She signaled to the cameraman that she was ready again.

“Action,” the director yelled.

“Welcome to Trial TV…”

Jane and her crew went on like that, trying different shots from different angles, pausing when she occasionally flubbed a line.

The crowd loved it when that happened, because Jane would joke or make some silly head-rolling gesture. It showed how human she was, despite her exterior of perfection.

But even when the crowd laughed, even when Jane took a mock curtsy in front of them, it was obvious that she wasn’t really seeing the individual faces. It seemed to the watcher, the one in the crowd paying the closest attention, that this was typical of Jane. She’d gotten so used to the crowds and the cameras that she never looked behind them. It was as if she perceived a shell around herself that separated her from everyone.

Unfortunately for Jane, she seemed to think that this shell remained firmly around her personal life, as well. She seemed to think that no one could really see inside her, that no one really knew the things she did away from the cameras.

Unfortunately for Jane Augustine, she was wrong.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stay awake, moving between the empty times of no customers and then the abrupt arrival of eight or more who suddenly flooded the store. Most were women who had money to spend and who weren’t in the slightest bit embarrassed to discuss whether their nipples would show through a lace bustier. A few, however, were men. They were the funniest, trying to act nonchalant while they cupped their hands in an attempt to describe their girlfriend’s bra size.

Only two of the customers were Josie’s regulars. Both times, she hopped from behind the register and strode confidently to the front, calling hello in a breezy, sparkly-eyed kind of way. Both times, I scurried away and watched as she expertly doted when she needed to and gave people the space when they needed that. And each time, her customers left the store happy, waving goodbye, and with a hell of a lot more merchandise than they had seemed ready to buy when they came in.

At 4:45 p.m., I was starting to fantasize deeply about getting on my scooter and getting out of there. I was supposed to meet Mayburn tonight to tell him about the day, and the thought of a beer and a chat was appealing.

Josie joined me at the front of the store with an armful of what looked like white camisoles. “Bridal wear,” she said. “We’re getting lots of it.” She looked at her watch, then gestured toward one of the sleepwear tables. “Make some room here for these, will you? After we close the door, you can head back and start unpacking the shipments that came in today.”

I tried not to let my disappointment show. The back room was exactly where Mayburn wanted me-peering into the operations of the store, keeping my eye out for anything amiss. It was just that I was starting to fade.

“No problem.” I took the camisoles from her. They felt silky smooth, almost like water, on my hands.

The door dinged, and a couple walked in, laughing and shoving each other playfully.

“Hello, Nina!” Josie trilled.

The woman was a wisp of a girl dressed in fitted jeans, a long powder-blue T-shirt that matched her eyes and an ivory leather jacket. Her hair was twisted into two braids on either side of her face, a hairstyle few women over the age of fourteen could pull off. But this woman not only pulled it off, she rocked it.

Nina waved at Josie with a slender hand, gold bangle bracelets on her wrists jangling like a wind chime.

The man she was with waved, too, although he could barely take his eyes off his girlfriend.

Josie shot me a glance. I nodded and turned away. Obviously, regular customers.

I moved to the round table to make way for the bridal wear.

“I’m looking for something to wear under a white dress,” Nina said.

“And don’t forget…” the guy said, laughing.

Nina laughed, too. “He wants me to get one of the pearl thongs.”

I looked at them. The guy was raising his eyebrows in a salacious but cute way.

“Oh, sure,” Josie said. “I’ve got them in the back.” She turned and headed for the storerooms. She looked at me. “Lexi, can you help Nina find a nude bra?”

“Sure.” Josie must have thought I was half-capable if she was letting me at her regulars. I felt a shot of pride that woke me up and propelled me across the store.

Nina shook hands with me as if we were meeting at a dinner party, as if I weren’t a store clerk. “This is James.”

James, who was rubbing his five-o’clock shadow, smiled and shook hands with me, too.

Josie came out of the back a minute later, holding a flat, black box with a white ribbon. She opened it and presented a piece of lingerie so beautiful, it looked like a piece of art. “We only have the black right now in your size.” She raised the lingerie higher-an intricate black lace panty, from which hung two strands of white pearls.

I peered at it. “Do the pearls…?”

Nina laughed, a sweet, burbling laugh. “Yeah, the pearls are the thong part.”

“Wow.” Dumbfounded, I couldn’t say anything else. Though I’d wear just about anything to look sexy, I couldn’t imagine having small pebbles running along my ass.

“Lexi is new.” Josie gave me a withering look. She took the bras out of my hand, pulled out a few different ones. She told me to go to the storerooms and steam a box of robes.

In the back, I poked around the farthest rooms, which seemed to serve as storage for display equipment, hangers and signs. To me, it all seemed like standard retail stuff. I was flipping through some of the signs when I heard a sound behind me and I jumped.

“Oh, hi, Josie!”

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for the steamer.”

“I showed you where the steamer was. You already used it.”

This was an excellent point. “I thought maybe there was a smaller one for the bra straps.”

She considered this. “That’s not a bad idea, but we just have the one steamer.” She peered around the room. She looked me up and down. “You can go now.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded.

“You know,” I said, wanting to make her like me, wanting to chase away any suspicion. “I think I’d like to buy one of those pearl thongs, so that I’m aware of all the merchandise and how it fits.”

She said nothing for a second. She looked me up and down. “You’re a medium?”

“Yes.”

“They’re extremely hard to find, and we’re out of the kind that Nina just bought, but I do have another brand in your size.”

“Great.”

“They’re seventy dollars.”

“Oh.” I definitely didn’t have seventy bucks for a pair of undies, even to get me on my boss’s good side.

“But you do get your discount, and I could take it out of your first paycheck.”

“Great!” I’d chalk it up to research. Maybe I could get Mayburn to pay for it.

“Stay here.” She left for a few moments and returned with a silver-gray box tied with a silver ribbon. She handed it to me. “There you go. I’ll see you in a few days.” As a part-timer, I’d be working weekends and one or two nights a week.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to finish the robes?”

She gave me a curt shake of her head, then took my elbow and propelled me to the front room.

My first day on the job was over.