"Hi," I said. "What can I help you with?"
He glanced around, not really seeing me yet.
"Ah. Nothing. I'm just looking - "
"It's OK," I said. "Lots of guys are shy about asking for help."
But I said it with a big smile, and I still waited for him to notice me. It wasn't difficult to notice him, and I was a little surprised that there had been no audible thud from my jaw hitting the ground when he walked in the hardware store. He filled out his jeans just the right amount, and the sleeves on his workshirt were rolled back far enough that I could see sunbleached hair on his forearms and a good tan. As I stood there waiting for him I also had the excellent position of looking at his handsome face in profile. As with his arms his face was sunbleached. This close to him I could also smell him, a rich mix of fresh sweat, sawdust and resin. I was almost lost in fantasy when he turned back to me, but I was able to see his irises grow a little - ok, now he was a little interested in me.
"You can call me Isabelle," I said, point to my name tag. I was happy to see him take a little bit of time to check out the shape of me supporting the name tag, and to also do a quick comparison to my right side too.
"I'm Tom," he said.
I smiled.
"The owner's a little bit screwy," I said. "Most things aren't where you'd expect them to be." I placed the fingers of my right hand on his forearm and applied just a little pressure to turn him around and started leading him to the timber section.
"I can see that now," he said. "I should have just listened to you first, shouldn't I?"
I laughed a little.
"That's OK. You're new here."
"Yeah. I usually work the otherside of the city, but I've got a job near here."
Down near the end of the store I directed Tom to the last series of racks.
"What did you need to buy?" I asked.
"One of my guys dropped a chisel set from the 4th floor. Most of them are OK but a few need to be replaced.
Accelerating ahead a little, I made him walk behind me through the stacks leading to the carpentry tool section in the corner. Here it was secluded away from most of the store, and from his position I was hoping he was taking a good opportunity to check me out. From the direction of his eyes as reflected in the occassional security mirror, it seemed he was enjoying the little extra sway I was putting into my hips.
At the cabinet of wood-working tools I spun in place and pointed to the racks like I was on a game show.