Page 27 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop
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Dad and I were unpacking our book delivery by the till when Lars arrived for his first day. He was ten minutes early, taking me by surprise, which I evidently didn’t hide very well.
‘I hate being late,’ he said, his expression apologetic, ‘but I think I might be a bit too early. Would you like me to walk round the block?’
‘Erm, no, it’s fine,’ I said, reminding myself to smile because our school days were in the distant past and he’d already graciously apologised. Fresh start. ‘Welcome to your first day.’
‘From me too,’ Dad added. ‘Good to have you here.’
‘Why don’t you head downstairs?’ I suggested. ‘The staff room’s down there. I’ll join you as soon as Cassie comes up.’
‘Cassie?’
I could practically see the cogs whirring.
‘As in your best friend from school?’ he added.
‘That’s right. I’ll run through the team and their shifts as part of your induction. She’s making the drinks now so do give her your order.’
‘Okay. See you soon.’
I gave him the code to unlock the staff room door and he set off down the stairs.
‘Do you think I should have warned him about Cassie before?’ I asked Dad in hushed tones. ‘She’s promised to be on her best behaviour but you know Cassie. Doesn’t stand for any nonsense.’
Dad smiled. ‘Then he’d better be on his best behaviour too and not cause any nonsense.’
Cassie appeared at the top of the stairs a little later and Dad and I looked up at her expectantly.
‘How was the reunion?’ I asked. ‘Did you play nicely?’
‘I told him that, if he upsets you again, I’ll kill him and his body will be fish food,’ she said, her expression deadpan. ‘Was that welcoming enough?’
Thankfully there were no customers within earshot as I’m not sure what they’d have made of that.
‘I was very nice to him,’ she said, smiling. ‘Tell you what, that’s an impressive glow-up he’s had. If I wasn’t getting married…’
‘Cassie! Although I will admit hehasimproved with age. I just hope his personality has improved too. Wish me luck.’
With being on the lower ground level, the only natural light into the staff room came from some small, high windows at street level and Lars was peering out of them when I joined him.
‘This is an unusual view,’ he said, turning round to face me. ‘I can’t believe I haven’t noticed these windows before.’
He’d removed his coat, revealing a sky-blue shirt which made his eyes pop and stirred the butterflies in my stomach.
‘Is what I’m wearing okay?’ he asked, his voice hesitant.
I kicked myself for staring for too long. We didn’t have a uniform but asked staff to dress smartly, avoiding jeans, shorts, T-shirts and trainers.
‘It’s spot on. You look great.’ I kicked myself once more. ‘Smart, I mean. Exactly right. Let’s get started, shall we?’
Lars’s induction began with the boring but essential bits – a safety briefing covering everything from fire alarms to using Jeeves instead of carrying hot drinks or boxes of stock up and down the stairs. After that, I showed him a copy of the staff rota, giving him an overview of the team. Everyone except Dad and me were part-time, scheduled in to cover our days off, lunchtimes and busier times like weekends and school holidays when we needed extra bodies. University student Alec and college students Flo and Cyndi worked regular hours but we had a few casual students we could call on during the summer holidays.
A tour was next, starting on the top floor and working our way down. I pointed out which books were stocked on each level, the logic behind some of the displays, and the bestsellers.
‘I appreciate this is a lot to take in,’ I said after we’d covered the top three levels. ‘I’m not expecting you to remember even a fraction of what I’m saying. There’s no test. I’ll give you some time to explore on your own across the week.’
‘It’s all going in,’ he said. ‘Always been good at retaining information.’
