by Tara Ford
Chapter 4
The public house in the middle of the town was quiet. Just the regular Sunday evening locals, who were mainly men, dotted up and down the length of the bar. They all looked thoroughly miserable. Jenny could never understand why so many men spent their evenings (or sometimes the afternoons too) drinking beer by the side of a bar and usually on their own. Some picked at peanuts and other bar snacks, while others stared into space, clinging on to their pint glasses as if someone would come along and snatch it from them at any moment and the odd one just sat on the barstools, motionless, observing everyone else.
Jenny ordered a round of mainly soft drinks. There were just two alcoholic drinks purchased and those were for Dayna and Calvin – no surprise there. Jenny passed the drinks along the bar as the others said thanks and went over to a semi-circular seating area and sat down. They were all a little dusty and grubby from stocking the shop but had decided to have just one or two drinks before they all made their way home.
“Excited then, are you, Jen?” Calvin asked, still at the bar, even though he had his drink.
“Kind of – it’s quite scary though as well.”
“Well, I did say that you shouldn’t go it alone…”
“No, I mean it’s scary to think about that first moment when I open the door – when the shop opens for the very first time. That’s what I mean. Nervous, I suppose – not scared.”
“Still think you’ve taken a big risk, Jen.”
Jenny had wondered for a long time whether Calvin might be jealous and she still thought the same now. “I’m a risk-taker Calvin, you know that. I have drive and ambition. If you don’t take small risks – or even big risks – in your life, then you won’t get anywhere.”
Calvin didn’t take any risks at all in his life. He was a plodder, same things every day, same routines, same job, same TV programs, same meals, same topics of conversation, same everything and same boring sex-life. “Well I still think you’re taking on something too big here – just hope it’s going to work out for you, Jen.” Calvin huffed and walked away.
“Oh it will work. I’ll make it work, even if it’s over your dead body,” she replied, under her breath.
Joining the rest of the group, around the long oval table, Jenny plonked herself down next to Tasha. “So, what did you think of your first day?” asked Jenny politely. “You’ve done a brilliant job getting those shelves stocked, down the far end. Thanks for coming in today, Tasha.”
“That’s ok, I liked doing it. I’ll be in tomorrow to help clean up. I’d better get my frilly maid outfit on and bring my pink feather duster,” she laughed, briefly, and then took a large gulp of her orange juice.
Jenny smiled, unsure of what to make of Tasha’s comment. “Great – we need to get you and Dayna trained up on the till as well. There’s nothing to it, it’s pretty basic. And I’m sure that your feather duster would go remarkably well with Dayna’s rubber gloves.”
“Oh, better bring my cashier outfit too if I’m going to have till training.” Tasha grinned wryly.
“Yes – great.” Jenny felt uncomfortable. She thought Tasha’s comments, to her new boss, were rather odd.
Dayna looked at Jenny, having overheard the conversation, and gave a puzzled look before she smirked. “You’re gonna tell me next that you’ve got an air hostess costume as well,” said Dayna.
“Yes, funnily enough, I have. Will we be flying then?” Again, Tasha smiled wryly. “And a policewoman’s one as well – so no being naughty.” Tasha giggled coyly and sipped her drink.
Jenny and Dayna looked at each other and then burst in to laughter. “Right, I think we’ll leave it at that, shall we?” spluttered Jenny. Slightly embarrassed by the strange and sudden change in Tasha, Jenny wanted to curb the conversation before it went a bit too far. However, she couldn’t help thinking that the young girl hadn’t even had an alcoholic drink and was saying rather unusual things, so heaven help her if she ever did get drunk.
“I’m gonna get going Sis – work tomorrow. Let me know if you need help with anything.”
“Thanks, Jacob, you’ve been so amazing today. Couldn’t have done any of it without you and Dad.”
“You would have found a way,” Jacob smiled warmly. “Good luck with the opening, I’ll try and drop in during the week.”
Jacob ruffled the top of Jenny’s hair, said goodbye to everyone else, and left.
