Page 57 of Trick or Stalk

“Three minutes.”

“Early is early.”

Penny trots toward her.

“And my favorite employee is here.”

“I haven't even clocked in yet, and I've already been replaced.”

Margaret bends down to pet her. “Penny doesn't require payroll.”

“Excellent point.”

“Plus, she has better customer-service skills.”

“I've been here thirty seconds.”

“Long enough to judge.”

I shake my head, then hang my coat in the staff room and return to the front.

Margaret hands me a name tag.

I stare at it. Something ridiculously emotional moves through my chest.

It's a name tag. A cheap piece of plastic with my name printed across it.

But it means something.

A job.

A routine.

A reason to get out of that big, empty house every morning.

Something that's mine.

“You okay?”

I blink and find Margaret watching me.

“Yeah.” I smile. “I'm good.”

“Good. Because I'm about to overwhelm you with information.”

“Bring it on.”

For the next hour, Margaret walks me through the register, returns, special orders, gift cards, inventory, and a computer system that appears to have been designed sometime around the invention of electricity.

I stare at the screen. “This is horrifying.”

“She's temperamental.”

“She's?”

“I've named her Mildred.”

“Of course you have.”