Retailmare

Chapter 5 - Officer Hanson, that Hunk

Why hadn't they changed my availability? I let them know two weeks ago that I wanted it changed, but they hadn't done anything yet. My availability hours were 7am to 8pm, and I wanted it changed to 10am to midnight since I couldn't do early mornings anymore... the whole staying up late thing. I was losing sleep, which I needed.

They had me on register 7, and I kept on eyeing Heidi, another one of our CSMs. I really wanted to talk to her and ask if I could talk to the personnel manager. I had one customer, but no one behind him. Maybe I should just 248-action-code it and ask. We had action codes we could type into our registers that would ping the CMS's handhelds, whether it be a restroom break, getting more money for my till, or just having a question. The 248-action code was just the general code for questions.

To my luck, Heidi walked by after my customer left. "Heidi?" I asked the youngest of the CSMs—she was in her mid-thirties and had short pixy-cut brown hair, and she was as thin as a twig.

"Yes, Alena?"

"Um, I was wondering if I could talk to Jessica about my availability hours. I sent in a request to change them a couple weeks ago, but it hasn't changed."

"Okay, well, I know that she left to go to the back, so let's see if she has time to come up and talk with you."

"Okay."

Heidi pulled up her little speaker walkie and asked Jessica if she could come up and talk to me for a few minutes. A few moments later, Heidi said, "She'll be up in a few minutes. She's just taking care of something in electronics."

"Okay, thank you, Heidi."

She left, and a few customers came into my line. After them, Jessica came up to me and asked if I would like to talk to her. We went into her office and finally got my availability hours changed. I came back out to my register.

More people came in, all of which were people I had seen before and had rung up before. In a small town, you tend to get a lot of the same people go through your line. You would even see them in the store. There was this one family—a mom and like five kids under the age of eleven—who I swear lived in the store. I saw them almost every day, sometimes twice a day at opposite ends of my shift.

And speaking of people I had seen before, Officer Hanson walked into my line! My heart immediately started pounding. He smiled at me and waved. I smiled back, and I knew he saw my cheeks pinken because he remained smiling. He was in casual clothes, not his uniform.

I rang up the people in front of him, and he came up with his basket of things. "Hello, Officer," I said with a smile.

"Hi! But keep that on the down-low. I'm incognito today."

He was wearing jeans and an attractive torso-hugging black t-shirt. He had muscle! Being a police officer, it made sense. He was so hot. "Oh, okay, sorry."

The corner of his mouth quirked up. How cute! "No worries. It's just part of something we're doing today. So, keeping busy?"

"Oh, yeah. But that's a good thing."

"Makes the time go faster."

I didn't know how many times I had this same conversation with people.

"So, how are you holding up?" he asked.

I sighed, knowing what he was meaning, and touched that he cared about my welfare. I finished ringing his things up and he paid with this card. "Alright. I'm still a bit shaken up from the other day. I'm doing everything I can to be careful and pay attention."

"That's good. We actually sent some people in here for a 'sting' today. Did any of them go through your line?"

"Oh, no. But how would I know?"

"They come in, then right after you ring them up, they tell you and pat you on the back if you caught them. If not, we come in. That's actually part of why I'm here."

"You were a 'sting'?"

"You caught me."

I eyed him a little and handed him his receipt. He was most definitely in his twenties, probably one of the younger officers in the precinct and a good candidate for a sting operation. My guess for his age was twenty-six.

"Wow, hopefully that cashier caught you," I said.

"She did."

"I would've. Mainly because I'm paranoid about it now. Carting people, that is, even if they look around forty."

He let out a chuckle, that low and attractive rumble from his chest. "Good for you."

"I was scared into it, mainly."

He grimaced guiltily. "Sorry, that was part of my doing."

I felt my cheeks heat up, and my mouth opened. "Oh, no, I was glad that the officer in there was a familiar face. But it was intimidating, admittedly."

He nodded and stepped aside, and I started ringing up the next person. "Well, it's my job to be intimidating." I nodded and smiled. He held his plastic bag. "Well, I have to get going. Nice seeing you, Alena. I hope to run into you again."

'I hope to run into you again'? My girl jitters tickled me. "Yeah, see you later."

He smiled at me again and left. He met up with a middle-aged man in tan slacks and a green polo shirt, probably another officer in disguise. I didn't look away until the young lady I was ringing up said something.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I asked.

She laughed. "I totally noticed that one."

"Noticed what?"

She leaned in and winked her eye that was surrounded by black liner and mascara. "That guy was a hunk. And he was totally flirting with you."

Heat filled my cheeks even more so, and it probably showed since my skin was fair. "Oh, well, I don't know. He's just a friend."

"Uh-huh, but that's how they all start."

I didn't even know if I could even call him my friend. I didn't even know his first name when he knew mine. Given he knew mine because of what happened the other day, but I still would love to know his.

I finished ringing up the young woman. I rang up the next few people, thinking about Officer Hanson. I hoped to God that he wasn't taken.