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“No,” she laughs, and the sound fills the space like music. “I was going to school in Austin and working in a bar. Not much surfing to be had there.”
I busy myself by opening the window shades on the side of the store facing the street. The rest of the city has woken up, cars pass by and people walk along the sidewalk. Hoping the register has finished waking up, I walk back over to the counter.
“Austin, huh?” I motion for her to stand beside me and go into the systems menu. “That’s where you met Erin.” I heard about Erin’s road trip from Jack, but not many of the details. I know that she met Sasha there and they ended up driving back to L.A. together.
“One of the best things to ever happen to me,” she says, smiling brightly.
“Erin is a good person.” I create a unique password for Sasha to use.
“She didn’t even know me, but she helped me out when I really needed someone,” Sasha confesses.
I can see a twinge of sadness in her eyes. I’m not in a position to ask questions because I’m not willing to answer the same, so I keep my head down.
“Do you think things happen for a reason?” she asks, but doesn’t wait for my answer before she continues. “Like all of the shitty things happen because it leads you to the really good things.” She looks at me with those soulful eyes, and I can see freckles that line her nose and spread out to her cheeks, made more prominent by the sun.
“Yeah,” I admit, more than she will ever know. I think about that often. “But it doesn’t make the shitty things less shitty.”
“Make sure to keep this in a safe place,” I touch the screen where I’ve input her password.
She taps it’s into her phone and tilts it so I can see that she entered it in one of those secure apps.
“I can never remember any of my passwords, so this is a lifesaver.” She shoves her phone in the back pocket of her shorts and then hops up on the counter to peer over me as I show her what to do after logging in.
“This isn’tCoyote Ugly.”
She tilts her head and I realize that she might be a little too young to know that movie.
“A bar,” I clarify.
She laughs. “I know what it is. I’m just surprised thatyou’vewatched that movie.”
I stammer irritably. “I didn’t watch it, I just know what it’s about.” I shake my head and then motion for her to get down.
As much as I like seeing her pink Converse dangle from my counter, I can’t give her the impression that it’s okay to be up there, especially if a customer comes in.
“Yes, boss.” She gently slides off the counter and then leans over, planting her elbows on the wooden edge. The air shifts and the scent of peppermint fills the space between us, and I realize that this is not the first time I’ve smelled peppermints when she’s around.
“Coyote Uglyis a little before your time,” I reply, giving her the side eye.
“My grandma used to make me watch all her favorite eighties movies, and when we exhausted those, we started dabbling all the way into the two thousands,” she laughs.
“Your grandma sounds odd.”
“She is, but you’d love her.”
Sasha leans in while I train her on finding the commands she needs to ring up a sale, check inventory, and complete refunds. My record store might be ancient but the system I use is new, thanks to Wade. It was actually pretty easy to manage once I got over the learning curve. Unlike Jack,Iembrace technology.
“Not so different from the system we used at the bar.” Sasha watches as I go through the menu on the side, showing her how to select different products.
I tilt the screen towards her and watch as she explores some of the settings I showed her. She wasn’t lying when she said she knew her way around the system, although people her age who have grown up with technology find it easier to pick up on. It makes me feel better about having to leave her alone in the store while I’m out, which is the main reason I needed help.
“I think you got the hang of it,” I say.
“Manic,” she continues, “the owner at the bar I worked at in Austin, used to have me help him with inventory,” she explains. “The system is similar in functionality, just for a different type of business.”
“Manic?”
“Yeah, that’s his name. Really cool guy, although he has an obsession with Dr. Who.” Sasha laughs. “Which I guess is cool too, but I’ve never watched it.” She smiles up at me.
