Chapter 4 Closing a door

Wednesday morning I woke up had a shower and I made my way down to the kitchen wearing my Cluch work shirt and mom eyes me suspiciously "Shouldn't you be preparing for your walkthrough tomorrow?" Catching her disapproving look I quickly said "I will when I get back I only have a 6-hour shift today and I'll also be letting my boss know about the new job. I only have the shift on Saturday after this so that I might have to work if he can't find cover.

You did instil a sense of responsibility in mother." I gave her a pained look trying to convey that this was the right thing to do, as I let the word vomit slightly rehearsed speech fall from my mouth.

She looked me up and down one more time and sighed "fine," she said. I picked up my bag, left the house and made my way to the train station. I once again completely forgot about having to tell Archie and Josh I wondered if I should wait to tell them together, Josh was there now but he would leave 15 minutes after my shift started and Archie started 2 hours before I finished I wondered if I should just spill with Josh and ask him to wait and let me tell Archie the "good news" I soured at the thought.

I arrived at work to see Josh's smiling face. He instantly could tell something was up "hey there stranger are you ok?" he looked at me with his plump adorable face. I looked at him and shook my head, "my mother finally got her way. I start my new job Monday. I was hoping to tell Eddy first but it doesn't matter. I'm going to tell him right now give me 2 minutes and I'll tell you everything before you leave. I headed to the back and straight to Eddy's office in the back, I knocked once "Eddy?" "Yes dear," I heard his voice through the door and entered.

Eddy was an elderly gentleman probably near 70 his grey hair had a few strands of a dirty blond still clinging to life but he hadn't started to bald which sometimes gave him a youthful glow. He was wearing his same usual outfit, a brown vest with a white polo beneath it and today's choice of trousers was a blue suit pants that had to be more than 20 years old, with a small patch job on the left knee. He turned in his swivel chair to face me with a questioning expression. "Eddy, I'm sorry for the short notice but I've got a full-time job starting Monday. I hope that this isn't too inconvenient, I'm still more than happy to work my Saturday shift if that's ok with you?". The words that came out nearly tripped over each other. I was saying them so quickly. Eddy smiled and looked at me sadly "my dear April I've always known eventually you would be moving along, to be honest, I expected it to be much much sooner, I've loved having you work here and I am both sad and surprisingly happy to see you go. You deserve so much better than this old store." I looked at him appalled "Eddy I've loved working here every minute of every shift you've given me". He chuckled "Oh I know you've loved it that's why I'm happy you're moving on, this is the kind of place that can trap you for life one minute you 25 and everything is exciting and your content then you blink and you 69 and you never really did anything better with your life except stack shelves".

It took me a moment to compose myself as this sudden nugget of wisdom was more a reflection of his life than of my own. I smiled "Eddy I honestly have treasured every minute of working in your store and I will genuinely miss it and you". As he got up out of his chair and stuck his hand out I took it firmly as he yanked me into a bear hug, "thank you April, I would like it very much if you could still work the Saturday shift". I chuckled and said, "I'll be here, you know you always count on me".

Eddy let me go with not another word turned and sat back in his swivel chair turned slightly and continued with his paperwork. I walked out of the office and placed my bag down next to the kettle in the tea room and stuck my name badge on. Josh was just finishing up with a customer when I walked up behind him and smiled at the customer as she paid for her purchases. As she turned to leave he spun around and nearly knocked into me. "Ooh so sorry Prilly, ok so spil, what's up?" I smiled "I'm starting Monday at the law firm down the road as a Secretary to one of the partners, his name is Mr Richards".

I let it sink in and his face showed a ray of emotions when he finally settled on inquisitive I could almost tell the questions he was about to start spewing. "Ok so why do you not look devo?" I recoiled as if he had clapped his hands in front of my nose. "Of course I'm devastated. I'm going to hate not getting to spend time with you, Archie and Eddy and you know how much I love working here. How could you think I'd be happy?". He smiled "no-no young lady I expected you to be distraught I expected you to be crying there is something you're not telling me, spil now!"

I took my phone out of my pocket, opened the internet search and went to the image search of his name where I found the dreamy pictures of him yesterday, I clicked on the first one, him smiling at an elite afterparty of some kind and handed the phone to Josh. the thrill high pitch sound that came out of his mouth was almost inaudible but I'm sure dogs all over town were wailing at the sound. "Hold up, wait a minute, this is your new boss? Girl give me strength this is a man, oh please let him be gay no never mind ill trade that for a, oh please let me see him naked. Is he single? What's his first name? Does he swing for my team? Do you want to sleep with him? Nevermind I want to sleep with him I know you do? Did you get to meet him?". He could tell I was getting overwhelmed by the questions. I laughed at his face and he was waiting for the answers ``ok, ok yes he is my new boss. No, I don't think he is single. His name is Christopher but I will be calling him Mr Richards''. He interrupted under his breath with a " shortly followed by Daddy''. I laughed out loud then stifled it. "Do you want your questions answered or are you going to keep interrupting me?" He smiled mimicked locking his mouth and waited for me to continue. "I don't think he's gay, in almost all his pictures he has a girl on his arm and in some of the more exposed ones he is kissing and holding them so I think you are out of luck I'm afraid. Yes, I did get to meet him, he conducted my interview".

