Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Valerie
I guided Nancy and Shirley into the back room where the inventory was kept. It was a good thing I was such an organized person because I would've been embarrassed for them to see a mess.
"Here we are."
"Wow!" Shirley looked around in awe. "I need you to come clean up my back room. I'm lucky to be able to find anything when I walk back there."
I smiled at the thought of repaying Shirley in some way. I was the kind of person who couldn't accept help unless I was giving something in return.
"I would be happy to come over. Organizing is kind of my thing. It helps me relax when I'm having a rather tough day." And I'd been having a lot of those since Aaron came back into town. I'd spent more time rearranging the stock for the store than just about anything else.
"I just might take you up on that offer."
Before today I had known Shirley as someone who went to the same school as me but was a couple of years younger.
We talked about business but I wouldn't have considered us friends.
The same could be said for Nancy. I knew her from school, but after she left, we never stayed in touch.
I considered that my fault because I sucked at keeping up with friends.
I always prioritized my store and everything else fell to the wayside.
We worked mostly in silence for the first thirty minutes. Moving everything that would soon go out onto the floor over to one side of the space and leaving the other half wide open to bring the ruined garments.
"What do you plan on doing with the stuff from the shop floor?" Nancy broke the silence. "I'm sure some of it can still be sold."
"I'll end up having to get rid of it all.
I can't take the chance that any small pieces of glass flew far enough and embedded itself in the clothing.
I care too much about my reputation to take that chance, and considering some of the items are also sold on my online shop, I don't want to ruin that reputation in the early stages. Or any stage for that matter.”
"Can I make a suggestion?" Nancy sounded unsure, so I stopped what I was doing to give her my full attention.
"Absolutely," I encouraged her.
"Trista. She's the wife of one of the guys who works for my boss. She runs a shelter for women who used to be trafficked and are now getting back on their feet. Maybe you could donate them to the shelter? I know you’re worried about the glass but we could wash it before it went to them."
I loved the idea, but before I could say as much, Nancy was backtracking. "You don't have to though if you had another plan. I just thought I would throw the idea out there."
"No, I love it," I quickly told her. "How in the world didn't I know about this organization?"
Nancy shrugged. "Trista works with big donors to help fund the organization but I don't think she's ever reached out to stores to help. One of the nice things about Second Chances is that she helps women get back on their feet, and that means going back to school or finding jobs."
Second Chances. I was going to look into the organization just as soon as I got the shop back in order.
"If you don't mind getting me Trista's information, I would love to donate the items I was going to get rid of. And I’d be happy to partner with her in other ways."
Lots of ideas and plans started popping up in my head of ways that I could help. And it came at just the right time because it would distract me from all the time I was being forced to spend with Aaron.
I was completely lost in my thoughts when Shirley cleared her throat. I looked up and found both her and Nancy looking at me expectantly.
"I'm sorry, what?" Talk about being an awful host. I zoned out enough that I didn't hear either of them talking to me.
"I was just wondering what was going on between you and Aaron?" Shirley asked shyly and immediately my hackles went up.
"Nothing's going on, why?"
I did my best to keep the little green monster deep in its cage.
I had no reason to be jealous. Aaron wasn't mine and it wasn't like we even got along.
Half the time I was too busy being mad at him.
But the thought of him dating someone else obviously didn't sit well with me either. Talk about screwed up.
"I'm just curious."
"He's single, if that's what you're wondering."
The words felt like glass ripping apart my esophagus.
"Oh no, it's not like that," Shirley chuckled. "It's more me being nosey than anything."
Ah. Now I got it. The town was talking about us and Shirley wanted to get the inside scoop. I couldn't blame her. I would be curious too.
"There's nothing going on." I kept my head down and focused on tagging articles of clothing that would be going out onto the shop floor sooner than planned.
"I bet Aaron would say differently," Nancy chimed in and I had to laugh at her observation.
"I bet he would, but there's too much history there for us to have a future."
I glanced up just in time to see both women sharing a look. "What?" I was almost afraid to ask.
It was Nancy who spoke up. "If there’s one thing I’ve learned recently, it's that you can't let your past dictate your future because you never know what you might miss out on."
Nancy didn't have to tell me because I knew exactly what I had missed out on.