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Mr. Beazley swooped in immediately. “Hi there, Olivia.”
“Hi, Mr. Beazley. How are you today?” I jacked up the politeness as I stepped out from behind the display fridge.
“I’m right as rain. I have to say, I’m impressed by your work in the bakery today.”
“Thank you.” I wrung my hands together. “I apologise for having to leave it for a little while. I saw how busy it was over here and thought I’d help Rea out by covering Dale’s break.”
“Please, don’t apologise. You’re one of my most helpful employees. You’re versatile and great with customers.”
“Thank you.” I drew out the words because for some reason, I didn’t exactly trust the market’s owner. It wasn’t that he was outrightly nasty. No, he was more devious than that. He buttered you up and made you feel at ease before he followed through with a surprise punch to your gut.
“Which is why on Friday I need you to do a double shift. Six hours on registers and six in the deli, beginning at seven a.m. Ditzy has stupid chemotherapy or something annoying like that.” He waved his hand dismissively toward Mitzy, who was busy with a line at her register.
There it was, the sucker punch. My mouth fell open. “Ah, but sir, I—”
“I know you’re not going to say no to me. Remember who gives you a paycheck every week.” He began to walk away.
“Well, Mr. Beazley, it’s just that I have a—”
“You either say yes or there’s the door.” He pointed to the back door and went on his merry way.
I felt panic rising in me. I fought the anxiety attack that was threatening me with deep breaths.
“Shit, that’s not fair,” Rea said through a grimace.
Eyes downcast, I paced back and forth in front of the deli display.
“Are you okay?”
Rea’s concerned voice barely broke through, but I was able to acknowledge it. “Fine.”
“What did I miss?”
Good. Dale was back, which meant I could return to my post at the bakery section. A seven a.m. to seven p.m. shift meant I wouldn’t be able to drop Charlie off at school. It meant I wouldn’t be able to see him home safely afterward or be there to help him with homework or feed him dinner. But my boss didn’t care about any of that. He wasn’t even involved with his own family, choosing to let his poor, long-suffering wife take care of that side of his life for him.
We had done this loads of times before, Charlie and I, and I knew we had the routine down pat. But it didn’t stop the feel of dread in the pit of my stomach.
* * *
“Hey there, girl!” Latisha waved at me from her porch that afternoon when Charlie and I arrived home from school. She had taken up her usual position on one of the cheap white plastic chairs while she watched her kids play hopscotch out the front of her apartment.
“Hi, Teesh!” I responded.
“Mom, can I play?” Charlie asked, pointing toward Danisha, Duke, and Jada.
“Sure, go on.” I let go of his hand and he discarded his school bag as he joined the older three of Latisha’s four children.
Latisha held up a plastic jug. “You want some of my sweet, iced tea? It’s got apples and berries in it.”
“Sounds delicious. I won’t say no to that.” I sat in the matching chair. “How was your day?”
“Ahh, you know, same ol’ shit.” Latisha shrugged. “I actually managed to get Tiana down for a nap despite the racket from these three, so I’d say I’m winning.”
“But Mom—” Duke began to moan.
“Don’t you ‘but mom’ me! You know you’ve got a big mouth.”
I couldn’t help but giggle at the chastised look on the boy’s face. We all knew Duke thought he was the boss of this block, and he was always getting into some kind of mischief.
