Risky Business (8 page)

“Hey, you two! Ready to do some shopping?”

“Oh yeah. I can’t wait.” Sara grinned andheld up the money she’d been counting.

Jess held up a finger as she finished up a call on her cell phone. “Okay, I’ll be home by seven…. Yes, Sara’s mom is picking us up, and she’ll drop me off…. Yes, I’ll be careful. Why all the worry all of a sudden? … Okay, no big deal. See ya then.”

“What was that about?” Molly asked.

“Oh, she goes in phases. You know how moms are. Well, come to think of it, you probably don’t know. Your mom is always worried about you.”

Molly laughed. “I don’t know who’s worse, my mom or my dad.” She leaned her head back on her seat, sighing deeply. “I really need this diversion. I’ve had better days … but I’m leaving all of that at school. Let’s go have some fun.”

They were on a different bus than the one they usually rode—one that would drop them near the mall. They walked over to the mall and then called home to let everyone know they’d made it safely. They were even planning on eating dinner together at the mall—a first for them. But first—Magna.

“Molly!” Amy grinned as soon as she saw Molly come into the store.

Molly chuckled and shook her head. She never could figure out Amy’s moods.

“Are you working with me tonight? I thought it was Amber on the schedule.”

“Nope. Not me. This is just a shopping visit. Amy, I’m not sure if you met my friends when they were in before. This is Sara and Jess.”

Both girls had learned from their hesitation last time and immediately reached out to shake Amy’s hand and tell her that they were pleased to meet her.

“Hey Amy, is Donna here? I really need to talk to her.”

“Yeah, but she’s on the phone. I’ll let her know you need to see her when she gets off.”

The girls started their shopping. As usual they started in the denim section—jeans were the most important item, after all. At seventy-five dollars a pair, the choice was tough. But each of them hoped to find the perfect pair that day. Jess was long and very lean, so she had her pick of styles. Sara had slightly curvier hips but a very tiny waist which made things a bit more difficult. Plus, she was the shortest of them. Molly was average in every way—height and weight, right in the middle.

“Don’t worry, girls. There’s a perfect pair of jeans in these racks for each of us. I promise.” Molly grinned and started digging.

They each took six or seven pairs to the fitting rooms. The girls were each trying to pull on a pair when they heard a knock on the door. They stopped giggling and said, “Who is it?” Which, for some reason, made them giggle even more.

“Sounds like you girls are having fun in there.” Donna laughed. “It’s just me, Donna. Did you want to talk to me, Molly?”

Molly hurried to button the pair of jeans she’d been trying on. “I’ll be right out.”

She opened the fitting room door just a crack and squeezed through it because Jess hadn’t gotten her next pair of jeans on yet. “Hi Donna. Sorry, were we being too loud?”

“Oh, not at all, Molly. You girls have fun. You deserve it. Now, what can I do for you?” She had her purse in her hand and her jacket over her arm. It looked like Molly had caught her on her way out again.

“Oh, well, I won’t keep you long. It’s just that I wanted to talk to you about the schedule, if that’s okay.”

Donna nodded for Molly to continue.

“Well, the past couple of weeks I’ve been scheduled both Monday and Tuesday nights, and then I have church on Wednesday nights, whichis really important to my family, and then usually I have exams on Thursdays.”
Slow down, Molly
. She took a deep breath. “So, I’m having a tough time getting all of my studying done. Would it be possible to be scheduled only one of those nights, either Monday or Tuesday and then another night of the week, say Friday night?”

“You mean you want to work on Friday night instead of Tuesday night?” Donna laughed. “I hardly ever get a request like that. But, yeah, that works for me. I’m sure Amber would appreciate being freed up on Friday nights. So, will a schedule like Monday night, Friday night, and Saturday during the day work for you then?”

“That would be just perfect,” Molly said. “Maybe once in a while I could work Thursday night instead of Friday or Saturday—once a month, maybe?”

“That sounds great, Molly. Thanks so much for being honest with me about it. I want to be helpful, but I can’t if I don’t know what you need.” Donna smiled. “Now you get back to your fun. I’ve got to get to a dinner.”