Pushing her bottom lip out, Dayna sulked as she watched him walk away. Jacob was a handsome man. He was tall and wide-shouldered with a shock of black hair, neatly styled and tantalizingly spiked on top. Jacob’s placid disposition and inviting smile were appealing to many women, yet he had settled for Becky, his wife, who was the complete opposite. She had a fractious, child-like nature, was very plain, rather plump and not particularly attractive.
Turning back to Jenny, Dayna raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes in the direction of Tasha, who was sat next to her.
Tasha was engrossed in something in the bottom of her glass and did not notice the puzzled expression on Jenny’s face or indeed the renewed look of wonderment in Dayna’s expression.
“I’d better go as well, Jenny,” said Tasha. “What time shall I come in tomorrow?”
“Err… nine would be great if you can do that?”
“Ok, I’ll be there… or be square,” she giggled. “No, I’ll be there… I wouldn’t be square anyway. I’d probably turn out to be oblong… or even round.”
“Great, I’ll see you then and thanks for today Tasha,” said Jenny, slightly concerned by this new, eccentric Tasha she was hearing.
Tasha stood up, tugged her t-shirt down over her slim hips, puffed up her short, brown hair and grabbed her jacket from behind her, “Bye then,” she called out loudly.
Tasha had really grown in confidence since this morning, pondered Jenny, and she had suddenly become very familiar with her new work colleagues. “Do you want a lift home?” Jenny asked, standing up to let her pass.
“No, I only live around the corner don’t I? I’ll get my Batman suit on and fly home.”
Jenny smiled, not daring to look in the direction of Dayna, for fear of letting out another burst of raucous laughter. “Ok, see you tomorrow then,” she said calmly.
As soon as Tasha had walked out of the door, Jenny looked round at Dayna and the pair of them laughed hysterically. The hysteria rose from a predetermined dread of what on earth they were letting themselves in for with this new girl, Tasha Evans. She was not what she first appeared to be.
“Anyone for another drink?” said Calvin, draining the last drops from his pint glass.
“Oh, if you’re offering, Cal – yes please.” Dayna just about managed to splutter before she began to laugh again.
“That was quick, Calvin, are you in a race?” Jenny remarked, sarcastically.
Calvin smirked. “Thirsty work in that dusty shop of yours,” he said. “Well, do you want one?”
“No thanks,” said Jenny, “Don’t think I’ll be staying much longer.”
Dad and Xaylan shook their heads. “No thanks Calvin, I’ll be getting off soon too,” said Dad.
Jenny nudged Dayna with her elbow, “Is it me or has that Tasha turned a bit odd?”
Dayna looked up, shook her head from side to side and then continued to laugh. “Jen…” she burst out. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it. What’s with all that dressing up stuff?”
“I have no idea. Was she trying to be funny, you know, to make us laugh or something?” Jenny shifted uncomfortably as she noticed her dad and Xaylan watching and listening.
“I really don’t know – it’ll be interesting to see what she’s wearing tomorrow though, won’t it?”
Jenny smirked and shrugged her shoulders at her dad and Xaylan.
Young Xaylan looked embarrassed by his mum’s outburst and had stopped playing his game on his tablet. He tutted and rolled his eyes in disgust.
Jenny’s dad had been engrossed in watching Xaylan play on his
iPad but then his attention had been drawn by the two girls, laughing their heads off.
“Everything all right Jen?” he said, “She’s a bit of an odd one, isn’t she?”
“Think she was just trying to impress us really,” replied Jenny, unconvincingly. “She’s a sweet kind of girl.”
“Hmm, sweet but odd I’d say,” said Dad.
“Freaky weirdo,” muttered Xaylan and then resumed his game playing.
“Well, she’s on a three month trial period, so we’ll see how she gets on.”
Calvin returned with two drinks and passed the smaller glass to Dayna. “Are you back at the shop tomorrow?” he asked.
