by Robin Janney
She smirked at him. “Hard to find a job too.”
Something she had said caught up to him. He looked around casually to see if Susan was anywhere in sight, realizing with chagrin just how right Angela was. “So, what are you saying? You’re not afraid of them?”
Angela laughed quietly. “You’ve never heard of me?”
“Should I have?” No, no he hadn’t, and it still bothered him. How had he lived here for almost ten years and never seen her or heard her name before she stepped foot on his back deck?
“I thought everyone knew my nickname. I’ve had it since the sixth grade.”
“Angela, I had never heard your name before you started working here. Are you going to tell me, or tease me the rest of the night?”
“I ought to tease you,” she said with a roguish air as she gave him a lopsided grin. “I am the Fearless Angela Carman. Afraid of no man, beast, vehicle or natural disaster. At least that’s how my best friend Michelle always worded it and she was the other half of the Fearless Twosome.”
And yet, Craig couldn’t shake the feeling that she had been afraid of him…and still was. “So, Cori and Susan don’t worry you?”
“Nope. Susan’s my second cousin and we grew up together. She wouldn’t dream of making trouble for me. And Cori knows better. We went to school together. If anything, she knows enough to stay out of my way.”
“Wow. You, young lady, are cocky.”
“I know. Half the reason why I have the nickname I do.”
“You’ll have to tell me the other half someday.” He was amused to see her blush.
“Sorry, I don’t tell those stories. You’ll have to get them from someone else.” Her friendly expression disappeared, and she smoothed tendrils of wet hair away from her face. “Now, I believe you or David were going to show me how to do a weekly inventory?”
“Right.” Craig had never seen such a quick switch from friendliness to professionalism before. He stood straight and did the same. “Come back to the office and I’ll get you started.”
“Y
ou’ve been angry all night, Cori. What gives?” Susan Mead began the shut down process for her cash register. There were only a few minutes left to actual closing time, but if someone came in they could go through Cori or Larry’s register. It was silly to have three lanes open this late, but Craig never budged on this decision.
Cori shrugged. She couldn’t tell anyone how Mr. Crane had called earlier in the day to discuss their debt. When the big man himself called, you knew you were in trouble.
“She’s probably still pissy about earlier,” commented Larry.
Cori ignored the teen. “I’ve just had a bad day.”
“I guess,” the slightly older woman said in disbelief. She turned in her little alcove and leaned against the wall.
Sighing, Cori tried sticking with the lie. “Look, it started out with Lily throwing up on me, and it only got better from there…and then to make matters worse, Angela spends her break up here chatting with you about…what the hell were you two talking about, anyway?”
“We had a family picnic last weekend, and we were laughing over some stuff that happened.” Susan shrugged. “We have a drunk uncle. You got something against my cousin?”
Shaking her head, Cori felt disbelief. They were related? Great, just great. How to recover? She tried relaxing. “Not exactly. It’s just…Craig kicked me out of the break room earlier just, so she could tell some dumb farm story. She’s been here a week and already she’s a favorite?”
“Hey,” pretested Larry as he too began to shut down his register for the night. “I liked that story.”
“Shut up Larry,” the women said in unison.
The teen rolled his eyeballs. “Whatever.” He shook his shaggy hair and turned his attention back to his register.
“That doesn’t sound like Craig. He doesn’t play favorites,” mused Susan.
“Well, that’s what happened.” Cori shook her head in irritation. She jerked a thumb towards Larry. “Ask him. He was there. Craig might not have outright said so, but the meaning was clear.”
Susan looked over to Larry.
“Duh,” he said. He took his cash tray and walked away.
Waiting for him to be out of hearing range, Susan looked back at Cori. “Whatever you’re thinking Cori – forget about it.”
“Who said I’m thinking anything?”
“Please, I know that look. Let me give you a bit of advice. Don’t mess with Angela. Just erase the thought from your mind. She needs this job and can’t afford to lose it. She’s not someone you want to cross even on a good day.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cori began her shut down. The clock had just chimed the hour. “I thought she was a Christian or something like that?”
“She is, but she hasn’t conquered her temper yet. She has a shorter fuse than Craig, and she’s got a black belt in karate to back it up.”
“You don’t get a black belt in anything by losing your temper.”
Both women jumped as their boss passed by to the main door. Thankfully, Susan looked as guilty as Cori felt.
Susan recovered first and favored the man with a smirk startlingly like her cousin’s. “Maybe, but I’ve seen Angela lose her temper before and back it up with her karate. She even broke a boy’s arm in high school just because he wanted to kiss her.”
“She had every right to do that!” Cori surprised herself by defending Angela. “I was there. Bruno was being a dick telling Angela he’d arm wrestle her for a kiss or have his friends hold her, so he could do it anyway. It’s not her fault Bruno’s arm was made of glass.”
Locking the door, Craig shook his head at the two. He flipped the Open sign to Closed. “Okay ladies, we’re done. Hand me your trays and you can get out of here.”
“Thank God,” muttered Cori. She passed over her cash tray and left without a backwards glance.
