by Amy Sparling
“Good morning,” I say. “Are we out of coffee?”
“I just didn’t feel like making it.” Mom’s eyes stay focused on the tablet. I grab some Pop Tarts from the pantry and sit next to her. Although I’d love some coffee, I don’t really have time to make a fresh pot right now since Jonah will be here to pick me up in a few minutes.
“Are you okay?” I ask my mom after a few minutes of silence. She’s staring at her tablet, but she’s not focusing on anything. With my question hanging in the air, she looks up at me.
Oh no. This is not a good look.
“About what I agreed to yesterday,” Mom says, still not looking at me. “I can’t do ninety days. I’ll do thirty days.”
The knot in my stomach seems to look up at me and say this is why I made you wake up feeling sick.
I take a deep breath and try not to lash out and cry and beg for what I want. “Why not three months?” I ask calmly. “You know business things take a while.”
She nods. “Try sixteen years. I have been there done that, Natalie. Even if we do a few things to the store, it doesn’t bring about long term change.”
“But it will,” I say. “Jonah is going to help me and he’s incredibly smart.”
Mom snorts. “Right. A kid in high school will do better than a team of market researches that I hired a couple years ago.”
“He might,” I say, breaking off a piece of my Pop Tart. “He’s crazy smart and he already has a ton of ideas. He’ll be here any minute and we’re heading to the store to start working on them.”
Mom shakes her head like she still thinks I’m stupid for giving even one ounce of hope to Jonah’s plans. “You can have thirty more days to play with the store, and then I’m selling.”
Maybe she’s given up, but I’m not. “Okay. Fine. I’ll change your mind over the next thirty days.”
“Well, have fun,” she says as she looks back at her tablet. “I won’t be going into work this weekend. I need a break.”
Jonah hands me a Starbucks frap when I climb into his car. I grab it with wide eyes and clutch it to my chest. “You are amazing,” I say, taking a sip. “My hero.”
He laughs. “Is your mom okay with me hanging out at the store all day?”
“She’s not going to be there at all,” I tell him, the words feeling awkward as they leave my mouth. “She’s never taken off work unless she was really sick. Also, she’s only giving me thirty days, so I’m not sure how we’ll change her mind in that short of a time span.”
Jonah puts a hand on my knee and gives me one of his classic reassuring smiles. “We will. My mom’s annoying book club friends are coming over today to shop, and we have a meeting with Sue Cho at two.”
“A meeting?” I say, giving him a look. “Isn’t Sue Cho the name of a girl at school?”
“She’s the student council president,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows at me as if he just introduced me to a celebrity.
“Okay…?”
We’ve arrived at the store, so he walks over to my side and slides his arm around my waist. “Just trust me. I’ll explain it all in the meeting.”
Jonah’s mom is tall and beautiful, with long silky black hair and tanned skin a little darker than Jonah’s. They have the same eyes, but Jonah must have gotten a lot of his features from his dad. She arrives around eleven after having brunch with the seven women in her book club. Jonah introduces me to her and I mumble over a hello instead of being suave and charming like I’d tried to be.
All eight women have a lively discussion in front of our bookshelves while they decide which book to buy for this coming week’s club meeting.
After choosing a mystery novel, Mrs. Garza asks if we’d be able to order any book they want in advance.
“Yes, absolutely,” I say. “We can order any book online.”
“Wonderful. We’d like to use your store as our weekly book supplier.”
“You have book clubs weekly?” I ask, eyebrows raised. All the book clubs I’ve ever known take a month to read a book.
“Of course.” She glances at Jonah and smiles at him the way moms always smile at the children they love. “The best way to live is by reading at least one book a week.” She hefts four different hardbacks onto the counter. “These are just for my personal reading,” she says, giving me a grin. “I tend to read more than the other women do.”
“Thank you so much for shopping here,” I say loud enough for all the book club ladies to hear. “I’m so glad to help you all. Are these separate orders or all together?”
“Separate, dear,” a short woman with a Botox face says. “But we’re not nearly finished shopping yet. Can you hold these up front for us?”
“Of course.” I stack their books on the counter in eight piles. Just like Jonah’s mom had done, every other woman buys at least one more book. I look over at Jonah and he winks at me.
“These are the women you need shopping in your store. Most of them don’t work and have wealthy husbands. And, none of them have never been here before. They didn’t know it existed.”
“This is awesome,” I say, mentally adding up how much profit we’ll earn on around thirty book sales. “But unless your mom has a different book club with hundreds of other women each week, this won’t help us much in the long term.”
“No, but everything put together will.” Jonah wiggles the mouse on the computer. “How do I log in here?”
I log him into the store’s account and he goes to the website for the software we use to keep track of inventory and purchases.
“Whatcha doing?” I ask over his shoulder. I can’t help but inhale the sweet clean scent of him and I hope he doesn’t notice.
“I want to kiss you so bad right now,” he says in a low whisper. “My mother better leave soon.”
I slap him playfully on the back. “I want them to stay a long time and buy lots of stuff,” I whisper back.
