After dropping Sofia off at Clementine’s house, she headed into town. She passed by each business, weighing the options in her mind. Fate happened to be on her side when she spotted a “Help Wanted” sign in the window of the coffee shop, Moon Brew.
Flora chewed on her lower lip, wondering if she was out of her mind trying to find a job in the town where everyone treated her as a disposable human outcast. After a moment, she straightened her shoulders and opened the door. The bell tinkled softly overhead, and an older man with thinning silver hair looked up at her from behind the counter. His thick spectacles were perched on a long, bulbous nose, and he smiled kindly at her as he placed a coffee mug on the shelf beside him.
“Welcome to Moon Brew,” he said warmly. “What can I get for you?”
“Actually, I saw your sign in the window, and I was wondering if I could apply for the position. My name is Flora Jones.”
“I know who you are, Ms. Jones,” he replied. “My son has spoken highly of you.”
“Your son?” she asked in confusion.
“Cillian,” he said with another warm smile. “My name is Edgar Thompson.”
Thompson. The chance that Flora would run into the father of one of Camden’s squad members was small, but not nonexistent in a town of this size. Cillian had been kind to her since her arrival, and she took this as another good sign. She reached her hand out to him and shook it.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said.
“Likewise,” he replied. “As for the job, I’m not sure it’s something you’ll be interested in. I handle almost everything around here with the coffee and such, but I’m not getting any younger. I’ve been looking to hire someone to do the menial tasks: wiping down tables, stacking chairs, mopping, washing dishes, that sort of thing. I think you might be overqualified.”
“I’m a hard worker, and I’d do a good job,” Flora said, doing her best not to come across as desperate even though she was. “If you’re willing to take me on, I’d like the opportunity to work here.”
“Well, if you’re sure,” he replied.
His mouth had downturned slightly, as if he was wondering why she was so eager for a cleaning position. But Flora was sure that this job was the best she could get in thepack. And if she had the chance to work for someone who was kind instead of cruel, she wasn’t going to turn her back on it.
“I’m positive,” she said. “I can start right away.”
Edgar paused for a moment and then seemed to make his decision. He turned his back on her and went through a doorway that led to an office, reappearing a minute later with a t-shirt bearing the company name and a black apron.
“Here you are, then,” he said. “I won’t usually need you to come in until ten, but you’re here now, so you may as well start. Shop closes at three, and you can leave whenever you finish cleaning up after that. Sound good?”
Flora nodded and threw the shirt on over the one she was wearing, then fastened the apron behind her back. She was just finishing tying the apron behind her back when the door opened again, and a customer came inside.
“Welcome to Moon Brew,” Edgar said to them. “What can I get you?”
The next few hours passed in a blur of cleaning tables, noisy conversations, and sore feet. Flora was used to hard work, but usually she was alone when she cleaned. At the coffee shop, there was a constant hum of activity. After a while, it started to overwhelm her, but she knew she needed to push through. She thought of the paycheck steadily growing with each moment she worked and kept going.
When the bell above the door made its familiar tinkling, Flora glanced up. She inhaled sharply as she recognized the faces of three of her childhood tormentors. Scott, Thatcher, and Aidan were Camden’s old school friends, and they were wearing the same sneering look of superiority they always had when they caught sight of her behind the counter.
“There she is,” Scott said, striding toward her confidently. “We heard there was a human working here and had to come see for ourselves. We had no idea it was ourfavoritehuman.”
The twisted smile on his face made her stomach turn, but she kept calm. She needed this job. She wasn’t going to let them run her out of it before she could make enough money to get herself and Sofia to safety.
“Mr. Thompson will be back up to the counter shortly, but I can take your order for you if you know what you want,” Flora said, ignoring their sneers.
“Nah, we’ll wait for Ed,” Aidan said. “Knowing you, our orders would be all wrong, anyway. You always ruined everything you touched, and I’d rather not get burnt coffee grounds in my drink.”
The other two laughed, and Flora pasted a fake smile on her face before walking away. She may not be able to react to their taunting, but that didn’t mean she had to stand by while they ridiculed her.
The sound of their laughs didn’t leave her mind for days afterwards. Each time she pushed in a chair, the scraping of the wood against the floorboards seemed to echo the sound. Each tinkle of the bell made her jump, wondering if they were back for more.
She took a deep breath as she straightened another chair. Sofia was with her today, sitting at the small table in the back of the shop, looking at a book. Clementine wasn’t available to watch her today, and Flora had been forced to bring her in. Luckily, Edgar hadn’t minded, but she didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness too much. She needed to find another solution for the days when she didn’t have her regular babysitter, but that would require her to make another friend.Try as she might, Flora hadn’t made much progress on that front.
“Mom,” Sofia said as Flora swept the floor. “Are you almost done? Can we go home?”
“Not yet, baby. Still a few hours left,” Flora replied.
Sofia looked disappointed, but her eyes passed to the door and brightened as the bell rang. “Cam!” she exclaimed.
