“I hope you’re right.”
“I am right. You can count on it.”
“Well,” Niki said, “if they did sue me, they wouldn’t get much out of it.”
“That’s the spirit.” Sharon grinned and pulled out of her parking space. When they were almost to the turnoff that led into her neighborhood, she veered into the gas station on the corner. “This will just take a minute.”
“I can pump if you want me to,” Niki said, unclicking her seat belt.
“No, I’ve got it.” Sharon pulled a ten-dollar bill out of her wallet and handed it to her. “Why don’t you go in and get us some doughnuts? Maybe four or so? Your pick. We can have a job-quitting celebration once we get home.”
Oddly enough, Niki’s appetite, which had been a dull void only fifteen minutes before, had suddenly returned, and now she felt her stomach twinge at the reference to doughnuts. Sharon seemed to have an innate sense for just how she was feeling. She took the money and went into the gas station, heading straight to the doughnut case. Through the front windows she saw Sharon talking to a woman at another pump. Sharon was an odd one to figure out. Friendly, but not too friendly. So quiet you’d think she could be easily pushed around, but Niki was getting the impression that there was a strength behind that pleasant facade. Sharon just didn’t pull it out very often. Not like Amy, who was a presence. Amy drove assertively, and when she had the radio on, the music was loud. Sharon waved other drivers in front of her like she had all the time in the world, while Amy was impatient if the cars ahead of her took too long to move when the light turned green. “Take a look at that guy,” Amy would say, pointing to a car in front of them. “Who gave that dipstick a license?”
If Amy had gone with her to Magnificent Nutrition that morning, she would have confronted Dawn right from the start, whereas Sharon didn’t say anything until Dawn had insulted and threatened Niki.
Two different ways to be strong.
The doughnut display was half full with plenty of options, so Niki took a bag and with a piece of waxed paper chose two crullers, a Long John, and a jelly doughnut. Next to her, at the coffee stand, a woman in a gray wool coat and black high heels was pulling on a lever to fill a cup with cappuccino. When Niki got to the counter, she was greeted by an older man with a full head of wavy gray hair and a slight paunch. He was dressed in a red flannel shirt and jeans, a Northwoods look that Niki had noticed more of lately, so maybe it was coming back in style. This man didn’t look like the kind of person who cared about style, though. He’d probably been dressing this way for sixty-five years. “Good morning, young lady,” the man said, and his smile was so bright she couldn’t help but smile back. “How many doughnuts you got lurking in that bag?”
“Four.” She handed him the money, and he rang up the purchase and counted back her change.
“Here you are, miss. You have the best day ever, you hear?”
It was a cheesy line and one he probably said to every single customer, but even so, the positivity of it lifted her spirits. “I will.” As she turned to leave, a sign posted by the door caught her eye.
Help Wanted
Be part of the Village Mart team.
Good hourly pay, flexible hours.
Niki waited until after the other woman paid for her cappuccino, and then she backtracked to the counter. “I’d like to be part of your team,” she said. “Do I apply online?”
“If you want,” he said. “Or I can give you an application right this minute.” He reached under the counter and handed one over. “If you’re really interested, I can interview you now. My brother, Fred, is in the back room, and he can cover the register.”
“I’m really interested,” Niki said, glancing through the window. “Can I just run out and let my grandma know? It’ll only take a minute.”
“Take as much time as you need.” He leaned back, crossing his arms and laughing. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Life turns around in an instant. That’s what Sharon had said, and Niki marveled at the truth of it. Within the span of two hours, she’d quit a job and then gained a better one. The Village Mart was owned by two brothers, Fred and Albert, both old guys who seemed afflicted with some kind of personality disorder that kept them in a perpetual good mood. Albert had smiled and cracked jokes during the interview, which put her at ease. After a few minutes, she forgot she was being interviewed and joked right back. She was hired on the spot.
The pay was a dollar an hour more than at Magnificent Nutrition, and the hours were better too: Wednesday through Sunday from nine a.m. to five p.m. She would never have to open or close—one of the brothers would always be with her. And best of all, the place was only a few blocks away from Sharon’s, so she could walk to and from work.
The doughnuts she’d purchased turned out to be a celebratory new-job feast. “I knew you’d get something,” Sharon said once they were home sitting at the kitchen table. She had her coffee cup in front of her and was now choosing a doughnut.
“I don’t know about that.” Niki took a sip of her orange juice. “But I’m feeling really good about this. It will be nice to have regular hours.” Albert had given her the choice of the night shift or the day shift, and she hadn’t hesitated in choosing day hours.
“You don’t mind working weekends?”
Niki shrugged. “Nah. Every day is sort of the same for me. I’ll work whenever they need me. I told them I could come in on my days off too if they needed someone.” Albert had seemed particularly delighted to hear this. She took a sip of her orange juice. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“When you were talking to Dawn, why did you say I was your granddaughter?”
Sharon smiled slowly. “Did that bother you?”
“No, I just wondered.”