“I see how it is… money is more important than kissing me.” He turns around and grins at me and we’re standing so close my boobs slide against his arm.
“That’s not a fair question,” I whisper back. My lips are tingling with the desire to lift up on my toes and kiss him, but that won’t happen with his mom just a few feet away. I need to be professional so I can secure these women as repeat customers.
Jonah clears his throat and I notice his ears are red. He turns back to the computer and I press up against his back, leaning to the side to see what he’s doing.
“Your point of sale software comes with a free add on download for customer loyalty. As I suspected, you don’t have that option set up here yet.”
“What is it for?” I ask.
He clicks around on the website and then a downloading box appears. “You input the customer’s phone number each time they purchase something. After a certain amount of purchases, they get a reward. Like the stamp cards at the frozen yogurt place.”
“Awesome,” I say, watching as he installs and sets up the loyalty program. It appears as a little button we can click as we ring up a customer.
We set it up so that every ten purchases gives you a coupon for twenty percent off your next order. Then Jonah and I set up an announcement to let everyone know about our new loyally program on the store’s website, Facebook page, and mailing list.
When Mrs. Garza and her friends are done shopping, they each have a ton of items they can’t stop raving about. I ring them each up, putting them in the loyally program which really delights them. As I work, they talk to each other about the cute items we stock, and the books, and how they need to come back and with their other friends to show them around this store, which they all agree is “very cute.”
I’m beaming with pride as I swipe credit card after credit card while Jonah bags their items. I still don’t know if I can turn this place around in thirty days, but at least I’m not going down without a fight.
The moment the door closes behind the last one of Jonah’s mom’s friends, he turns to me. His e
yes narrow slightly and he grabs onto my hips, pulling me closer to him. “You are really sexy,” he says, lowering his forehead to mine.
“In these clothes?” I say, pulling at the front of my Magpie polo shirt.
“In any clothes,” he whispers. My toes tingle at his nearness, the warmth of his hands on my sides. I lean up and finally let myself do what I’ve wanted to do all morning.
His kiss is slow and passionate, his tongue gliding over my lips slowly until I part them. And then we kiss harder, our tongues sliding across each other in ways that make my whole body light up. My hands wrap around his neck and his dig into my sides, tugging me so close our bodies are pressed against each other from shoulders to knees.
I can feel his bulge press against my leg and it turns me on knowing he’s turned on. His hands slide up my sides, his thumbs grazing under the cup of my bra. I gasp for air and then go in to kiss him again, wishing his lips were all over me, in every place that tingles with desire.
His thumbs slide across my breasts and then he glides down my sides until his thumbs find a resting place just inside the waistband of my jeans. I am warm and hot and tingling for his touch. I slide my fingers through the back of his hair, moaning when he kisses my neck. He chuckles at this, the sound soft and playful, before he kisses another trail from my collar bone back up to my mouth, his body slowly grinding against mine in ways that make me want to rip these stupid clothes off.
It’s hard to imagine that the boy with clean cut clothes and a dorky messenger bag at school would be so unbelievably great at making out. There are hidden treasures beneath guys who don’t flaunt themselves like a sex god on the football field. And I’ve just found one.
Jonah leans my back against the counter, his erection pressing against my belly button. I let out a sigh of pleasure as I pull him closer to me, sliding my hands under his shirt to feel the skin I’ve only seen once at the beach. I’m about to take it too far, but I don’t care, not one bit.
And then the phone rings.
I jump at the sudden high pitched sound and Jonah steps backward, blinking his eyes as if returning from a daze.
“Shit,” he says, breathing heavily. He reaches into his back pocket and takes out his phone. “We have to answer this.” He gives me a devilish grin and then leans forward and kisses me one slow, delicious time before answering the call.
I have to take several deep breaths before I can focus on the conversation, but the gist of it is that Sue Cho has chosen The Magpie as this year’s school fundraiser store. All we have to do is agree to donate ten percent of our profits to the school for everyone who comes in and turns in a Student Council fundraiser coupon.
Jonah describes it as a win/win deal because the school earns money, which we can call a tax deduction for the store, and more people come into the store because their kids bring home coupons encouraging them to.
We agree to get started right away, and Sue sends out an email to the elementary school administration, telling them we’re on board to sponsor every school in the district, not just the high school. One of the principals calls the store directly an hour later and asks if they can send out a code to parents via email instead of a coupon so that we can save paper and be environmentally friendly.
I think up a code word and by the end of the day, we’ve brought in eight hundred dollars of sales, one hundred of which we’re donating to the school.
It’s only day one, I think as we prepare to lock up the store after closing. And we’re already mostly there.
Chapter 27
Mom has slipped back into her depression again. She spends the whole weekend at home while I run the store with Jonah and April’s help. The Student Council fundraising thing is going really well so far and we close out Sunday night with two thousand extra dollars in sales. I’m thrilled to come home and tell my mom, but when I find her in her room, laid on her side and staring at the wall, I can’t think of anything to say.