Molly squeezed back into the fitting room where Jess and Sara looked triumphant. They had each found the perfect pair of jeans. Since

Molly loved the ones she still had on, they called the jean search successful.
Time for tops
.

Sara and Jess each bought a couple of things full price, and Molly set a stack of clothes aside to buy later. In the meantime they wandered the mall.

Sara looked at her watch. “Hey you guys, I’m starving. Can we go eat?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, I’m hungry, too.” Jess rubbed her flat tummy.

“Sounds good to me.” Molly agreed.

In the bustling food court they waited in line and got their food. They walked around for a minute or two trying to find a table. When they finally sat down, Molly saw Brad Beck from youth group. When he looked their way, she waved at him.

He wandered over.

“Hi, Brad.” Sara spoke first.

“Hi, Sara. How are all of you tonight?” He looked at each of them.

“Oh, just doing some shopping.” Molly wondered if she should invite him to join them, but she didn’t want to annoy her friends.

“Care to join us?” Sara offered, scooting over on the bench seat so he could sit down if he wanted to.

“I’d love to.” He looked around the food court, up and down the row of fast food offerings. “Let me go grab my dinner, and then I’ll be back to join you.”

Molly watched Sara watch him leave. She looked at Jess, who was also staring at Sara as she watched Brad. Jess and Molly raised their eyebrows and nodded knowingly. By unspoken agreement, they remained silent, waiting to see how long it took Sara to snap out of it. Her big blue eyes were locked on one tall figure all the way across the food court, and they were seeing nothing else.

After a minute or two, Sara jumped out of her daydream. Too late. She had more than given herself away.

“Okay, you’ve been holding out on us. What gives? What’s with you and Brad? You like him, huh?” Molly peppered her.

“I have one question, Sara.” Jess had a twinkle in her eye. “And your answer will tell me all I need to know.” She paused for impact. “Did you and Brad set up this
chance
meeting ahead of time?”

Oooh
. Molly sat forward in her chair. Good question. Not only would the answer tell them whether or not Brad knew that Sara liked him, but it would also tell them if Brad and Sara had spoken outside of church. Molly watched Sara’s face as she struggled to think of an answer.

Sara rolled a french fry back and forth in a pile of salted ketchup and shoved it in her mouth. They were still staring at her, so she shrugged and pointed to her mouth and made exaggerated chewing motions.

Brad walked up with a tray of food that would feed an army. Tacos, a few burritos, a big plate of loaded nachos just dripping with cheese, and what looked like a gallon of soda.

The girls eyeballed his food. “Are you going to eat all of that?” Molly sounded horrified.

Brad patted his tummy. “I’m a growing boy.”

“I guess!” Jess laughed.

Sara’s cheeks were as red as her ketchupladen french fries that she ate as fast as she could. But the sparkle in her eyes gave her away.

“You’ve been here just over six weeks, Molly. I wanted to have a little meeting to talk about how things are going.” Donna held up a finger and answered her ringing phone.

Molly fidgeted in her seat and picked at a fingernail. She’d been doing a good job, right? What if Donna didn’t think so? What if she’d found out about the Bounty Bucks? Or that she had shopped for her friends?

“Okay, sorry about that. Where were we?” Donna hung up the phone and turned back to Molly.

“Well, let’s see.” Molly tapped her fingernail on her glossy lips and pretended to think for a moment, trying not to smile. “If I remember correctly, you were about to tell me what a fantastic job I’ve been doing and how you’re about to promote me to manager.” She kept a straight face and waited.

“Ha, ha. Funny. But, you know, you’re not too far from the truth. The thing is, you have been doing a really terrific job, Molly. Did you realize that since your very first sales shift, you have never, ever missed a goal of any kind? Ever.” She squinted at Molly and shook her head as though she couldn’t imagine such a thing. “That’s amazing. You’re a very driven employee, and I think you would do well with any job you decided to do. But, in this case, you have one more thing going for you. Passion.” She nodded and pressed her fist to her heart. “I think you love what you’re doing, and you’re a real natural for this type of sales. Can I ask you, Molly, what is it about this job that inspires you?” Donna leaned forward.

