The Awkward Path to Getting Lucky by Summer Heacock

Author:Summer Heacock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2017-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

25

Shannon has worn a trench behind the display counter from her constant pacing today. We finally had to kick her out of the kitchen when her infinite looping kept taking her past our stations and she’d bump into us as we worked.

“Goodbye new employee, goodbye ever seeing my kids before bedtime. Goodbye Walt Disney World. Goodbye sanity,” she mutters to herself.

“You’re maybe overreacting a little,” I offer.

She gives me a look of malicious intent, and her phasers are definitely not set to stun.

So, okay, the interaction with Mr. Peterson didn’t go particularly well. But it could have gone a lot worse. Maybe.

We could have set him directly on fire or he could have punched us all in the face one by one.

Butter and Liz are in the kitchen wrapping things up for the night, and Shannon is behind the counter, finally done with the pacing, putting the last of the register takings away. I’m mopping the front room so we can go the hell home.

“It’s going to be fine,” I say to Shannon, dragging my mop across the floor in even swirls. “We are going to get everything sorted out perfectly before the big day and knock his damn socks off. This set a nice low bar for what he expects from us. Now when we go in all guns blazing, he won’t know what hit him.”

“So you’re saying it’s a good thing we completely flopped this morning?”

I pause to consider this. “You have to really want to see that as a potential silver lining, but sure. Let’s go with that.”

Shannon doesn’t seem convinced, but I think there’s something to the theory. I resume mopping, my head swimming with thoughts of tiny ravens and buttercream nightmares when the sound of a gentle tapping on the glass of the front door rings out.

I look up and see Ben standing on the other side. Smiling, I prop the mop against one of the armchairs in the seating area and go to unlock the door for him.

“Hey,” I say, letting him through. “How was your day?’

“Considerably more dull after I left here,” he replies with a wink. He waves a hello to Shannon at the register, who silently nods back, not to be disturbed whilst counting money. “But then, it always is. Butter isn’t going to drag me around by the tie again, is she?”

Staring ominously toward the kitchen, I answer, “Anything can happen here, Cleary. Never let your guard down.”

He straightens his tie and plasters a dramatic expression on his face. “I’ll never surrender.”

Giggling, I grab my mop again. “Give me just a second to finish, and then we can go. I’m sure you’re very impressed by this glamorous view of me right now.”

He cocks his head and studies me as I work. “You do make mopping far more enticing than I ever thought possible.”

I don’t know whether to blush or roll my eyes, so I shake my head and keep working.

“All right, Kat,” Shannon says, coming out from behind the counter.

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