Risky Business (4 page)

Molly wiped some doggy slobber on her jeans and then grabbed the phone. She took a deep breath and waited for her racing heart to calm down before answering. “Hello, this is Molly.”

“Hi, Molly. It’s Donna from Magna calling. I’m very pleased to be able to offer you a position with our store if you’re still interested.”

“I’m very interested! Thank you so much.” Molly danced around and punched the air while trying to maintain her composure on the phone.

Donna skimmed the topics of hourly wage, start date, training, and a schedule. “We’ll cover all of that in more detail during the training.”

“That sounds great!”
What about Jess and Sara?

“I’m really looking forward to having you start with us, Molly. Your training will begin on Monday. You’ll be training alongside Amber. It’s much easier to start you both at the same time. How does that sound?”

“Perfect. I can’t wait.” Molly grinned at her mom, who smiled and nodded.
No Jess and Sara, I guess
.

“Great. Do you have any other questions?”

“I don’t think I have any….”

Mom pointed at her clothes and raised her eyebrows.

“Oh Donna, just one question. What should I wear for training?”

“The first week it won’t matter that much, because you won’t be on the sales floor very often. Casual, jeans and a nice top, something like that. After that you’ll need to wear Magna merchandise. We’ll talk about all of that in your training.”

“Great. I’m really excited. Thanks so much, Donna.” Molly hung up the phone and grabbed her mom’s hands and jumped up and down. “I can’t believe it!”

“Congratulations, dear. Your dad is going to be so proud of you.”

Uh-oh!
Molly looked out the window. She stood rooted to the spot and stared at her friends playing with her dog in the backyard, knowing they’d be disappointed.
Bittersweet
.

Holding the door handle, Molly turned toward her mom and opened her mouth to ask her what she should do about Sara and Jess. But Molly already knew. She’d have to tell them right away. She shook her head and slid the door open.
Sigh
.

Sara and Jess compared cell phone pictures while Rocco barked for attention. Jess flipped her phone shut when she saw Molly’s face. “What happened? You look like you just lost your best friend.”

“I may have, I guess.”

“What are you talking about? What happened?” Sara slipped her phone into her bag.

“That was Donna on the phone.” Molly looked down at her hands and picked at an invisible hangnail, dreading what she had to tell them next.

When she didn’t speak right away, Sara raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “What did she say?”

Still not looking up, Molly said, “She offered me a job.”

“Hey, that’s great!” Jess grinned.

“And that doesn’t mean she’s not going to call us, too, right?” Sara asked hopefully. She looked at Jess. “Hey, maybe we should get home in case she does.”

Still smiling, Jess squinted at Molly. “No. Molly knows that Donna isn’t going to hire us. Right, Moll?”

Molly tried to hold back the tears about to spill over to her cheeks. She slowly shook her head. “She isn’t going to call you guys. Well, actually she probably already did leave a message for you to tell you that she isn’t going to hire you.”

“Why, though? Did she say why?” Sara looked like a little girl who’d just been told she wouldn’t be going to the zoo.

“She didn’t exactly say why, just that she hired me and Amber for evenings and weekends. I start on Monday.” Molly bit her fingernail. “Are you guys mad?”

“Mad? Of course not,” Jess said matter-of-factly. “In fact, I figured this is how it would go. Congratulations.”

Molly shielded her eyes from the sun and peered at Jess closely, waiting for a glimmer of jealousy. She seemed to mean what she said, but how could Molly be sure?

“Yeah, congrats.” Sara smiled, but the corners of her mouth quivered. She looked away, the disappointment evident in her dark eyes.

Molly slapped her jeans and got to her feet. “Look, I don’t have to take the job. It wasn’t my idea anyway, and it was something we wanted to do together. Why don’t I just turn it down?”

Sara’s eyes lit up for a second before they darkened again. “No. That wouldn’t make any sense.”

Jess shook her head. “No way! You’re taking the job. After all, we only really need one of us to get the discount. Sara and I will just have to figure out other ways to make money so we can use it.”

Molly laughed and exhaled deeply. “You’re always thinking, Jess. But I’m sure there are rules about the discount. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Molly checked herself in the mirror at least a dozen times before she left her room. Then, passing the hall mirror on the way to the front door, she smoothed her hair and straightened her sweater one more time. She patted to make sure the back pockets of her jeans were buttoned down and decided that she looked as good as she could….
Oops
. She scampered back up the stairs to her room.
Accessories
. A few minutes later, with a long necklace and matching dangling earrings, she finally felt ready to go.

Molly checked her watch at least a dozen times while she perused the racks of jeans at Magna.
Twenty minutes to go
. She decided to use the time to memorize the styles and cuts of the jeans.

I’ll never figure it all out
.

Donna stepped out of the back room and brightened when she saw Molly. “Hi, there. Doing some shopping?”

“Oh, I’m just nervous I won’t remember all of the stuff I need to know about the clothes.

I’m just trying to get a head start.”