Josh waited then winked at me "you didn't answer whether or not you wanted to sleep with him."

"And you said I didn't have to!" we giggled

"That's not an answer, Prilly,". He quickly replied.

I laughed out loud "what do you want me to say? That I wanted to climb over his desk and have my way with him the moment I laid eyes on him?" He looked like he was trying to picture me climbing over the desk to ravage some handsome stranger, he shook the idea away and looked at me incredulously "only if that's what you wanted to do the minute you saw him." I sighed "actually its not far off I kind of devoured him with my eyes the photos don't do him any justice he is fucking hot". His eyes widened and the look of shock at my swearing was evident. I never really swore out loud.

"Ok, ok so I can tell that he is hot but nobody gets under your skin, what was he like?" Just then the doorbell chimed and a customer came in. Josh quickly turned around and looked at his watch "Oh look at the time I better go Archie is waiting for me we're doing a movie and lunch before his shift starts".

He smiled at me then turned and walked to the back to collect his things. I served the lady that had come in for gum and a fruit juice, I sure hoped she didn't plan on having these together that didn't seem like a good combo. She paid for her things just as Josh walked out with his jumper and bag. " Prilly, I expect all the details when I come to drop Archie off in a little while. I don't wanna be late, love you babe see you soon". And with that I was alone in the store with just Eddy in the back if I needed anything, he practically lived here he opened the store every morning and did the close shift every night leaving the three of us to run the day shift we were never really busy so he wouldn't normally have us doing short shifts but today Archie had requested the middle of the day off to be with josh for date day and he agreed to do the close so Eddy could have a night off.

Archie told me that Eddy used to seldom be here but when his wife died of a sudden heart attack 5 years ago Eddy had nothing better to fill his time. His 4 children had long since moved out of the home and 2 of them lived at least a flight away, not to mention he was a grandpa a few times over. So he had a family but often needed something to fill his time and since he lived upstairs he didn't mind doing the open for us and being nearby to help if we needed anything. We tried our best to avoid calling him so he could enjoy his free time but he always seemed to be there.

A little while later after Id filled the shelves at the front of the store and restocked the chocolates behind the counter. I dealt with one noisy child and one mean old lady who couldn't find cat food. Once I'd helped her find the requested cat snackage; she had even managed a smile before she left. My shift was four hours in when I heard the doorbell chimed once more I looked up and Archie came barreling towards me "oh my god, oh my god" the excitement on his face was evident "Archie, you know I'm leaving right I didn't expect you to be this excited about picking up my shifts".

"Oh I know you're leaving, of course, it makes me sad but let us be honest, we spend most of our time hanging out outside of work we are like ships in the night at the Clutch". I giggled at his reference."I'm also sad that we have to give up cheeky Tuesdays at the frosty, but, Josh showed me the pictures of that, MAN, oh my word when can I eat him, I mean meet him". I looked at him suspiciously "I know you mean eat, why the correction? I mean I want to eat him" I stopped myself as my cheeks flushed bright red. I could feel the heat on my face. I had never meant to say that last bit out loud. Archie Squealed and jumped up and down like a preteen hopped up on candy and girly magazines it was infectious. I laughed out loud "Stop, Stop Eddy will think someone is getting attacked out here". He turned around and checked the coast was clear and a tsunami of questions poured out of his mouth. I didn't get to answer one question as they were all statements or rhetorical. I just sat and watched the excitement on my best friend's face, most of the sadness at leaving my job disappeared with the worry I felt about telling my best friend eliminated.

After a ten minute tirade, he realised his shift was about to start and quickly scampered to the back to take his jumper off and put his name badge on. He came back all smiles "Prilly, I am sad you have to leave the Clutch, I know you didn't want to. However, you have to admit Mr Richards is a whole lot of nice to look at and that in itself is a very compelling reason to go work for him. I looked my bestie in the eye and said "To be honest Arch, how much of him will I be seeing, answering the phone, picking up his laundry and delivering his lunch, I imagine I'm being paid to be invisible, efficient but invisible. Archie shook his head " yes you're probably right but even if he can't see you, you can enjoy the view all you like". He laughed out loud.