Quickly Sally began raising the shade on the front door, ready to start the day. Hunter was standing there.
“I thought you might be here a little earlier than this?”
“I’m sorry, Hunter. I overslept this morning,” Sally answered, a little annoyed that his first day had started so badly. What would he think of how she ran things around here?
“Not a problem. I got here a little early, anyway. Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
He followed Sally into the store. “So, what needs to be done first?”
“Well, I usually tidy the store from the previous day. You know, straighten all the goods, make sure the dressing rooms are empty and rehang any clothing left in them.”
“All right. I’ll check the dressing rooms first,” he said and made his way over to the other side of the store.
Sally stood looking at him as he walked toward the dressing rooms. Could she have expected him to do the menial tasks as well as the more important ones? She didn’t think so, but she began straightening the shelves to make the store look neat and attractive.
Half an hour later, the store was in pristine condition. Sally invited Hunter to join her in a cup of coffee.
“I’d love a cup. I didn’t know if you were a coffee drinker,” Hunter said with a grin. “But, what if someone comes in to shop?”
“We’ll hear the bell over the front door.”
“That’s something we don’t have in a big store,” Hunter said.
“I know. But you usually have more customers than I do.”
“True.”
When they reached the break room, they found Billy still there nursing his cup of coffee.
“Billy, this is Hunter Bedford. He’s going to be working here in the store for a couple of weeks. Hunter, this is Billy Johnson. Billy has been with us for a long time and handles most of the heavy work for the store. We couldn’t be without him.”
“Hi,” Billy said, holding out his hand.
“Hello, Billy,” Hunter said, returning the man’s handshake. “It’s good to meet you, too.”
“Okay,” Billy said. Then he tipped his coffee mug up and finished off the coffee. “I’m going to work now, Sally.”
“Thanks, Billy.”
Once Billy went back to the delivery area, she said softly, “My dad and Billy were old friends and he always said that Billy was the hardest worker he knew. He’s been here for a long time.”
“Yeah, I could tell. He seems able to handle almost any delivery all by himself. It’s good to have someone like that around, someone you can trust,” Hunter said, looking at Sally.
“Yes, it is.” For a tiny, short second their gazes locked and Sally found herself melting into his deep blue eyes and a tiny shiver of electricity ran down her spine.
The jingle of the bell interrupted them. Sally automatically stood.
“Let me go,” Hunter said.
“No. No one would recognize you just yet. I’ll go.” She walked out into the store, finally spotting the shopper. Sally had waited on him before.
“Hello, Mr Jackson. How may I help you?”
“Hi, Sally, I need to find a gift for my boss.”
He didn’t need to tell Sally he worked at the stables on the edge of town. Or that his boss was Mr Gray.
“Well, the last time Mr Gray was in here, he was looking at work gloves. He said his old ones were wearing out. He thought he might buy some after Christmas.”
“Perfect. Where are the work gloves?”
“Right this way.” She led the way down the aisle and showed him the three different styles.
When he had made his choice, Sally led him to the cash register. “Now, I think I have a box these will fit nicely in,” she said and pulled out a red box with a piece of tissue paper. Then she folded the gloves into the box, put the lid on it and put it in a sack.
“There you go, Mr Jackson. And merry Christmas to you.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Same to you.”
Before he could reach the door, it opened and two ladies came into the store. Sally advanced to the two ladies. “Good morning, ladies. Are you Christmas shopping today?”
“Yes, we are. Our daughters like to get the same thing at Christmas since they play together. So we’re doing some Santa shopping. But we don’t need any help. We know this store backward and forward, Sally. We’ll bring what we want to the cash register when we’re ready.”
“Thank you. If I’m not out here, just hit the bell by the cash register.”
She headed for the back room, but she didn’t reach it before the front door opened again. This shopper was male, and someone she didn’t recognize. She stepped to the curtain and called, “Hunter, can you come here please?”
She heard him move to the opening. “A gentleman has just entered the store. I don’t know him, so I think it will be a good idea for you to wait on him. It looks like this may be a busy morning.”
“Sure. I’ll be glad to wait on him, it will give me a chance to get some practice in.”
She watched as Hunter walked up to the man and they both moved across the store to the men’s department. She realized that it was a good thing to have a male salesperson again. No one had replaced her father, and she wasn’t sure anyone ever could, but it was good to have a man on hand. Some of the male customers could be a little shy around women, and others much too flirtatious.
The door opened again, and one of Sally’s favorite customers entered the store. “Mrs Grabowski, how are you? Are you staying warm enough?”
“Warm enough? Of course I am. I didn’t even make a fire this morning. I just made oatmeal on my little stove,” the old lady said. She had been shopping at the store for many years and was a valued customer.
“My, you are certainly spartan. I hugged the stove this morning to get warm.”
“Silly girl. Your daddy knows better than to—oh, sorry, Sally, I didn’t mean—sometimes I forget things. You’re doing fine. I’m here to get some more yarn.”
The mention of Sally’s father shocked her for a moment, but she quickly pulled herself together. “Right this way, Mrs Grabowski,” Sally said, and led the way to the yarn, discussing the various colors available with the elderly lady. Once she had waited on Mrs Grabowski, she dealt with the two lady shoppers who had entered the store earlier and were buying the same gifts for their daughters. She gift-wrapped their items and thanked them for their patronage.
Then