“Good for you. You don’t have to worry about that, though. I’m quite sure you’ll catch on. There were lots of reasons I hired you, but the main reason was the look I saw in your eyes. I think you have an instinct for this. You’re going to surprise yourself with how much you love it. Every once in a while I find someone who just gets it. I think that you’re one of those people.”

“Wow. Thanks, D–”

“Amber just got here. Let’s go catch up with her and get started.”

At Donna’s lead, the girls followed her into the back room.

“Welcome to the Magna team, girls!” Donna sorted through a pile of papers she held and nodded her head toward the training table. Molly sat in the same chair she had used in the interview. Still scary, but in a different way.

Donna explained how to fill out the paperwork and told them to watch the two videos when they were finished. “We’re also going to do some fun things like role-playing and maybe a game or two before we’re done at nine o’clock tonight. Then, for your next training session, you’ll be shadowing anothersales associate on the sales floor.” Her heels clicked on the concrete as she hurried out to help customers.

Molly put her pen down and cracked her knuckles. Amber finished just after Molly and stacked their papers together while Molly picked up the remote control to start the first video. It talked about the company, various media success stories, and had a segment celebrating Magna’s rapid growth. The second one focused on theft or, as they called it, loss prevention. Finally, something interesting.
More money is lost to retail companies each year through employee theft than anything else? Shocking!

Donna poked her head in just as the credits rolled. She clapped her hands together energetically and said, “Okay. I’m sure you’re tired of sitting back here in this cold, dark storeroom. How about if we shake things up a bit?” She sat one hip on the edge of the table.

“I’m a customer. I just rushed in and said to you, the first sales person I saw, ‘Help! I have a party to go to in three hours, and I have nothing to wear. I gained ten pounds, and nothing fits! I need something cute—fast!’ Now, you both go out into the store and pick out the outfit thatyou would recommend to her. Anything goes. Use your creativity. You have fifteen minutes, go!” Donna glanced at her watch.

Molly and Amber scurried out to the sales floor and scattered in two different directions. Amber went toward the plus-size clothing, presumably because of the customer’s weight gain. Molly went right for the jeans. Holding up the jeans to her own frame, she sensed that her customer had just gained enough to make her uncomfortable in her current wardrobe but hadn’t quite crossed into the plus-size department.

Every outfit starts with a great pair of jeans
. She held up several styles and read their descriptions. Molly settled on one that she thought would be more flattering to a curvier girl: It sat a bit higher on the waist and slightly fuller through the hips.

Jeans draped over one arm, she headed for the tops. There. A long-sleeved white T-shirt and a short-sleeved, black flyaway cardigan that would be flattering on any body shape. Having used only a few of her fifteen minutes, Molly went to the accessories tower and selected some red items to round out the look. She picked out some chunky jewelry and cute red and black high-heeled shoes.

Armed with her selections, she returned to the back room.
Ooh!
She had an idea. With six minutes remaining, Molly decided to put her outfit on one of the lonely, naked mannequins hiding in the corner. She tried to pull the clothes on over the mannequin’s arms, but they just wouldn’t stretch. Trying to free the sleeve, she knocked the arm and it came loose. She stared at the amputated arm in her hand.
Uh-oh! But wait
…. Molly looked closer and realized that it was meant to come off. She easily took both arms off and slipped the tops on.

Squeak
. The back room door opened, and then Molly heard the
click-clack
of Donna’s high heels. It sounded like she was putting some boxes away in the shoe room which shared the wall Molly stood behind. She hurriedly finished accessorizing her mannequin with the jewelry she’d selected, hoping Donna wouldn’t look until she finished. Molly hauled her mannequin to the other side of the room and pushed it behind a screen. She sat down at the training area with only seconds to spare.

Amber made it back to the training area just before she ran out of time. She stopped short when she saw Molly. “Oh … I … we … I wasdone a long time ago. I was just shopping.”

“Great! Everyone’s on time,” Donna said from her office in her cheerful, upbeat way. She came out and took a seat at the table with them. “Let’s see what you’ve found for our troubled customer. Amber, why don’t you start?”

“I wasn’t sure of her size, but since weight gain had been mentioned, I went to the plus-size section and picked out these jeans and this sweater. I think both look stylish but offer her the comfort she needs and coverage for any troublesome spots.” Amber blushed and quickly sat in her chair.

“Great, Amber. I really like how you thought of your customer’s comfort as well as the fact that she’d want to camouflage any trouble areas. Good job. How about you, Molly?”

Molly stood up and moved her mannequin out to the center. Donna looked impressed, and Amber’s jaw dropped. Pretending not to notice their surprise, Molly started right in. “Well, this is what I selected. I just put it all on this mannequin because I had a few extra minutes, and I thought it would be easier to see. First, I picked this cut of jeans because of the higher waist and roomier hips.” She placed both hands on the mannequin’s hips and then around herwaist. “I went with a wider belt to give her waist more definition. I chose this flyaway cardigan because it skims the midsection without hugging in any of those unflattering places and nips in here, giving her shape.” Molly gestured to the rib cage area and then continued.