“Hmm. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it before.” She thought for a moment.
Ah
. She had her answer. “You know what it is? It’s the rush of knowing that people need my help, and I can help them. It’s having a certain knack for a subject that’s very important to women.” She sat forward in her seat, excited just thinking about it. “And take, for example, the units-per-sale goal. We’re supposed to sell an average of three items to each customer, right?”

Donna nodded, appearing to soak in every word.

“Well, some people think that’s just greed on the part of the company, but I get the point. We’re not to just sell three things—we’re to put together a whole look. It takes at least three items to do that. So, the customer looks better and leaves happier. Magna is more successful, and I’m more successful. But aside from all of that, there’s nothing like helping a frantic or depressed customer leave here with a big grin because she feels confident and beautiful.”

Donna pondered Molly’s words for a moment. “You know what, Molly? Since you’ve been with us, you’ve awakened something in me that I’ve let sleep for a while. I think I’ve become too business minded and have forgotten about some of those feelings. Since you’ve been here, I’ve felt a renewed passion for people, not just my passion for this business. I’m grateful to you for that, and I hope you manage to hang on to it.” She looked reflective, so Molly sat quietly until Donna had gathered her thoughts.

“I have an offer for you, Molly.” Donna turned all business again. “I want to make you an AMIT, which is an assistant manager in training.”

Molly opened her eyes wide.
She’s got to be kidding!

“You can’t be an assistant manager until you’re seventeen, and even then, I think you’d be the first in the company to be so young. But you can be a key holder at sixteen, which would be the next promotion after this one.”

Donna reached down into her file drawer and pulled out some papers. “As an AMIT, you’ll train for the assistant manager position so that you’re ready when it’s time. Over the eighteen months until you’re seventeen, you’ll learn everything about that job.” She pointed to the job description. “You’ll learn how to set goals for the sales associates, how to make the schedule, how to process freight, and everything else that goes with being a manager. Your schedule will stay the same, and you’ll get a dollar-an-hour raise, plus your discount will go up to 45 percent off full-priced merchandise. What do you think?”

“Really? Wow!” Molly’s jaw dropped. “I just can’t believe that you’d take a chance like that with me. Of course I want to do it. I’m so excited!”

“Great. The promotion is effective immediately. Here’s your new name tag and your new sign-in password for the computer. Congratulations!” Donna flashed Molly a huge grin and handed her a thick envelope.

“Thank you so much, Donna. You won’t be sorry!” Molly hurried from the office so she could put on her new name tag.
Molly Jacobs, AMIT
. She ran to the restroom to look in the mirror. Turning to the left and then the right to catch her reflection from all sides, she couldn’t tear herself away.

Oops
. She checked her watch and realized that she was almost late for clocking in for her shift, so she shoved her things into her locker and smoothed her clothes. For the next hour, she tried to focus on her job, but every time she passed a mirror on the sales floor, she paused to look at herself, beaming with pride. Nothing could dampen her mood. Until
they
came in.

Molly had been struggling to get a cute new dress onto a mannequin when she heard activity behind her and looked to see if a customer had come in the store. Her heart sank to see Kim, Pam, Marcy, and Jade headed right for the expensive jeans. She’d have to help them and treat them like every other customer, or Donnaand Amy would know something was up. Molly helped them into a fitting room, hoping they would take their time so Donna would be gone before it was time to ring them up. Trying to drag out the length of their stay, Molly kept bringing them new styles and different options after they had tried on everything they had picked out themselves. Good deflection disguised as great customer service.

Phew!
Donna left before the girls had finished picking out what they wanted to buy. Still, Amy had to be the one who rang them up, because Magna had rules against associates ringing up their own friends or family members.
Not that they’re my friends
. Molly poked her head into the stockroom. “Amy, there are some girls from my school here to buy some things. Do you want to ring them up, or should I?”

“I’ll come do it. Thanks, Molly.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin and stood up.

Kim and Pam were laughing about something while Amy scanned their items. Together their purchase totaled $104.42. Kim took a five-dollar bill out of her purse and handed it to Amy along with their ten Bounty Bucks. Marcy and Jade were next. Their purchase totaled $138.87, so Jade gave Amy ten