S usan pushed a strand of straight brown hair behind her ear. Handing her tray to him, she licked her lips and inwardly Craig groaned.
“Would you like help to count the trays?” she asked. “I could stay and help, off the clock if you’d like.”
“Thank you, but no.”
She nodded. “Really, it’d be no problem. My mom has Charlie tonight so I don’t have to rush.”
He repeated himself, adding, “It was a slow enough night that it should take me too long without Dave here. Thanks for the offer though.”
Craig watched her leave with a sense of relief. Her barb about his temper stung more than he’d ever let her see. He walked back to his office to tackle the chore of balancing the cash trays and receipts. It wasn’t something he liked doing by himself, but David’s wife had gone into labor earlier in the evening and Craig had sent him off without a second thought. He didn’t envy the other man his growing family, this was baby number four, but he did wonder how the other managed to balance his life so well.
As usual, the process took him longer than usual, but he didn’t regret turning down the offered help. Susan was persistent, but the calculation he always saw in her eyes encouraged him to continue being consistent in saying ‘no’ to her. She wasn’t really looking for love, but a father for her son. A well-off father, if he didn’t miss his guess.
It was nearing midnight when there was a rap on his office door and he looked up in surprise. Everyone should have been gone by now. “Come in.”
The door opened and in walked Angela, wearing a satisfied smile. She handed him the folder she was carrying. “Your inventory is done, Mr. Moore. I wouldn’t order any more post-it notes for a while if I were you.”
He took the folder and leaned back in his chair. “You finished it? In one night?” He looked at the time on his computer screen and saw the time. “I’m not upset, just surprised. Harry always took two days to finish it.”
Angela shrugged. “I’m either faster or he was milking it.”
Both were entirely possible. From what he had seen so far, thi
s new employee had three times the energy as the older man and a strong dislike for standing still. He flipped through the folder, trying to keep it casual. “You could have stopped an hour ago and picked it up tomorrow.”
“I was on a roll.”
He didn’t argue, mostly because his mind had wandered. For a moment he wondered what her hair would look like falling free. She always wore it in a sensible style, usually a braided bun such as now. How long was it? Was it as silky as it looked? He cleared his throat and tapped the folder on his desk. “Well, I’m impressed. Thanks for doing a good job.”
“You’re welcome.” She favored him with a smile. “I’m going home now. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
She turned on her heel and left the office. He wished she hadn’t shut the door behind her, so he could have watched her longer.
Maybe David did know what he was doing when it came to love because this was beginning to feel a lot like envy.
7
“I
’ll see your bet and raise you a pack of peanuts and a roll of breath mints.” Angela pushed those items into the center of the break room table and calmly faced her remaining opponent.
Susan and Emma Mayfield had both long since folded their hands in this friendly game of poker and both women watched in amusement as young Larry tried to decide whether Angela was bluffing. Standing in the doorway, leaning against the door jamb ever since the game had caught his attention, Craig was certain she was bluffing.
Larry bit his lip and looked from his cards to Angela and back again. Her face was calm and smooth. And she had just pushed the rest of her snack food currency into the pot. “You win. I fold.”
There was laughter all around as Angela pulled the pot towards her.
“Anyone for another round?” she asked.
Larry groaned, and the laughter increased. “Tell me what your hand was, and I’ll play again.”
“No sir! You have to pay to see the cards and you all folded.”
“It’s no use, kid,” Susan said smartly. “You won’t ever beat her. Angela’s had one smooth poker face since forever. She’s always played the cards close to her chest and not just in card games.”
“Huh?” The teen was clearly confused.
Susan nodded towards her cousin. “Take a look, can you tell what she’s thinking?”
Larry did as she bade. Angela was smirking, and she might be amused, but her eyes bothered him. They looked flat. He just wasn’t sure. He shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“And I’m not going to tell either.” Angela’s comment was light, but her expression didn’t change.
“See?” Susan raised an eyebrow at the teen.
“I think it’s time to get back to work,” interrupted Emma’s soft voice. She cast a subtle glance towards their boss. “Becky and Cori will want a break too.”
There was some groaning, but the others followed her advice. Emma stepped away in the direction of the deli where Becky was waiting for her relief. Angela was the only one not to hurry away since the orderliness of the break room was her responsibility. He’d even heard her and the older woman talking about reorganizing the deli which was something he’d been after Becky to do for some time now.
She had just risen to her feet when Craig said, “I’ll play a hand with you.”
Looking at him with caution in her eyes, Angela nodded and sat back down. Wordlessly she slid half the snack packages across the table to him as he took a seat across from her.
“You were embarrassed, weren’t you?” he asked.
“Excuse me?”
“By what Susan said.” When she blushed, he knew he had been right.
“Yes,” she admitted, beginning to shuffle the cards. “A little. Susan’s always teased me about my poker face. Especially when my mom’s around because Mom doesn’t like that I know how to play the game. It’s not like I’d play for money or anything. Besides, Dad taught me and…” Angela stopped herself before she could say more. Her boss had not asked to hear her life story, especially since it had been her older brother who had learned the game with her. “Well, Mom’s never liked it. How could you tell I was embarrassed?”
