by Jim Eldridge
‘Who’s Tee?’ Jo asked again.
Barry gestured at the young man who’d just walked in.
‘That’s Tee,’ he said.
Jo looked at her new boss. There was something familiar about him. She was sure she’d seen him before with Dillon and his crew. The thought of Dillon triggered her back to the business outside the Cappuccino. There’d been something going down, she was sure, the way Dillon and the others had been acting, and then the way they’d all run when the police sirens sounded.
She shrugged. It was nothing to do with her. She was just here to earn a living, treble time.
‘Yo!’
Jo looked round. Tee was beckoning to her, summoning her over. Jo went. Tee looked at her, checking her out. He has something, she thought to herself. He is sexy, hot.
‘What’s your name, sweetness?’ he asked.
Jo shot him a mocking ‘innocent’ look back.
‘Sweetness? Wow. That work much for you?’
If she annoyed him, he didn’t show it. Instead he smiled confidently and told her: ‘You’d be surprised.’
‘Well, my name’s not sweetness, it’s Jo,’ said Jo, with just enough firmness in her voice to let him know she wasn’t going to be jerked around or trodden on, no matter how sexy he was. But then she let slip a brief smile. After all, he was sexy.
Tee kept smiling.
‘I’ve never seen you on the late shift before,’ he said.
Jo shrugged.
‘I used to do Saturday, nine to four, but I haven’t worked in a while.’ She gave a heavy sigh. ‘But, you know, gotta feed those kids!’
She thought she saw Tee’s eyes register concern, but it was difficult to tell. He was playing it deadpan. She had to admit, there was something about him, something that made her think that maybe she and him . . .
Don’t get stupid, she told herself. But, just in case, no need for him to get the wrong idea about her.
‘I’m kidding,’ she told him. ‘I don’t have kids. I’m kid-free.’ She gave a little grin and gestured at herself. ‘Everything still nice and un-pushed out by a kid like . . .’ She stopped. Oh no, she groaned. What did she sound like? TMI! ‘I’m gonna stop talking,’ she finished lamely.
Tee continued looking at her.
‘You know your jobs today, right?’ he asked.
‘I’m here to work, so whatever.’
‘Good,’ said Tee. ‘Clean the staff toilets, then the customer toilets. Sweep and mop the floor. Do stock check, then stock shelves one to twelve. Start new displays for items that aren’t selling well in the places I’ve marked. Reprice the king-size Snickers. Then cash up register one and work on register two, which we’ll rotate until morning.’ Then, still smiling, he added, ‘Oh, and hang up my jacket.’
And with that he threw his jacket at her and walked off.
Shit! thought Jo. She considered going after Tee and smacking him round the head, or just throwing the jacket off and leaving it on the ground for it to get trampled on. But then, this was treble time.
She took the jacket and hung it up.
41
Time passed. Evening became night and then became the early hours of the morning. Jo stacked shelves and alternated on the cash register with Angelo for a bit before going back to stacking shelves and restocking. Not that there was much to restock after the first time. The place was hardly packed with customers. A few people drifted in and out, mostly after smokes or drinks and snacks. Someone came wanting a jar of strawberry jam. Who needs strawberry jam at two in the morning? thought Jo.
Ron, the useless security guard, stood by the door trying to look useful, until he gave up and stood further in the store, out of the cold night air. Angelo and Tee were supposed to be on the cash registers, though only Angelo was actually working, dealing with customers. Tee sat by cash register two, reading a magazine and eating Pringles.
Jo’s phone rang. She checked the number. Cass. Phoning to tell her about Mr Wonderful in New York, Jo guessed. She was lucky Jo was working and awake.
‘Hi, Cass,’ she said. ‘What’s happening?’
Cass’s voice sounded strange, distorted. At first Jo thought it must be the connection, then she looked more carefully at the image on the screen and saw that Cass was crying.
‘He never came!’ sobbed Cass. ‘Brett never came!’
‘Calm down!’ Jo told her. God, she thought. The bastard, standing her up like that! And then she thought, maybe Cass got the place wrong where they were meeting.
