Read Online Midnight Run by Charity Hillis - Free Book Online Page B

time off now!”
    “What else do I need to do?”
    Todd glanced at his watch. “Plenty, but we
need to get open. I’ll stick around this shift, and I’ll be back
for closing, too, but maybe tomorrow or the next day, if you’re
ready, you’ll open on your own.”
    Nora swallowed nervously. “If you think I’m
ready.”
    “You will be. We just have to go over
stocking and scheduling, and hopefully we can catch that if there’s
a lull today.” Todd handed her a key. “That’s yours; don’t lose
it.”
    Nora couldn’t help herself; she broke into a
wide grin. “I get a key?”
    “What’d you think, I’d be here to open the
door every day?” Todd laughed. “Speaking of, why don’t you go turn
on the sign and open up?”
    Nora nodded, a tight knot of excitement
building in her stomach. She crossed to the window and flicked on
the neon sign, and then she turned to the front door. Laurel was
standing on the other side of the glass, and she stared at Nora in
surprise. Feeling her excitement threaten to shift into fear, Nora
took a deep breath and opened the door.
    “What the hell are you doing here this
early?” Laurel asked as she breezed inside.
    Nora squared her shoulders. “I’m the new
assistant manager.”
    Laurel barked a laugh. “You’ve got to be
joking,” she said. When Nora didn’t respond, she narrowed her eyes.
“You are joking, right?”
    Nora shook her head. “Nope. I started
today.”
    Laurel crossed the room and grabbed her apron
off a hook on the counter. “Like hell I’m taking orders from
you.”
    Nora’s stomach clenched, but before she could
figure out how to respond, Todd poked his head around the corner
from the back. “Like hell you aren’t, Laurel; is there an
issue?”
    Laurel shot an inscrutable look at Nora and
then turned to Todd and smiled. “Not at all,” she said, her voice
sickly sweet. “I was just surprised is all.”
    Todd nodded. “Good. I don’t want to hear from
Nora that you’re causing any problems, understood?”
    “Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said. When Todd
had gone back into the back, Laurel glared at Nora. “Just like you
wouldn’t dream of making up stories about me, right?”
    “I’d never do that,” Nora stammered.
    Laurel smiled slowly. “Good. Just so long as
we’re clear.”
    Nora wasn’t entirely sure what Laurel meant,
but she didn’t want to push it. The morning was already off to a
tense start. And besides , she told herself, Laurel’s not
going to do anything stupid.
    Still, Nora was nervous, and she went out of
her way to be even nicer to Laurel than usual. That wasn’t too
difficult; they were slammed, so there wasn’t a lot of time for the
two of them to interact. Nora worked the register for most of the
morning while Laurel made the drinks, only stopping when there was
a lull for Todd to walk her through more of her managerial duties.
There was way more to the job than he’d initially let on, and when
Nora finally left at noon, her head was spinning.
    She thought about going for a run in the
middle of the day, but instead, she headed home and took a nap on
the couch. Nora had to be back for the rest of her shift at five
that evening, and between a sleepless night worrying about both the
new job and her mom, she slept deeply. Carl got home at four and
prodded her awake, which was a good thing, since Nora had forgotten
to set an alarm. She grabbed an apple as she headed back downtown,
crossing her fingers that the evening would go well.
    Laurel wasn’t on shift anymore when Nora got
to the café, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Frank, the guy she
was closing with, didn’t work that often, so Nora didn’t know him
very well, but he was quiet and fairly nice, and by the time she
and Todd locked up, she was almost feeling confident.
    “You did a good job today,” Todd offered
before he left. “Ready to try it alone tomorrow?”
    Nora swallowed, but she said “Sure!”
    Todd patted her shoulder. “That’s my