“The same way I could tell you were bluffing.”
Angela looked up sharply as she dealt the cards and found her boss smiling at her in amusement. “That doesn’t tell me how you knew. Do my eyes twitch? Do I look to the left? Forget to check my hand? What?”
“If I told you, I wouldn’t stand a chance at winning this hand.” How could Craig tell her it was just a gut feeling, and he didn’t completely understand it himself?
“You haven’t won yet.” She finished dealing and pulled her hand close. “Let’s see if you know what you’re talking about.”
“I guess we will.”
They bantered back and forth with the bets and cards, but at the end, Angela sat waiting for him to fold. He just sat there, gazing passively at her. Why did he look at her so often like this? His brown eyes were intense. Didn’t he ever blink?
“I’m not folding, Angela. No amount of glaring at me is going to make me change my mind.” He hid his smile as her calm gaze turned into the glare he’d accused her of. She was bluffing again. “You want to go first, or should I?”
She sighed and placed her cards flat on the table. It wasn’t a bad hand, but there were plenty of combinations to beat it. “Two pair, ten high.”
Now he smiled and showed her his bards. “I believe three jacks win the game.”
A disgusted sound came out of Angela. “I knew I should have had wilds. You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“No.” He gathered the cards to himself. “Another hand?”
Angela shook her head. “I really ought to get back to work.” Her desire to get away from her boss increased. She stood and scooped the snack packages back into their bowl and replaced it on the counter.
“Alright.” Craig watched her leave and wondered at her sudden panic. It wasn’t obvious, but he had felt it as surely as he had known she was bluffing. Was she still afraid of him? Why? And why did he care? Why was he fascinated with this woman? She would turn out to be just like the others.
Maybe it was time to call Kevin. Friend and shrink, he was always able to help Craig understand his world.
T he store had closed, and Angela knew she had to get these boxes on the shelf before her boss could have time to come out and help. He’d been doing an awful lot of that recently and she wasn’t in the mood tonight. David had said she was trained enough to be on her own, so she didn’t understand why…
Too late. Here he came.
“I’m doing fine by myself,” she said, trying to cut her boss off before he could say anything. A traitorous part of herself wanted Craig to stay, but she ignored it.
“I know. I’m still going to help.” The apprehension in her eyes was not enough to warn him away.
“Fine, you can do the top shelves.” Angela looked away from him quickly. She didn’t want to be caught admiring his eyes, or how the corners of his lips were trying not to smile. He did that a lot, tried not to smile when she was around. She knelt and resumed stocking the bottom shelves, not truly seeing the multicolored pasta or she would have realized it was the wrong kind for this shelf.
Who was she to argue with the boss? It was his call and if he wanted to help her that was up to him. At least he wasn’t trying to talk to her tonight. Silence was golden.
“Hey, Angela?”
Crap. “Yes, Mr. Moore?”
“I was thinking about what Susan said earlier. What’s in the cards you don’t play? I mean, I’m not talking about poker…”
He was so cute stumbling over his words. Angela was confident she could handle this question sufficiently. She managed a mysterious smile and glanced up at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Wait, what?
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Craig lowered the box of rotini in his hand.
Angela could feel his ga
ze on her and felt herself heating. What was she doing trying to flirt with him? She needed air. Standing and dusting her knees off, she made the mistake of looking directly at her boss and almost forgot what she was going to say. Poker, they were talking about poker…and his eyes were looking at her with the same intense gaze as before. “It means there’s a price to see the cards. You can’t see them for free…and you have to be in the game.”
Why was she still trying to flirt? And poorly.
“Oh, I’m in alright.” He was? Craig was no longer sure what they were talking about. Were they flirting? He didn’t even know where his question had come from. He had meant to tell her she was putting the box on the wrong shelf, but the other question had popped out instead. He should just keep on shelving the boxes on the wrong shelf, he could fix them later, but her cautious blue eyes were looking right at him.
And then she smiled at him.
Breathe Craig…
“Good to know you’re in the game. Are you willing to pay the price?”
“What’s the price?”
Angela tried to keep her face smooth, not knowing she was failing. “If you have to ask, then you’re not ready to see them.” She knelt back down and returned to work, forgetting her earlier need to leave. “Besides, I bet you have just as many wild cards in your own hand as I do.” Why can’t I stop talking?
Craig watched her work silently. It lasted three boxes, and he asked quietly, “What game are we playing?”
I don’t know. That’s what she wanted to say. Instead, she stood again and words she hadn’t planned on saying popped out. She couldn’t look at him. “If you don’t know what game we’re playing, how do you know you’re in it? If you’ll excuse me, I need some air. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She didn’t wait for her boss’s approval before turning and leaving.
Craig watched her go, wishing he had the courage to either call her back or run after her. But he didn’t. The moment was over and all that was left was confusion. She disappeared around the end of the aisle, and he remembered the box in his hand. He shelved it, even knowing it was the wrong shelf. And then another, and another, and another.