‘Have you called him?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ mumbled Cass unhappily.
‘You sure you got the right number?’
Cass’s voice came to her in anguish from the other side of the Atlantic.
‘Yeah. Oh, Jo, what should I do?’
Shit, thought Jo. Poor Cass. Dumped, heart-broken, alone, and far from home.
‘Where are you?’ she asked.
There was a pause, then Cass said, ‘Times Square.’
Times Square! thought Jo. I’m here in a dump like Ted’s and Cass is in Times Square, the hub of all the best ever in shopping, and she’s the one who’s crying.
‘You got money?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ replied Cass.
It was a stupid question, thought Jo. Cass always had money.
‘And your credit card?’
‘Yes.’
‘In that case, fuck Brett. Go shopping. Then just book a flight back home.’
There was a pause, and then Cass said, ‘Yes,’ and Jo could already hear in her voice that her spirits had gone up at the thought of all that Manhattan shopping. The crying had stopped. ‘Yeah, OK. I’ll do that,’ she said. ‘Thanks, Jo.’
Jo hung up and smiled. Broken-heart counselling, free of charge.
A noise behind her made her jump. She turned. Tee was there, looking at her with unfriendly eyes.
‘Now, I don’t know what you used to do on those easy early-Saturday-morning shifts,’ he said, his voice flat and hard, ‘but when I’m here, bags, make-up and phones stay downstairs. And if I see any of said items, or anything else I deem inappropriate, you will be fired. Is that clear?’
Bastard! thought Jo. Creepy, bullying bastard. She felt the words ‘Fuck off’ form in her mouth, but then she thought of how hard it would be to get another job like this, with treble time whenever she wanted it, and she swallowed them.
‘Is that clear?’ repeated Tee, harder this time. Threatening.
‘Yes,’ said Jo.
Tee gestured for her to get back to work. As she turned back to the shelf, she was aware of a youth passing her and joining Tee. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw something pass between them hand to hand, covertly.
Something was going on. She could sense it. But it was nothing to do with her. This sort of thing went on all the time — skimming and scams, backhanders, under-the-counter deals. Stay out of it, she told herself. People who poke their noses in get in trouble.
The night dragged on. 3 a.m. Her eyes sagged and her body ached to lie down. What was it they said about this time of day? She’d read in some magazine it was the time when the body was at its lowest. It was the time of day when most people died. Yeah, of boredom.
By four o’clock she was nearly ready to give up. Only an hour to go and then she would have been working for twelve hours straight. Ron had given up walking about and was now sitting down, doing his best to look like he’d leap into action if there was any sign of trouble. Fat chance at four in the morning, thought Jo. She and Angelo were on the registers, and had been for what seemed like for ever. Tee sat by the cold drinks, in deep conversation on his mobile and munching on snacks. So much for the ‘no phones’ rule, thought Jo acidly.
‘Excuse me, Tee!’ she shouted suddenly. ‘It’s 4 a.m. You said we were gonna rotate on the registers, but me and Angelo have been here for ever.’
Tee lifted the mobile away from his mouth, turned towards Jo and shouted harshly: ‘Shut up!�
� Then he turned back to his mobile and resumed his conversation. Jo scowled and turned to Angelo.
‘That guy is an asshole,’ she muttered. ‘Is he always like this?’
‘Ever since he’s been here,’ sighed Angelo.
Jo looked at Tee again, taking him in.
‘Still, he’s strangely sexy though,’ she murmured.
She realised she’d spoken out loud because Angelo shot her a look, and she gave a laugh and a shrug to show she hadn’t meant it. But they both knew she had.
It was then that Jo spotted the three key hooks by the CCTV tape recorder. One of the hooks was empty. The one that should have the key to the safe hanging from it. She frowned and turned to Angelo again.
‘Where’s the key to the safe?’ she asked.
Angelo looked like he was falling asleep standing up, his eyelids drooping. Poor guy. He’d been at work even longer than she had. He opened his eyes at Jo’s question and looked at the empty key hook.
‘Don’t know,’ he said. He thought it over. ‘It was there earlier.’
