Man Eater

Jesse

Joe followed me into the back. “Maybe you should have hired the kid on probation,” he said.

He didn’t say it loudly enough for Chance to overhear him, but I still gave him a look. “Everyone deserves a chance,” I said.

Joe snorted. “Chance deserves a chance,” he said. “That’s really funny, Jesse.”

I rolled my eyes. “Come on, get to work.” 

“Aye aye, boss,” Joe said, saluting me, his eyes twinkling.

“Mixed metaphors,” I muttered under my breath, but I couldn’t help grinning as well.

We hadn’t done much when Chance came running back to find me. “There’s not enough cash for me to give change,” he said, sounding panicked.

I frowned. I had counted the drawer this morning, and unless someone was trying to pay with a really huge bill, there shouldn’t be any problem. Most people paid by card, so I doubted the drawer was already empty. We hadn’t had that many customers in there that morning, even.

Joe gave me a look like “can you believe this fucking kid”.

“I’ll be right back,” I told him, putting emphasis on the words to let him know that I wanted him to stay here and keep working while I went to figure out whatever the hell was wrong. Chance had already run off for the front of the store again, probably worried that if he left the customer alone for too long, they would just walk off without paying for their things.

This was a small town. I didn’t ever have to worry about things like that.

I paused for a moment when I saw who was up there at the register. Of course. Karen Wilcox.

Karen gave me a bright smile. “Well there you are!” she said in her most sugary tone. She giggled. “I’m so sorry to be such a bother, but I seem to have confused poor Chance here. I’m just trying to get a few things.”

I looked down at the pile of things waiting by the register, trying to figure it out. Karen Wilcox was the kind of pretty brunette who had probably never even used a hammer in her life. Hell, she probably didn’t even know how to hold a hammer. She was a couple of years younger than me, but I knew that she’d been homecoming queen, plus the winner of the county beauty pageant and a few other beauty competitions.

She might never have come into the hardware store before, but I seemed to run into her at least once a week around town, and every time, she flirted outrageously with me. I had taken to avoiding places wherever I saw her red car parked.

“What the hell do you need all of this for?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

“Well, you know, I just got to thinking about how nice it would be to have some shelves in my living room,” she said. “And when I looked online, I found all sorts of DIY sites that told me all about how to measure them. It can’t be too hard.” She frowned, leaning in toward me, no doubt so that I would have a better view of her cleavage down the low-cut blouse that she had on. “But I just can’t help thinking about how nice it would be to have a man around to help me with these kinds of things.”

I stared at her for a moment, feeling myself start to blush. Somewhere behind me, Joe was cackling. I swiped the fifty off the counter and punched in a couple of buttons to make the drawer pop open.

“How is there all that money in there?” Chance asked in surprise, and I tried not to wince. “We haven’t had any customers pay in cash today!” Like a little kid with a lemonade stand, he had apparently thought that the only way to make change was to use cash that other people paid you earlier in the day. We had a couple of hundred bucks in the drawer at any given time. I made sure of it.

It was definitely going to be a while before I trusted the kid to open up the shop on his own.

I ignored all of that now, though, quickly giving Karen her change and wishing her a good day.

Joe was laughing by the time the door closed behind her. “You should have seen your face, man. She’d just love to have a man around to help her put some shelves up. But I don’t think that was all she was looking for. I think she’s tired of DIY-ing it and wants you to lend a helping hand.”

“Get back to work,” I said uncomfortably, slamming the drawer shut and hurrying back to the paint cans that we’d been moving before, without even explaining to Chance what his error had been.

Joe’s laughter followed me into the back of the store, though.