Ball. I have to assume I was a last resort because I never pretended to be anything other than a distant friend. She kisses everyone. I just found out that she bribed one of the workers with twenty bucks to let her into the store. If you hadn’t turned tail and run, you would have heard me tell her I was seeing someone and had other plans for Saturday evening. So, are you okay with this? Please tell me you’re okay with this so I don’t have to do that singing thing under your window tonight.” Josh wondered if he looked as exhausted as he felt. Would Angie take pity on him? Childishly, he crossed his fingers.
He was seeing someone and had other plans. That almost makes us a couple. It sounds like we are a couple. “I didn’t know you could sing. Do you want a cup of tea or a beer? I can make some coffee.”
“I’ll take a beer and I can’t sing. My father…”
“Offered you advice. Yeah, my mother stepped in and offered some, too. Okay, you’re off the hook.”
“Thank God! I’m going to have to guzzle that beer and get back to the store. Are you staying home?”
“No. I just got…miffed and came home. I did…I think I did something I might come to regret. I reacted and I…I signed that damn contract and it went off in the mail. The mailman came a little while ago, and Mom gave it to him.”
Josh looked at her as though she’d sprouted a second head. “You were that angry? Damn, now what are you going to do? Are you sorry you sent it off?”
“Yes. Yes, a hundred times yes. I was going to call tomorrow and explain that I wouldn’t be accepting the position. I never did tell my mother.”
“Get your coat. Maybe we can catch the mailman. Do you know in which direction he goes when he finishes up your street? Never mind, you go one way and I’ll go the other. It’s still early so he won’t be returning to the post office. If I find him first, he won’t give it to me, so I’ll call you on your cell. If you find him first, call me and I’ll meet up with you.”
Thirty minutes later the couple sat down on Angie’s front steps. “He said Mom never gave him any mail. That has to mean she knows and kept the envelope or hid it. Parents are so devious,” Angie groused.
“Oh, I don’t know, sometimes they’re pretty smart. Your mother saved your butt by not mailing that contract. My father gave me some shitty advice, but here we are with a better understanding of what’s going on.” Josh reached for Angie’s hand and squeezed it.
“I think your father and my mother are going to end up together. They get along so well. And, they’re great company for one another. Tonight they’re going out for Japanese food. I’m okay with it, are you?”
“Yeah, you bet. My father is a different man these days. He hasn’t given me one moment of grief as the bills come in. I think it’s all due to your mother.” This last was said so shyly, Angie smiled.
Angie held up her hand palm out and high-fived Josh. “To our parents!”
“To our parents and to us.”
A red ring of heat popped up on Angie’s neck. Then it crept up to her cheeks. She didn’t know what else to do, so she smiled.
Chapter Eight
On a cold, blustery November day, everything Eagle swung into high gear. Announcers on the local airwaves invited shoppers to soar with the Eagle and avail themselves of the hospitality that was being offered by the Eagle family to all the families the store had served in the last hundred years.
Flyers and giveaways were handed out at all the mall entrances and parking lot to entice people into the store. There were flyers for the day care unit, flyers for the knitting and cooking classes. Flyers for sale after sale on just about every item in the store.
When the doors opened at ten o’clock, Josh, attired in a power suit and tie, stood next to his father to welcome and greet old and new customers alike.
Standing on the sidelines, Eva and Angie sighed with relief as shoppers flooded the main floor. They watched for a while, amazed and delighted that all their hard work was paying off with cash register activity. “I think we did okay, Mom. Now, if the merchandise keeps flowing in, and no one screws up, we just might make it through the holiday season and, if we’re lucky, pay the bills and maybe show a tiny profit. If we’re lucky,” she repeated.
“Honey, we agreed, no negative thoughts. I have to get back to the second floor. We have a good crew to help with the kids. I’ll see you later.”
Angie meandered over to the cosmetics counter. She was pleased to see the free Vera Wang samples going like hotcakes and being followed up by sales. She looked around and realized the salesgirl had been right. Too much variety and people can’t decide, so they walk away. Her advice had been to go with three manufacturers, and it now looked like she was right.
Josh had taken the salesgirl’s advice to heart and instructed the few new buyers he’d hired to do the same thing. It looked like the strategy was working throughout the store.
Angie was so pleased with the way things were going, she gave herself a mental pat on the back as she walked the floor, hoping to hear comments or criticisms she could relay to Josh. She moved over closer to the door to better observe Josh and his father. How tired they both looked. But it seemed to her like a happy kind of tiredness.
Angie crossed her fingers that things would continue through the end of the year. Her eyes were everywhere as she continued to meander around, then made her way back to the front door, where she leaned up to whisper in Josh’s ear. “Your father needs to get off his feet. Tell him to go up to the day care so he can sit down in one of the rockers. I can take his place if you like.”
“I like. How’s it going?”
“I think it’s going very well. The big fishbowl for the nine o’clock drawing is almost filled. When school lets out, the kids will be here in droves in the hopes of winning the iPod. The safari department appears to be doing a brisk business. Cruise wear is beyond brisk. It’s happening, Josh. How much longer are you going to do this meet and greet?”
“Not a minute longer. I want to check the stockroom. What’s on your schedule?”
“I’m going to float around, check on Mom and your dad, that kind of thing. If Bess needs me in gift wrap, I’ll help out. It’s really working, Josh,” she whispered.
“Because of you,” Josh whispered in return. “When you’re done, why don’t you meet me in the stockroom?”
Angie wiggled her eyebrows. “That’s one of the nicest invitations I’ve ever gotten. I’ll be there. Wait for me.”
Angie thought her heart would leap right out of her chest when she heard him say, “Forever if I have to.”
Angie flew to the second floor. She skidded to a stop at the small desk to take in the scene in front of her. Angus and Eva rocking chubby babies, who were gurgling and cooing as Eva sang a lullaby. Angus looked so contented and peaceful, she felt a lump rise in her throat. Toddlers crawled through a maze of colored plastic tunnels, giggling and laughing. Infants in swings, their eyes following the mobiles overhead. Juice and cookies were being laid out on the play tables, after which it would be nap time. When she left the area her only thought was that the day care was going to net a profit. She couldn’t
