"Ma'am, I can assure you that the clerk was not aware that the perfume was half off," I tried to calm the angry customer tapping her foot impatiently on the floor in front of me.
"Then maybe you should fire her! Your employees should be well informed what is on sale and what is not on sale. I was almost ripped off! If I hadn't paid close enough attention to the sign, you would have gotten away with it!" She yelled angrily in my face. I closed my eyes and opened them again.
"Miss, it's the holidays. Nearly everything in this store is marked down in some way or another. My employee has apologized over and over again for her mistake. You were very smart to have read the sign and I apologize that we didn't catch our mistake until you pointed it out," I explained as rationally as I could muster. "Now if you could please find it in your heart to let this go, I would greatly appreciate it. In fact, I'll pay for your perfume myself. Is that better?"
I watched her contemplate the idea and slowly nod her head. I sighed, relieved, and walked to the cash register and rang her out myself. She left with a look of distaste across her face, but there wasn't much more I could do. "Cole, I am so, so sorry!" Lucy apologized again. I held my hand up.
"Luce, it's really okay," I smiled. "When I first started out, I made so many mistakes. Hell, I still make them today." We both giggled softly. "Just remember to check the list to see what's on sale and what isn't. The computer should tell you when you ring something up, but then again, that perfume wasn't logged. So just check the hand written list, too." She nodded and I walked away, back into the angry mob of customers.
"Miss Cooper?" I heard from behind me. I turned and smiled when I saw Nick and Aaron. This time Aaron managed to give me a slight smile.
"Oh, hi guys!" I smiled back. "And Nick, it's Collette." I smiled in his general direction. He looked a little flushed. "Aaron, do you think you could straighten up some of the departments? I know the men's department is a mess." Aaron nodded and went to find Clark to help out in any way he could.
"Jeez, you would think these crowds would die down a bit," Nick muttered as he stood and watched the crazy holiday shoppers pushing their way through other people.
"It won't die down until the day after Christmas. Even that day can be hectic and crazy because everything's still on sale," I sighed and managed to make my way through people.
"Really? But it's only December 1st," Nick chuckled with a frown. I nodded. "That's crazy. I'm not sure I could put up with twenty-five more days of this." He shuddered. I laughed and shrugged.
"My parents owned this place when I was a kid, so I spent a lot of time here. I spent almost every holiday season here after school, so I watched it for seventeen years," I laughed. I watched this sparkle in his eye...a sparkle I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then I realized what it was. He was interested in what I was talking about.
"So, did they just give it to you after college?" He frowned. We walked towards the front of the store and exited out into the mall part. There was a lone bench in the center of the mall area. We both sat down without even agreeing to leave the store.
"Sort of," I hesitated to answer. The sparkle was still there in his crystal blue eyes. "My dad left my mom after I moved out. It was one of those weird, yet ironically typical stories where the husband stays around for the kid, but once she's gone he doesn't really have a reason to stay. I guess that's why I was the only child." I tried to make light of the situation. "My mom lost it and moved out of the country with my aunt." I rolled my eyes. I watch Nick's expression intesify and I laughed. "I'm sorry, I know it sounds really weird and crazy. In fact, I don't even know why I told you." I laughed softly.
"No, no!" He laughed as well and shook his head as if to shake off the expression. "I'm glad you did. It just sounds..." he couldn't find the word.
"Crazy," we both said at the same time and laughed. "I guess my family just isn't as normal as other families."
Nick smirked. "Well then, I guess we have more in common then we think," he laughed lightly. "Because neither is mine."
Author's Chapter Notes:
I decided to give you another chapter because I won't be home for the rest of the day, so this is the last one for today [unless I can sneak away at work for a while and put one up]. Enjoy! Keep the reviews coming!