“Well, she assumed as much, so it seemed easier just to go with it. And then, after she called me your grandmother, I realized I kind of liked the idea. I’d be about the right age to be your grandma.” She sighed. “Amy has made it very clear that she’s not having kids, so I guess thinking of you as my granddaughter is a kind of wish fulfillment. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Mind?” Niki said, amazed. “I don’t mind. I’d love to have you as a grandmother. I’d be lucky to have you as a grandmother.” Sharon was far better than any of her own relatives. Even the nicest of them were unreliable, and all of them had so many problems. Dysfunction ruled—they had everything from addiction, to money problems, to the tendency to break the law. Sometimes she wondered how she’d come out okay, given her role models. Of course, she was still young. She had plenty of time to screw up.
“Good, because I ran into one of my neighbors at the gas station, and she’d noticed you and me coming and going in the car. When she asked who you were, I said you were my granddaughter and that you were living with me now.” Sharon put her hands around her coffee mug. “It just slipped out. Funny how she just accepted it and didn’t ask any more questions.”
“I told Albert at the gas station that I was living with my grandma,” Niki admitted. “It’s too complicated to explain, and I didn’t want to get into it.” She’d learned long ago not to volunteer her foster-child status. People were either inappropriately curious, asking way too many questions, or else they reacted with pity. The pity was far worse. Niki didn’t need people looking down on her, and she especially didn’t want to be labeled as the foster kid.
Being placed in foster care hadn’t been her fault. She and her mother had been doing just fine and could have gone on operating like that indefinitely. Yes, her mother was an addict, and often they were low on food or had to move because the rent wasn’t paid, but she knew her mother loved her, and Niki always found ways to get them through each week. Single-handedly, she held them together. And then, when she was twelve, their stupid neighbor across the hall, Mrs. Washington, turned them in and suddenly they were being investigated. The woman at child pr
otective services said that Niki shouldn’t have to be the grown-up, that the system would help her mother get the help she needed, and the two of them would eventually be reunited. Instead, Niki was sent to live with strangers, and a few months later her mother overdosed and died. If Niki had been there, it would never have happened. She would have been able to stop it.
And then, all the friends and family members who’d drifted in and out of her life up until then drifted out permanently. Her father had been in prison the last she’d heard, but even if he wasn’t, she barely knew him, and what she knew wasn’t good. All the relatives had an opinion about what should happen to her, but no one wanted to be responsible for raising a child. The one uncle who said he would take her as long as he got the foster care money was ruled out due to his criminal past. At the time it had been a letdown, although in retrospect it was just as well.
“So that’s it, then,” Sharon said. “As far as the world is concerned, you’re my granddaughter and I’m your grandmother.”
“I’m still calling you Sharon, though, if that’s okay.”
“Fine with me.”
Training at the Village Mart was a fun experience, something she could never have said about previous jobs. Albert and Fred were impressed by how quickly she caught on at the register and constantly complimented her on her interactions with customers. “Holy cow, she’s on fire!” Fred said. “We better watch out, or Niki will be replacing both of us.” He nudged his brother with his elbow.
“And that’s a bad idea, why?” Albert answered, slapping the counter. Albert and Fred were the opposite of Dawn and Max, leaving Niki to wonder why some people were so miserable while others were naturally upbeat. The happiness of the two brothers was infectious. It shot off of them like moonbeams. Everyone who came into the gas station was affected by their congenial personalities. Customers always walked out with a smile on their faces. For the first time ever, she didn’t mind going to work.
On her second day of work, she came back to Sharon’s to find that a large box had been delivered while she was out, and it was addressed to her. “What’s this?” she asked Sharon, who just shrugged.
“I guess you’ll have to open it and see.”
Inside was a winter jacket, gloves, scarf, and a hat, all gifts from Amy, who’d apparently been talking to her mother. Sharon had been fussing over Niki’s lack of a coat for a while now, and she’d offered to take her to the store to shop for what she called winter outerwear. She’d made it clear that she would pay for it, saying it would be her pleasure. Niki had refused on principle. She was not a charity case, and she could tolerate the cold. Someday, when she felt like it, she’d buy a coat with her own money.
A gift, though, that was something different. Since Amy had gone to the trouble to pick all this out and have it shipped, it would be rude not to accept.
Niki pulled the coat out of the box and held it up against her front. It was a dark blue, almost black, and had just the right heft. Heavy enough to be warm but not so thick as to be bulky. It had a hood that lay flat against the back when not in use. She approved. The scarf was a maroon knit made up of one long loop, and the hat was a slouchy beret of the same color. The gloves were the same blue as the coat. She wasn’t sure about the hat, preferring not to have anything over her hair, but everything else was just right.
She put on the coat, lifting her hair from underneath, and zipped up the front, then tried the gloves, which fit like they’d been custom-made for her.
“What do you think?” Sharon asked.
“Perfect,” Niki said, splaying out her fingers to test the gloves.
“It looks good on you.” She nodded approvingly. “Now I don’t have to worry about you being cold. I always felt so terrible seeing you outside in just that hoodie, and now with you walking to work I was afraid you’d get sick.”