“Of course,” replied Dayna. “It’s all go from now on. We’re gonna be a dream team, aren’t we, Jen?”
“Absolutely,” Jenny sighed. “Will you be ready to go after that one?” she said, pointing to the glass in Dayna’s hand.
“No, you go now if you want to hun. I’ll be fine here with your Calvin.” Dayna grinned at Calvin before reaching over to peck Jenny on the cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning,” she whispered.
Before leaving, Jenny leant across to Dayna and breathed in her ear, “He’s not my Calvin, Dayna – remember?”
Although Jenny appreciated all of the help she’d received today and valued every single one of her helpers – including Tasha and Xaylan, she couldn’t help feeling relieved to be on her way home to the peace and quiet of her small flat.
Unlocking the communal front door of the building, Jenny then travelled the four floors, in the creaky old lift, to her one bedroom home. There were two flats on each floor and five floors altogether. Most of the residents were young couples but there were one or two lone, elderly people. Jenny hadn’t lived there long and didn’t really know anyone, apart from by sight or just to share a smile and a ‘Good morning’ each day.
Entering her flat, she threw her bag on the kitchen table, kicked off her shoes and slumped herself down on the sofa. Her flat was small but cosy. The open-plan kitchen/diner/lounge was the largest room, sectioned off by laminate flooring in the kitchen/diner and carpet in the lounge area. From the lounge, two doors at each side of the room, led to the bathroom and bedroom. Well designed and decorated by her dad, Jenny’s home was modern and bright. But most importantly, it was hers – alone. Without Calvin.
Jenny flicked the television on and stared at it absent-mindedly. Her head was filled with thoughts of Tuesday, the grand opening of her shop. Yet there was nothing grand about it at all. Apart from a poster that had been displayed in the shop window for several weeks, informing people of the opening day and the types of products to be sold i.e. groceries, newspapers, confectionary, tobacco, alcohol, stationary and gift cards, there was nothing else ‘grand’ about it. Jenny wondered whether she had done enough to let the local residents know when she would be opening but worse still, did they even know she was there.
Posters or leaflet drops had both been mentioned over the course of the last few weeks but Jenny hadn’t actually got around to doing either. Somehow she was hoping that it would all just happen naturally and everything would fall in to place.
Currently she had more pressing issues to deal with as her drooping eyelids gave in and closed. There was going to be a lot of hard work ahead so she made the most of the moment and fell asleep.
Chapter 5
J’s Convenience Store sparkled. The girls had been hard at it for most of the day but the greatest transformation was when Tasha, very kindly, offered to clean the front windows to a smear-free shine. Daylight poured in, creating a bright glow along the aisles. It looked like a real shop.
Jenny stood in front of the central shelving unit, which stretched down the length of the shop, with her hands on her hips, and sighed. It had all come together finally.
The bakery and dairy wholesalers had made their first delivery, as expected, this morning, and after spending a couple of hours stacking items into the fridges or onto the bread shelves, Jenny hadn’t been able to resist the temptation of a packet of six crumpets. The girls devoured them at lunchtime, along with a broken packet of chocolate biscuits.
“Hmm,” said Dayna, wiping her lips, “I’m liking this working practice, Jen. Bring on the crumpets.”
“Yes, thank you very much for the crumpets – they were really nice,” said Tasha. “Would you like me to pay for them?”
“No, not at all. It’s the least I can do to say thank you to you both.”
Now everything was ready. The fridges and freezers were whirring away quietly, the electric metre, Jenny had noted, was spinning rather speedily and the old, second-hand cashier till was lit up and ready to go.
Both Dayna and Tasha had received some training on the till and between the three of them they’d worked out the best and quickest way to change the till rolls.
Already, Jenny had a pile of invoices and receipts, out in the back office, which would need to be dealt with and paid straight away, before they began to mount up. And a price list had been typed up for the items that could not be priced with the labeling gun.
It was really going to happen. J’s Convenience Store was opening tomorrow.
