[The
store was much the same even after the handoff of ownership. It was too quaint to change, and too ingrained into the town to even contemplate, that Helena was perfectly fine leaving most of it alone. Really the only addition was the new hours, a fool’s errand the previous owner tried to warn her, and not in those exact words. But that hardly mattered. She wasn’t opening up hours for his sake.
At least she had found help so quickly. With only the barest skeleton crew available on the dayshift, she had been desperate enough to make her first introduction in town as a plea. It wasn’t as bad as she feared and in no time at all she had herself a new employee and a shipment of coffee coming in, as requested.
The coffee in question was brewing right by the register. Sumatran this time, though she had an assortment of brands and flavors for her new worker to try as he liked. Whatever he ended up preferring she would add to the inventory order, but for now this would do just fine.
The chimes at the front door caught her attention, making Helena stop in her inventorying to check her watch. If it was who she was expecting, he was right on time. Grabbing the box of cans she had been inventorying, she feigned the sound of effort as she easily foisted it up and walked to the front.
Setting her box on the counter with another soft
ooof sound, she turned to look at the newcomer. With her hands now free she dusted down the sleeves and front of her sea green shirt that complimented her park of dark blue jeans. Her hair was pulled up into a pony tail, black curls brushing her shoulders as she moved. All in all, she liked to think she looked the part. Absolutely average. Positively normal.]
Shopping? Or…? [Very quickly she realized that she had no idea what her new worker would look like, and she didn’t want to assume.]