She’d been worried about Niki being cold and getting sick? That was so sweet. Thinking about this made Niki feel like crying. She’d had some good foster parents, the kind who seemed to care about her, but she’d never gotten the sense that they worried about her. More like they wanted to do a good job. “You really are like a grandma,” Niki said, and then she turned away, worried that if she saw Sharon’s face she might start crying. “I think I’ll text Amy and thank her.”
Walking to work the next day was a better experience now that she had the appropriate outerwear. When she arrived at the gas station, Fred said, “Nice jacket.”
“It’s new,” she volunteered. Fred and Albert had such a reassuring presence that she found herself telling them things she wouldn’t ordinarily reveal. “A present from a friend.”
“Nice friend.”
“You can say that.” Niki had made a lot of friends over the years, but once she was no longer at the same school or job or foster home, they’d all seemed finished with her. People just didn’t stay. Except for Amy, which made her about the best friend she’d ever had. Unbeknownst to Sharon, she texted Amy nearly every night. Sometimes it was just a brief exchange, but it was nice to shoot off a text knowing Amy was on the other end. Amy had been particularly impressed by how her mother had handled Dawn when Niki quit. Amy had replied, I’m glad she has your back. That made two of them.
Although it was only her third day working at the gas station, she was already comfortable with the routine, ringing up purchases, running outside to assist customers who were having trouble at the pump, and making sure the store was clean and orderly. At times, Albert told her to relax. “You’re making me nervous. It’s fine just to take a breather now and then. You’ll notice we aren’t killing ourselves.”
The brothers knew their customers well, commenting on purchases or noting when someone drove a different car than they usually did. They knew a lot of their names, too, and made a point to introduce Niki to the regulars. “Niki just started earlier in the week, and she’s already indispensable,” Fred would say. “I don’t know what we did without her.”
The busy times were the best because the hours just went. At the nutrition store, the clock had moved at a sloth’s pace. Here, the day flew. Even when customers didn’t come inside, Fred or Albert had commentary about those filling up at the pump. And when no one else was around, they told her stories from their youth, the times they’d gotten in trouble at school, tales of growing up in the country, and the jobs they’d had before buying the gas station. So many stories and so interesting. They said she was a good listener, which wasn’t hard because she enjoyed talking to them. They were funny and kind, a good combination.
After lunchtime there was a lull, but later in the afternoon it picked up again. That afternoon, Fred was stocking the beer cooler and she was behind the counter when Jacob Fleming walked in. He wore his usual sweatshirt with the hood up, his face obscured and head aimed downward, like he was attempting to be invisible. Despite this, she recognized him right away. She felt the same jolt of familiarity that she’d had when his mother had come into the nutrition store. Until then, it had never occurred to her that she might encounter one of the Flemings at her new job, but now it hit home in a big way. This gas station had to be the closest one to their house, and they did have two cars that needed fuel. There was a real possibility that she might come face-to-face with Suzette Fleming again in the near future. Not a great thought, but she consoled herself with the fact that one of the brothers always worked with her, and they were nice about letting her leave her post to go to the bathroom or whatever. If the woman came in, she always had the option of slipping away and letting them handle the transaction.
Seeing Jacob not only reminded her of his mother, that vile woman, but it also put her in mind of the little girl she’d seen retrieving the dog from the yard. If Jacob came in on a regular basis, maybe she could establish a friendly connection with him and eventually get him to talk about the child. There was probably a reasonable explanation for why the little girl was staying with the family, but something nagged at her to find out for sure.
She watched as Jacob put his hood down, then skulked around the edges of the store, stopping in front of the snack section. After deliberating for a few minutes, he grabbed a big bag of chips, then went straight to the beverage cooler, opening the door and taking a can of Coke. Fred caught sight of him just as the cooler door closed. “Hello! Good to see you, Jacob.”
“Thanks. Good to see you too.” The words were a mumble, but the kid managed a slight smile. Even surly teenagers couldn’t help but be affected by Fred’s good cheer.
“Say hello to Niki, our new hire,” Fred called out, gesturing with his thumb. “I think you’ll find her to be an improvement over the other old codgers who work the day shift. Already she’s making the place better.”
Jacob loped up to the counter and set down his items. “Hi, Niki.”
“Hey, Jacob, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” He fished some dollar bills out of his pocket while she rang up the purchases.
She counted out the change and dropped the coins into his palm. “Do you live around here?” she asked.
He nodded. “Over on Maple Avenue.”
“I’m right behind you, over on Crescent Street,” she said. “I moved in with my grandma not too long ago.”
“I wish I could live with my grandma,” he said, his face glum.
“Yeah, it’s pretty sweet. Are your parents hard to live with?” A fishing expedition, but she had a feeling it was true, and the fact that he wasn’t making a move to leave was a good sign. She had his attention.
“My mom is. My dad’s okay. He’s not around much, though.” Jacob sighed.
“Tell me about it. Moms can be the worst,” she said sympathetically, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “And at my house there was no escape. I’m an only child, so the focus was always on me. I always wanted a brother or sister. It would have been nice to have someone to talk to, but it never happened.”
The Moonlight Child Page 10