“There’s not much left to do now,” said Jenny, still gazing out of the clean windows. “Dad’s coming to hang the blinds in an hour, so it’s just a case of preparing this front display shelf, ready to welcome the customers in the morning.” Jenny felt a rush of both excitement and fear surge through her. “Shall we get the signs up and set out the tubs of lollipops and chocolates?”
“Yep, let’s do it,” said Dayna, clapping her hands together and walking off to the staff room to collect the plastic champagne flutes. “Buck’s Fizz for the customers, hmm, we could have some drunks on our hands,” she shouted back.
“Have you got any blu tack? I could put the signs up,” said Tasha.
Jenny reached behind the counter and grabbed some sticky dots, “Here, these should do the trick.” She passed them over and then stood and watched as Tasha carefully placed a sign at the top of the shelf. “Looks great, thanks Tasha.”
Tasha smiled and then went off to display more ‘Welcome’ signs around the shop.
It was odd. It was almost like Tasha had two personalities. Today she had behaved in exactly the same way as she had during the day yesterday. She was shy, hard-working and very conscientious. She wasn’t at all like the rather strange young lady from last night. Jenny didn’t understand why Tasha could be so very strange in different situations. She was a lovely, polite girl and seemed to keep herself to herself and get on with her work. Yet last night, she was quite out of the ordinary and both Jenny and Dayna had thought the same, even though they had not known her for long at all. Jenny hadn’t liked to ask Tasha about her comments the previous evening and Tasha certainly didn’t mention them. Both Jenny and Dayna, however, were both relieved when she’d turned up this morning wearing nothing more than a pair of old jeans, a plain black t-shirt and white trainers.
Jenny stood watching the odd passer-by, outside on Millen Road. They didn’t seem to notice that the windows were now clean and they could see in. They looked as if they were minding their own business, passing by with their heads down or turned the other way. Dayna had already said that she would stand outside tomorrow, in her bra, with a megaphone if she had to, to inform the locals that the shop was ‘Now open!’
On the odd occasion that Jenny had bumped in to, whom she assumed, were the proprietors of the other units along the way from her shop, they had smiled and acknowledged her but no one had actually stopped to talk. Customers had pulled up in the parking bays at the front of the units to go to the hairdressers next door or was it the beauty parlour? And every week day in the morning, at lunchtime and late in the afternoon, hoards of parents, mainly mums, either took their babies and toddlers to the nursery or collected them. At those particular times of the day, Jenny had noted that practically every single parking bay had been used for the parents – even her three spots.
“You want me to put all 50 of these out?” said Dayna.
Jenny jumped and quickly left her pondering hanging in the air – some worries resolved some not. “I was a million miles away then,” she replied.
Dayna stood holding two boxes of plastic champagne flutes. “Thought so, with anyone nice?”
Tutting, Jenny shook her head and pointed to the shelves behind her, “Yes, we’ll put them all out. At least that way it will look like we’re expecting a lot of people for the opening.”
“I’ve got one left. Where do you want this one to go Jenny?” called Tasha from the back of the shop. “I could stick it above this fridge?” she said, eyeing the chilled milk unit.
“Yes, that’s fine – thanks Tasha.”
Jenny was proficient in all things computer-ish and had made the ‘Welcome’ posters along with dozens of sheets of shelf price labels a few weeks ago. It had taken her several nights of copying and pasting, printing and trimming to create the colour coordinated shelf labels in every denomination conceivable. Jenny’s forethought had come from her own frustration when she walked around the shops in town, only to find that there were no prices on the shelves for the items that she wanted. She was going to make sure that her customers knew the price of everything in her shop, even if the little price stickers had fallen off the products.
“That looks nice doesn’t it?” said Jenny, stepping back and admiring the display of flutes, bottles of Buck’s Fizz, chocolates and lollipops. “It looks very welcoming doesn’t it?”
Dayna and Tasha stood either side of her, staring at the show of balloons, welcome banners and glitzy, curly ribbons hanging from the shelves.
“Looks good, Jen,” said Dayna.