Chapter 4: Thunder in July

It was a Saturday and Rae had just learned she wouldn't have anyone to work third shift. She looked at the hours on the computer and knew she was going to have to work the shift. Rae got herself up and made sure everything was set for the next day. She knew the little things to look for that no one else noticed. She knew she would have everything done. She just knew she was going to have to mentally prepare since it’s been a long while since she has worked an overnight shift.

Once she got her manager duties done, she left the job around noon. She went home and took a shower. She ate lunch and chilled on the couch. While she was chilling on the couch, her phone started blowing up with text messages. It made her wonder what was going on. She unlocked her phone and saw over ten messages in the group chat. As she was reading, she figured she should just get up and go to the job. She knew right then that she was just going to have to stay on the clock.

When she got there, the girls had two long lines out the door. The floors were a mess. The trash was piled high and she was in distraught. She knew she had her work cut out for her. She clocked in and started grinding. She tackles everything one step at a time. By the time they got everything done, it was around 8pm. Raw decided she was just going to stay there and keep working. She made sure she went through the list of shift duties. She did breaks for the girls and was restocking the whole store.

Around 10pm, the girls went home. Rae went outside and double checked to make sure no one was smoking by the pump. She put up signs by the registers. She wanted to go spend some time in the cooler. She was glad that the Mash gin was working. As she was working in the cooler, she had her music playing. She was doing First in, First out. She was on a roll. Every now and again, she would check the sales floor. She noticed it was dead.

When she got done in the cooler, she swept and mopped the sales floor. She put on a vest and went and swept outside. She knew she was going to have to keep an eye on both the inside and outside. She knew what the rules were, yet she wanted everything to be clean. She didn’t want anyone to say anything, even though she is the boss. She understood that no matter what level you were, someone was always going to say something about your work ethic.

By the time 2am came around, most of the work was done. She had made sure she touched base on everything. She was glad she could still put in the workload. As time was flying by, it started to rain. All of a sudden she got a notification on her phone. She looked and it said there was a flood warning. She knew she was going to have to make sure all the exits were secure and she didn’t have too much on. She knew she was in a safe place. She knew if it got too bad, she could hide in either the bathroom or the office.

Rae sent her location out to the group chat and Mason. She knew if anything happened, they would be able to get her help. All of a sudden, Mason came through the door. She was so excited to see him.

He said, “I just saw you shared your location. I didn’t think you would be here.” What happened?”

All of a sudden a strong lighting bolt hit the ground by the door. The power went out. Rae had a nervous look on her face.

“It’s alright. We can go hide in the back and you can fill me in.”

Rae shook her head and they headed to the office. When they got to the office, Rae knew she was going to have to tell him everything. When they sat down, Rae filled him in on her day. Mason was laughing at some parts. Mason and Rae were sharing laughs and longing looks after that. As the thunder and lighting hit the top of the store, Rae got up and curled up next to Mason. Mason gave her a hug.

“It will be okay. We also need to get down to some level of comfort with each other.”

“What do you have in mind?”

Another stroke of lighting hit. Rae got up and went to check the sales floor. She was wondering if she should put the closed sign up. She made a dumb founded look. She knew she had to because there was no power. She turned the sign and scurried off to the office. She saw beside Mason and the closer they got, the more Mason started stirring. He knew it was time to just come clean about what he was thinking.

Rae and Mason spent the next two hours just talking away. When the rain finally stopped, Mason could see Rae was tired.