Lingerie Shop 3 - The Vow (The Lingerie Shop)

Peter Helsen falls in love with a mysterious woman, but she harbours a dark secret.
Book 3 of The Lingerie Shop series of short stories
A dark, romantic fantasy
copyright © 2013 Trisha Miller.
The Vow
Peter Helsen strode through the shopping mall. He had begun to feel he would never find her. Everything was conspiring to prevent him. The motorway had been jammed: all the cars had slowed down to watch the aftermath of some bloody, horrific accident on the other carriageway. When he eventually arrived at the mall, he was running late. He had tried to find the lingerie shop where she worked without any success. People were beginning to think he was some kind of weirdo. Perhaps it was all just a cruel joke and he would never find her again. Passing a car-parts shop, he noticed the garish pink sign The Little Lingerie Shop, on the other side of the mall. Strange, it wasn’t on the shopping-mall map, perhaps it was new. It was getting dark and the shop barriers were shrieking down as he made his last attempt to find her.
At the shop door he was intercepted by a polite, but firm shop girl. She had the same broad, high cheek bones as Katya, but with ash-blonde hair and pale, blue eyes. “I am afraid we are closed now, Sir.”
“Does a young woman called Katya work here?”
“Katya? Yes.” She looked at him suspiciously and then, as if remembering something, asked, “Are you Peter Helsen?”
“Yes I am. Could I speak to her?”
“I am afraid she is busy with a customer…” His body slumped, “but if you don’t mind waiting?” He nodded. She ducked under the half-lowered barrier and escorted him over to a changing booth, half way down the shop.
She drew back a grey satin curtain, saying, “If you would like to wait in here, I am sure she won’t be long.” The curtain swung shut behind her, and he sat in an antique, upholstered chair, before a huge gold-framed mirror, and waited. There was the sound of footsteps, then distant girl’s laughter and the clatter of heels in the mall. Then the shop barrier shrieked fully down. The shop fell silent as the grave. He thought he heard voices. Then a strange, slithering sound sent a shudder down his spine. There was an echoing splash. He felt trapped: strange how your imagination plays tricks. He would have opened the curtain but the ash-blonde girl had said to wait and he didn’t like to disturb Katya with a customer. Then there was a loud thunk. He could not bear not knowing any longer. He swung back the heavy curtain and stepped out into the shop.
“Peter!” Katya sat alone, crouched on the carpet, in the center of the shop, her hand covering her mouth in surprise. Then her bright eyes clouded in an expression of incomparable sadness. She turned away from him and rising to her feet, walked over and took a tissue from a box, on a white and gold dresser at the side of the shop, and wiped her mouth. It looked like she had some lipstick on her teeth. She turned back to him, “Just finishing up: I won’t be much longer.” She placed two metal handles into a drawer in the dresser, “There, all done.” She seemed upset: perhaps the customer had got strange with her.