Jo looked towards where Tee was still talking on his mobile, his attention away from them, and whispered to Angelo, ‘Listen, hun, take a break. I’ll cover the registers.’
For a moment it looked as if Angelo was going to protest, but then Jo saw his eyelids drooping again. He gave her a grateful smile and slipped away towards the staff rest room. At that moment, Tee ended his phone call. For a second Jo thought he might grab hold of Angelo and order him back to the register, but another youth had come in and gone over to Tee, and Tee’s attention was now fully on him. Their heads together, there was lots of whispering and muttering and hand gestures. Something’s going down, thought Jo. But it’s none of my business.
‘Jo.’
The voice near her made her jerk round. It was her ex, Terry. Shit, thought Jo. This is the last thing I need. Her ex-boyfriend turning up, looking like shit: his face death-white and his eyes red-rimmed. He looked pathetic, standing there with that ‘please don’t kick me’ expression on his face. Maybe there was a way of getting this over with quickly. Without Terry making a scene, and humiliating her in front of Tee and Ron. Maybe she could get Ron to throw him out.
Terry stood there, looking at her, his expression mournful. Then he said, ‘I hear you been sleeping with Doug. Is it true?’
Jo’s heart sank. Doug! She’d never ever been with Doug! Where did Terry get these ideas? Someone was telling lies, or Terry was making things up so he could start a scene.
‘Is it?’ begged Terry. ‘We’ve only been split up one month . . .’
‘It’s not true,’ said Jo firmly.
Either Terry wasn’t listening to her, or he didn’t believe her.
‘Is his bigger than mine?’ he demanded.
Oh no, this is so gross! groaned Jo to herself.
‘Is it?’ he asked, more urgently this time. When she didn’t answer he asked, ‘Is he better than me in bed?’
I can’t be bothered with this, thought Jo. ‘Yeah,’ she lied. ‘He’s better. Why not?’
Terry stared at her, pain on his face as if she’d struck him. For a moment Jo thought he was going to start crying. Instead, he swallowed and then demanded aggressively, ‘But mine’s bigger, right?’
Jo didn’t get the chance to answer. Tee had appeared and he placed himself squarely between Terry and Jo, giving Terry the hard look.
‘Listen, this ain’t no confessional and it ain’t no hospital,’ he told him in harsh tones. ‘There ain’t no visiting hours here. Understand me? So buy something or fuck off.’
Then Tee turned to Jo. ‘And you, get back to work.’
Terry swallowed again, and then turned and walked out. Tee headed back to his corner by the soft drinks. And Jo saw that now the safe key was back on the hook where it belonged.
There was definitely something going on.
42
The sound of her mobile ringing dragged Jo into wakefulness. She reached out a hand from beneath her duvet and connected.
‘Yo?’ she said blearily.
It was Kerrys.
‘I didn’t pass,’ Kerrys said miserably.
Didn’t pass? Didn’t pass what? thought Jo. And then she remembered. Today was the day Kerrys was taking her driving test again. Had taken it. And failed. Again.
‘I’m sorry, babe,’ she said, commiserating. ‘You’ll pass next time.’ She yawned. ‘Sorry about that. I’m so fucking tired!’
‘I’ll see you tomorrow?’ asked Kerrys.
‘See you tomorrow,’ agreed Jo.
She hung up and looked at the time. Just gone eleven. Shit, she’d had hardly any sleep at all. She pulled the duvet over her head and went back to sleep.
The next time she woke up it was two o’clock. She still felt like she hadn’t slept properly. She went down to the kitchen. Her mom, stepdad and Gwen were watching TV as they ate lunch. She looked at them, annoyed.
‘You’re eating lunch without me?’ she demanded.
‘You were sleeping,’ said Gwen, munching. Then she added, ‘Shhh,’ and pointed at the TV. A newsreader was talking about some diamond heist.
‘And how do you move millions of pounds’ worth of diamonds, especially with such heavy media coverage surrounding this robbery?’
Fucking diamonds. Who cares? thought Jo. I don’t. I’m never likely to be holding a diamond in my hand.
‘While you’re up, can you put the kettle on, hun?’ asked Gwen.