Mom gets like this sometimes. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s happened mostly after she got divorced. She’ll go through a few days of silent contemplation and she won’t leave her room much or do anything. I know she’s upset right now because of her decision to sell the store, and I know it’s a battle I can’t win right now.
If we can do two thousand dollars in sales on a weekend, I can only imagine how much we’ll earn over the next twenty eight days. I make a BLT sandwich with chips and set it on a tray, then take it to Mom’s room. I set it on her nightstand and then turn to walk away.
“Thank you,” she says.
After a shower, I’m sitting in my room working on my extra credit papers and trying not to worry about Mom. With Jonah’s help, we might actually turn this place around. The weird thing is that I know we’ve earned around three thousand dollars a month for the last few months. Sure we have taxes and rent to pay, but besides the normal bills and food and stuff, we shouldn’t need any more money than that. We’re barely getting by here, but at least we’re getting by, right? Mom and I live without cable TV or high speed internet and we get by just fine. Why is she so quick to give this all up and get a job that she’ll hate?
Frustrated and feeling a little depressed myself, I shove my homework to the side and head down to the kitchen nook where Mom keeps all her bills and mail. I grab a notepad and smile when it makes me think of Jonah, and then I write Monthly Budget at the top.
I grab a stack of the latest bills and start writing down the electric company, water company, and cell phone provider, along with what last month’s bill amount was for each one. I’m going to figure out what it costs to survive each month and then see if I can tweak the budget to save money.
With money saved and more money coming into the store, Mom will have to reconsider the idea of selling the store. I’ll beg and plead. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the store in my life and make sure Jack Brown doesn’t get his way.
I go through the bills and find Mom’s bank account statement for last month. I figure I’ll add up all the food and grocery expenses to see what we spend on food on average. Surely, we can budget better in that area by eating cheap food and cutting out smoothies and ice cream.
I get halfway down the page when my finger stops on a transaction I don’t recognize. Twelve hundred dollars was paid to EASYMONEYCORP.
I sit back and stare at the numbers on the bank statement. Easy Money Corp? That payday loan place that’s always advertising on the radio? Why the hell is Mom paying them so much money?
I go back to the bills and flip through each one, not seeing anything from this shady payday loan place. Then I remember when I was little and how Mom would hide her favorite candy from me so I’d stop eating it all in one sitting. Would Mom hide something from me now?
I shove the chair over to the fridge, where I stand on it to look into the shoebox that’s been up there forever, collecting dust. There’s no candy in it anymore, but there is paperwork. Lots of it.
Half an hour later, my heart is pounding and I’m freaking out. My mom took a payday loan last year around Christmas time. It must have been what she used to buy my new cell phone even though I’d told her we didn’t need to waste money on things like that. The interest they charge on this loan is impossible and Mom’s monthly payments keep going up and up each month, especially since she took out a few more loans after the first one.
Now my mom owes $23,557 and the monthly payment is $1206. They call it the minimum payment and there’s a line on the bill encouraging you to pay more. Each month $800 is added on in interest. It makes me want to throw up. This should be illegal. They’re taking advantage of my poor mom who only wanted a little extra cash to get us by. This is ruining us. No wonder she kept it a secret.
I shove everything back in place, grab the monthly budget I’d made and go back to my room where I call Jonah.
“Hello?” he says all groggily.
“Did I wake you up?” I look at my watch—it’s after midnight. “I’m so sorry.”
> “It’s okay. What’s up?”
I tell him about all of the debt my mom has secretly acquired and how it’s with a shady company. Even with the extra money we’ve earned last weekend, it won’t be enough. That barely covers a payment and the high interest will just keep the debt at the same amount. I hope Jonah has a plan. Some fancy mathematical way to make this easier to pay off.
He tells me we’re screwed. That payday loans are sharks and they bankrupt people more often than they help them. He says there’s no way out of this loan without a lump sum payment of the full amount.
We can do what we can for the store, but we’ll never get twenty thousand dollars.
***
All I want to do is skip class on Monday, but I force myself to go. Mom seemed okay, more like her usual self this morning. At least she was going to the store and not choosing to close for the day so she can stay in bed. I wanted to tell her about the loan and how I knew about it, but I don’t want to upset her. I want to fix this. If only that debt was paid off, then we could keep the store.
Jonah meets me in the hallway on the way to lunch, his hand slipping into mine as if it were created specifically for that purpose. “How you holding up?” he asks.
I lean against his arm while we walk. “I don’t know. I wish Mom would have told me about this.”
“Parents don’t want their kids to worry.”
“Yeah, well now I’m worrying.”
Jonah tugs my hand in the opposite direction of the cafeteria. I let him guide me back the way we came, walking against the flow of traffic, until we get to the alcove underneath the stairs.
He glances around suspiciously, and when the last student has left this hallway, he pulls me inside.
“Jonah,” I say playfully as I press his back to the wall and lean against him. “You’re a world class student. Sneaking around at school doesn’t sound like you at all.”
“I know,” he says, sliding his hands in my back pockets. There’s a hint of mischief in his eyes as we kiss. “We can’t stay here long, I just had to get a kiss and tell you how crazy I am about you.”