I had a short morning shift Tuesday morning with Kim. It took me a while to ask her if anything catastrophic had
happened the night before as Ben and Erica shared their first shift. I didn't want to seem nosy. I finally decided to
just work to it from a sideways direction. "So. Ben seems to be working out pretty well here. Dave seems to have
really bonded with him."
"I told you he was a good kid. My biggest worry at this point is not showing favoritism," she beamed.
Right, I thought. "Guess I'll have to redouble my efforts to be your favorite, then," I sort of half-joked.
"Oh, Rhys. It's not about who's my favorite. We're all just supposed to really enjoy selling books."
"And getting paid in them too, I suppose."
She laughed. "Good thing my husband pays all the bills. Otherwise I couldn't afford to work here."
I chuckled somewhat ruefully at the truth of her words. Occasionally things got a little tight for me too. That was
the problem with being a "book whore" as Kim gleefully referred to all of us. I couldn't really dispute it either, not
having a whole lot of willpower when it came to spending time or money on books. I shook my head as I realized my
thoughts had wandered off the course of my investigation. "Did Erica say it was busy last night? I half-expected from
the way she usually handles new employees that the whole place would shine, but it looks like some of the magazine piles
are slightly askew." There, that seemed subtle enough.
"Oh. I don't know. She didn't leave a note, and I haven't checked the till from last night yet. Ben said he had a
really good time though. I was actually a little surprised. I expected Erica to give him a little bit of trouble to be
honest. She's a little rough around the edges, bless her heart. But Ben apparently won her over. Said they even went
for ice cream together after closing."
I almost dropped the books I was holding. "Seriously?!" I didn't quite keep my voice under control and squeaked a
little on that last syllable.
"I know he's a cute boy, but that's no reason to be jealous." I couldn't tell if she was joking, but I definitely
regretted that squeak.
"Oh, I'm not jealous. He's a couple years younger than me anyway, isn't he? I'm just surprised that he won Erica over
so quickly. She, um, usually takes some warming up to." I clearly needed to work on my detective skills. Poirot never
got caught sussing out details so easily and Kim was painfully aware that I was interested in how things had gone last
night.
"Mmhmm. He's actually just a year younger than you, and I'd much rather. . .well, maybe I shouldn't say that as the
boss. I'm playing favorites again. Jim keeps warning me I need to get along with her better," she trailed off
muttering about how it should be impossible to have PMS constantly.
I went back to work thinking about how wrong I'd been about Erica and Ben. It just seemed to so weird. She didn't get
along with anyone at the bookstore well. Definitely not well enough to go out for ice cream. I decided to just let it
go until my next shift with her. Maybe he shared some secret interest with her none of the rest of us had been able to
uncover.