Mrs Jones perked up at this.
‘Oh yeah, if you’re making a coffee, I’ll have one too,’ she said.
Mr Jones also turned to her, his mouth opening, but Jo beat him to it.
‘Yeah, I’ll make you one too.’
She filled the kettle and switched it on.
‘What time did you get in, hun?’ asked her mom.
Jo yawned.
‘Finished at six, got in about twenty past.’
‘A long night.’ Her mom nodded.
‘Too right,’ agreed Jo.
‘How you feeling?’ asked Gwen, her tone surprisingly solicitous and caring. Jo looked at her, surprised. ‘How d’you think I feel? Whacked! Dead!’ Then she felt guilty. Gwen had asked after her, there was no need to be bitchy back. She shrugged. ‘No, I’m all right.’
‘Good,’ smiled Gwen. ‘Cos you know that guy I was with last night? He wants to take me out again.’
Jo looked at her, frowning.
‘So?’ she asked. What was it to do with her who Gwen went out with?
‘Well . . . can you work again tonight?’
Jo stared at her sister, shocked. This was taking the piss, Big Time!
‘Gwen! Come on!’ she said.
‘Oh please, please, please, please!’ begged Gwen. ‘I really like him, Jo. I really really really like him!’
Fuck, thought Jo. I must be fucking simple.
‘Yeah, OK,’ she said.
Jo parked her car and headed for the mart. I’m trapped in Groundhog Day, she thought. I’m never ever going to get out of this place. I’m going to be on nights here for ever.
As she walked towards the store she saw Tee pacing up and down outside it, talking on his mobile. There was an edge to his voice — something was bugging him.
‘Go get them now,’ he said. ‘All them lot with you? It’s gotta be today. She’s coming in and leaving tomorrow, and I got things to do.’
He hung up and saw Jo standing looking at him, and glared back at her.
‘You lost something?’ he demanded.
Then he turned and walked into the store. The sight of him on his mobile reminded Jo that she hadn’t yet spoken to Shannon. She’d promised to talk to her that day, but working at the store had driven it out of her mind. Shit, Shaz would be pissed. Shannon took things very seriously. She could get hang-ups over the smallest thing.
Jo took out her mobile and dialled Shannon’s number. For once Shannon sounded upbeat.
‘Hey, Shaz,’ said Jo. ‘Sorry I
rushed off like that yesterday. Work. What’s up?’
‘Listen, Jo, did you see a note yesterday? In the Cappuccino?’
‘A note about what?’ asked Jo. Then she saw Barry, the manager, heading towards her, a grim look on his face and his finger pointing at her accusingly. ‘Listen, I gotta go,’ she told Shannon. ‘Come to my work later. We’ll talk there.’
Jo ended the call and put her phone away.
‘See, I’m putting my phone away,’ she told him pointedly.
Barry hesitated, then nodded, and walked on to chase someone else up.
This is a shit place to work, thought Jo. A shit place with shit people. Then she saw Angelo, sweet-natured Angelo, engrossed in checking the cash register. Except for him, she told herself.
43
Jo finished mopping the floor, put the mop back in the bucket and wheeled it to the back room. The mart was as dead as a graveyard with the one customer being served by Angelo. Ron the security guard stood by the door, doing his best to look impressive, and failing. Barry and Tee were over at one side, talking about new ideas for displays. As if that would make a difference, thought Jo. There were never going to be thousands of people using their mart as their ‘store of choice’, eager to be impressed by the latest displays. This was a place for the lost and the lonely. Shift workers. People who’d forgotten to buy vital necessities, like bread and ciggies and drink.
She returned from the back room and joined Angelo at the cash register. Something in her made her check the key to the safe. It was in its place.
Angelo gave her a smile.
‘You working all night again?’ he asked.
Jo groaned. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I’m sure it’s illegal.’
Angelo’s smile broadened. ‘I like you,’ he said. And then he suddenly went red. ‘I mean . . . I mean . . . I like working with you. Last night. Working together. Like we did.’
Jo looked at him and gave him a genuine smile. He was so sweet and innocent, blushing like that.