After losing her job and her girlfriend, it's time for Annie Abraham to admit defeat and move back in with her parents. She has hardly been back to her tiny Montana hometown since the unforgettable summer before her senior year of college, when she...
Hoppla! Dieses Bild entspricht nicht unseren inhaltlichen Richtlinien. Um mit dem Veröffentlichen fortfahren zu können, entferne es bitte oder lade ein anderes Bild hoch.
I'm slacking. I've messed up, spent too long thinking about Annie and nowhere near enough time thinking about the fact that Jessica's last day is in two days and I don't have anyone to replace her. I've barely thought about it since Friday, too much else on my mind, and now my business is going to suffer. I'm a terrible boss. I'm going to let everyone down and the store is going to fold and it will all be because I can't stop thinking about a girl.
Worst case scenario, I'll have to pick up Jessica's shifts until the new year, when there will be people looking for work and I'll be able to find someone to fill the gap, and there'll be time to train them up. Until then, I guess I can sacrifice the three days I don't work, my precious weekends and my Mondays. I stopped working Mondays over a year ago, when I came back to work after having Ava, but if my job needs me, I don't have the luxury of saying no when it's my own business.
Sometimes I wonder why the hell I decided to open a bookstore. Why did I ever think running my own business was compatible with being a single mom? I make it work, but it isn't always easy. Especially when we get to the fourth quarter of the year at a financial loss and every year, the run up to Christmas is make or break. We've done alright this year. We'll be okay. But there are still three weeks left of the month, two weeks until Christmas Day, and that has historically been one of the busiest times for us.
Jacob's Ladder is the home of last minute gifts, the place to come when you've left it a little too late and suddenly you remember your in-laws are coming over and you need to get them something, so why not a gift card to a local independent bookstore? A couple weeks ago, Bobby, who handles all things social media, put together a promotional post along those lines that he advertised on all our platforms as well as the Deer Pines community Facebook page, and the next day, we sold over a thousand dollars' worth of gift cards before lunch time.
"Are you okay, Mom?" Hannah asks as I strap Ava into her car seat.
"I'm fine, honey, why?"
"You seem ... stressed."
I hate that she's old enough and aware enough to notice that sort of thing. Hannah's a perceptive little thing, and sometimes I forget that I have to work extra hard to paint on the happy mom facade if I don't want her to pick up on the fact that there's a lot going on in my head. Otto couldn't care less, slouched in the passenger seat, his thumbs occupied by his phone as he texts his friends.
"I'm okay, hon, don't worry. Just a busy time of year at the store, you know how it is."
She climbs into the back next to Ava. "Is it because Jessie's leaving?"
"How'd you know that?" I don't bring work stress home with me on principle. The only store-related stories I ever regale to my kids are the funny ones.
"You know Olivia W?"
"The redhead?" I ask as I get in and turn the heating on to defrost the windows. We're in good time today, for once. There's no rush. It snowed steadily through the night but not enough for the schools to declare a snow day – we can handle our snow in this part of the world, the plows out in the early hours to clear the roads.
