Chapter 9 #3
“Ooh, great timing. I could tell my blood sugar was starting to drop. Hey, Sasha!” she called into the back room. “Callie’s here. She brought lunch.”
“Oh—uh—okay.” Callie could hear the worry in Sasha’s voice, but Kate didn’t seem phased, unaware of the tension between the two women. “I’ll be right there.”
Kate moved some books and paperwork off the counter next to the register. “We can lay it all out here.”
“Perfect,” Callie said, unloading the food. When Sasha emerged from the back room, she kept her head down and offered Callie a muted hello. Callie figured the food could act as both a peace offering and a way to ease into the conversation.
The three women loaded up their respective paper plates with food and dug in. Kate chatted casually about everything she still had to do to get ready for Friday. Callie half listened, too caught up in her thoughts about how she could talk to Sasha alone.
Why did I corner her at work?
This was the least private place for this conversation, and there didn’t seem to be any inconspicuous way to ask Kate to leave her alone with Sasha.
Then again, the bookstore was the only place where Sasha couldn’t dodge Callie.
It wasn’t like she could just walk out of the shop without a good reason.
Callie felt a little guilty using Sasha’s need for a job against her, but she didn’t know what else to do.
“And Sasha’s a very fast learner,” Kate said, going on about how the onboarding process was playing out. “She’s already got the online ordering system down, and that’s the hardest part.”
“I just have to figure out how to do returns.” Sasha smiled shyly. “I messed it up last time I tried, and I gave a customer a refund for twice as much as they actually paid.”
“Thankfully, it was Mrs. Quincy—the middle school principal.”
“Thankfully?” Callie laughed. “I’d think she’d be the last person you want to make a mistake with. I had to have a handful of meetings with her back when she was vice principal and Mallory kept getting into trouble. She was… what’s the nice way to put it? Very strict, I guess.”
“Definitely,” Kate agreed. “She’s honestly terrifying. But being such a stickler for the rules, she came back when she realized Sasha’s mistake and we got it all figured out. No big deal. If it had been someone else, they might’ve kept the extra money and never said anything.”
“I got lucky.” Sasha pushed some rice around on her plate. “But I’ll make sure I get it right next time.”
Kate beamed. “I know you will. I’m not worried.”
They all ate in silence for a few seconds and then the phone rang in the back room. Sasha jumped to her feet. “I’ll get it.”
“No, no, you sit,” Kate said. “Finish your food. It’s just the shelving guy calling me back. I need to talk to him about a rush job on a couple shelving unit replacements.” She smiled at them. “He and I have a rapport, so I’m hoping to use that to my advantage.”
Sitting back down slowly, Sasha was visibly disappointed to have her escape thwarted. Callie waited until Kate was in the back office before clearing her throat. “So, uh… I need to come clean. I didn’t come to the bookstore just to bring you lunch. I also came to talk.”
Sasha inhaled sharply, not meeting Callie’s gaze. “I had a feeling that might’ve been the case.”
“I’m sorry to bother you at work, but I didn’t know what else to do.” She let out a soft, nervous laugh. “It’s pretty obvious you’ve been avoiding me the last two days.”
“I haven’t really been avoiding you…” Sasha set her plate on the counter and folded her hands on her lap. “I’ve been busy with work and Dot stuff. Plus, your family’s all together. I didn’t want to be in the way.”
Callie sighed. “Sasha… We both know that’s not the full story.
We haven’t talked at all about why you were in my bedroom the other day and if we don’t clear the air…
” Callie paused, she’d never been good at giving ultimatums or threats.
Still, she hoped Sasha would be able to glean from her tone that this was serious.
Sasha kept her eyes on the floor and said nothing.
“Look,” Callie went on, “I know my coming here might seem kind of aggressive, but I promise, I’m not angry.”
Sasha snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s true. I have no reason to be angry yet, because I don’t even know what’s going on.
And I can tell you’re nervous, but you’ve got to understand, whatever you were doing is most likely not as bad as what scenarios are running through my head.
This is your chance to explain yourself. I really think you should take it.”
Sasha rubbed her hands together for a few seconds and then seemed to make up her mind.
She pushed her long hair out of her face and squared her shoulders.
“Yeah, okay,” she said, finally meeting Callie’s gaze.
“I’ll talk. I’ll answer all your questions.
Just let me go tell Kate that I’m taking my break and then we can go for a walk.
I don’t want to be interrupted while we’re having this conversation—especially not by my boss. ”
Callie gulped, not being too comforted by this request, but she nodded. “Yeah, of course,” she said, forcing a smile. “I’ll wait for you outside.”