Party Crashers (27 page)

The opening, closing, and merging of various department stores in Atlanta caused me grief in writing my previous book,
Kill the Competition,
and again in
Party Crashers,
because some of the scenes reference or take place in department stores that were defunct by the time I turned in the manuscripts. But simply changing the names of the department stores can create other problems. In the store originally featured in
Party Crashers,
the men’s and women’s shoe departments were together. When that store announced it was closing, I changed the setting to Neiman Marcus. If you’re a customer of Neiman Marcus, you know that the men’s and women’s shoe departments are in separate areas of the store, but I left the shoe departments in proximity to each other. I hope you don’t mind the liberty I took for the sake of the story.

With every book there are people to whom I turn for answers to obscure questions. For
Party Crashers,
I’d like to thank Tim Logsdon, Steve Grantham, and Chris Hauck for their unblinking resourcefulness. Many thanks also to my wonderful agent, Kimberly Whalen of Trident Media Group. And there aren’t words to thank my editor, Lyssa
Keusch, for allowing me to run with my ideas and providing insightful feedback to make my stories better. Lyssa, your trust is humbling.

Also, many thanks to my readers who send notes of encouragement just when I’m ready to throw my hands in the air—you help me to muddle through. I hope I’m keeping you entertained.

Stephanie Bond

When I sat down to plan the story of
Party Crashers
, I wanted to put Jolie in a dire situation—her boyfriend is missing, and she’s implicated in his disappearance. To heighten her personal stress, I wanted to strip away her support system, which in most cases means coworkers. So when we first meet Jolie, she has quit her safe, secure job and it’s her first day selling shoes at Neiman Marcus.

The choice for her to sell shoes was an easy one for me because I used to be a shoe salesperson myself. Working retail is hard enough, but dealing with people’s feet all day…well, it ain’t sweet. People are finicky about having their feet touched.

I started working in a shoe store in my small hometown when I was a senior in high school. Very quickly I was indoctrinated into the intricacies of getting a proper fit. (Did you know, for instance, that if you’re right handed, your left foot is probably a tad bigger, and vice versa? That’s because when you stand, you tend to lean on the foot opposite of the hand you gesture with when you speak.) The shoe store I worked in was a family shoe store, so I dealt with men buying work boots (“Do you have this in pull-on steel-toe extra wide?”), women buying career shoes (“Do you have this in black, mid-heel, comfy insole?”), girls buying prom shoes (“Can you dye this pump periwinkle?”), and kids buying sneakers (“Do you have the kind that light up/talk/play music when I walk?”) I sold western boots to cowboys, galoshes to old men, nurse shoes to beauticians, church shoes to old women. I ordered basketball shoes for the local school teams, Mary-Janes for the local tappers, ballet shoes for the local Teeny Ballereenies. At times it seemed that the shoe store was the hub of the community…and I loved it.

I loved it so much, in fact, that when my boss decided to go out of business, I bought the shoe store and changed the name to “Boots and Britches.” (I was a sophomore in college by this time, and knew the business.) I still carried a family shoe selection, but I specialized in handmade boots and introduced Levi’s to the inventory mix. The upside? I met so many cowboys! The downside? Did I mention that people are finicky about having their feet touched? Plus, by this time, I had a serious shoe obsession…can we talk about the ten pairs of exotic-skinned high-heeled boots that I still own?

One of the funniest things I remember is the time that a woman returned a pair of tennis shoes saying they were way too short for her ten-year-old son, which was strange, because I remembered fitting him myself the day before. She had her ten-year-old in tow, so I sat him down to fit him again and discovered that the shoe was “too short” because the paper stuffing was still in the shoes! And there was the time that the young woman was trying on a pair of high-heeled sandals wearing a thick, fuzzy, pink sock. I gave her a knee-high stocking and suggested that she use it instead. But when I looked over a few minutes later, she had put the knee-high on
over
the fuzzy pink sock and slipped the sandal back on! Oh, and I did have to deal with a couple of guys with foot fetishes who came in and asked me to try on shoes for them under the pretense of buying them for their girlfriend.
Ew
.

I sold shoes from size 0 to size seventeen. I rounded up shoes for people who had feet of two different sizes. I sent shoes to the cobbler to have special soles added for disabilities. I got to know my customers really well, and discovered the amazing influence a person’s shoes have on their life and their ability to work or play as much as they like.

After I graduated college, I sold my shoe business to join the corporate world as a computer programmer. I quickly discovered that my experience as a shoe salesperson had given me people skills that other programmers didn’t have, so I’m forever grateful to my customers for the education. I wouldn’t trade my time as a shoe salesperson for anything—I draw on those personal lessons again and again…such as when I wrote
Party Crashers
!

It takes a certain amount of aplomb to successfully crash a party—you have to have nerves of steel and reconcile yourself to the fact that what you’re doing isn’t exactly on the up and up. But if you still want to go ahead with the party-crashing:

1.
Recruit a friend to join you…you’ll have more fun and pairs are less conspicuous.

2.
Research the organization sponsoring the party—be prepared to make pertinent small talk with other attendees.

3.
Decide if you’re going to give out your real name; get your “story” straight in your head.

4.
Dress appropriately—if you look like you belong, you’re less likely to be questioned.

5.
Check out side entrances or the smoking area for inconspicuous entry into the party.

6.
Strike up conversation as soon as possible—the more you blend, the less noticeable you are to bouncers.

7.
If someone asks who you came with, gesture vaguely, say it’s a first date and he’s getting you a drink.

8.
Bring cash and tip the help well—if you’re eating and drinking free, it’s the least you can do, and the help are most likely to be the ones who know you’re crashing.

9.
If you spot other crashers, avoid them lest you’re all booted out together.

10.
If the party is at a private residence, bring the hostess a gift (you don’t have to put your name on the gift tag).

1.
Have you ever crashed a party? On a scale of 1 to 10, how unethical is it to crash a party?

2.
Have you ever pretended you were someone you weren’t? Why do you think it’s easier for women to behave more freely if they’re incognito?

3.
Have you ever had a boyfriend who dragged you into the middle of a bad situation? Are you habitually attracted to the kind of person who flirts with disaster? What trait of yours attracts that kind of person to you?

4.
Have you or a friend ever become obsessed with a man to the point of stalking him? Have you ever been stalked?

5.
Have you ever bought clothes, worn them, and then returned them to the store? What was your justification?

6.
Have you ever dated a wealthy man—how was he different than the average guy? Were you different around him?

7.
Do most people feel a natural jealousy toward the very rich? Would you lose friends if you suddenly became rich?

8.
Have you ever worked retail? Talk about the kind of patience it takes to deal with the public day in and day out. Have you ever had a confrontation with a retail clerk that you regret?

9.
Have you ever considered living in another country? What stopped you?

10.
Have you ever had to plan or attend a funeral for someone you didn’t know well or didn’t like? How did that affect you?