and start drawing out ideas. "I've read the book already—Susie sent it over with the brief—but I didn't realise that you wanted lots of stuffies. I thought you just wanted the eponymous Bunny!"

"That was the original plan," Briana looked slightly sheepish, "but when I realised that we'd be donating the bunny to a children's hospital, it felt a bit mean to only donate one. I'm hoping for ten, so we can give one to every child on a ward for premie children."

The backs of Essie's eyes burned and she cleared her throat roughly. "Yes, that makes sense. Ten bunnies it is."

And then she let herself slip into hyperfocus and sketch sketch sketch.

"Miss Bell?"

Blinking blearily, she looked up from the page where she'd been working on bunny number four into cool grey eyes that were clouded with concern.

"Oh!" She pushed back from when Ben Jyles' face was surprisingly close to hers and almost fell off her chair. "Hello. What are you… I mean, hi, I guess…" she let her ramblings drift off into silence. Took a deep breath, collected her thoughts, and started again. "Hello Ben, how can I help you?"

"Briana tells me that you're going to be working here for the next couple of weeks."

"That's right," she nodded, sneaking looks back at the page, eager to continue.

"So I thought I'd show you where the canteen is."

"That's okay, I'm working." Essie thought that might have dissuaded him from continuing the conversation, but he didn't go anywhere. Apparently, he was really very set on showing her the canteen. "Seriously, I prefer grabbing lunch at my desk. I'll make sure I bring a packed lunch with me."

His brow furrowed, and she had a sudden urge to sketch him like that, all ruffled up and confused. "But it's two pm, and you haven't eaten yet."

She blinked. "What?" Rustling through her papers she found her phone and it was indeed two pm.

"Miss Bell, I must insist that you have some lunch. On us, of course. You can't keep working without eating something."

Well. Two could play at that game. "Well I must insist that you call me Essie. Miss Bell is far too formal."

Ben cleared his throat, and met her gaze unflinchingly. "Very well. Essie, I insist that you eat something."

And all at once Essie felt her face flush and she really wasn't thinking about work at all.