Daniel breathed in the cool morning air with a contented sigh as he climbed out of the taxi that had brought him to the shop. For some reason he felt good, excited about the day ahead. It was the first day of work in the General Store, the day he would meet his new staff and really get things started, and that energised him.
Three days in this town and you're getting excited about a fucking shop! What's happening to you, Dan?
With a wry grin, he shook the thought from his mind, turning to pay the taxi driver. He refused the offer of change, nodding his head in acceptance at the driver's gratitude, then turned back to the store. That was something he had had to get used to since his arrival from the UK.
Everybody
got tipped, and for seemingly every single thing they did.
I wonder if I could start asking for tips from Jenny?
Daniel laughed at the idea, and pushed open the door.
All eyes turned to him as he stepped through, and he summoned his most charming smile to put them at ease. He noticed Jenny first, standing in the middle of the group where she had clearly been leading the conversation. Not that that surprised him much. She was the most outgoing and charismatic person he had ever had the good fortune of meeting.
She smiled at him, her hazel eyes catching the morning light wonderfully, and Daniel took the brief moment to take her in. She was dressed casually, but not inappropriately, with a pair of black shoes, stylish blue jeans and a reasonably tight black t-shirt that hugged the curve of her large breasts. Understated, yet still gorgeous.
"Morning, Dan," she said, and he realised from the glint in her eye that she had spent those few seconds surveying him in the same way.
"Morning everyone," he replied. He had to admit - he was nervous. Strange as that may sound, he had met only one of these people before, and he was going to be relying on their help if he was to turn the fortunes of this store around and win his old life back.
Jenny began to introduce him. "Daniel, meet Rodrigo." She gestured towards a young man stood to her left. He seemed quite attractive, with black hair that most would have considered long framing his fresh-faced Hispanic features; given his youthful handsomeness, Daniel was certain that he would not have struggled with the opposite sex. He was a few years younger than Daniel and Jenny - probably about nineteen or twenty - and he smiled politely. He wore a black hoodie emblazoned with the name of a band that Daniel had not heard of, black jeans and white sneakers.
"Nice to meet you," Daniel said.
"And you," he said, somewhat shyly, though his brown eyes did not struggle to meet Daniel's.
He's got some inner character then. Good.
Jenny carried on, motioning towards the third member of the group. "And this is Claire."
Daniel turned to her, and his breath caught. He was not entirely sure what he had been expecting, he had to admit, but it was certainly not
this
. Claire was as stunning as Jenny, with long, red hair that fell straight beyond her shoulders. A delicate face held wonderful blue eyes, and she smiled sweetly at him.
Was there a person in this town who wasn't bloody gorgeous?!
That thought further took root as his eyes flickered down the rest of Claire's body. She was fairly tall, her long slender legs hugged tightly by opaque black leggings and a purple-striped blue skirt that stopped two-thirds of the way down her thighs She wore a pink off-the-shoulder sweater with the white straps of a cotton top worn underneath showing over her shoulders. The baggy sweater did not hide the generous swell of her apparently large breasts, however, and Daniel's mind sparked with salacious thoughts even in the milliseconds it took to meet her gaze.
He was sure a mischievous smile flickered across her face, before the expression broke into a broad grin.
"Hello, Daniel," she said. "Welcome to Oyster Creek."
He stared blankly a moment, before recovering his composure enough to respond. "Thank you. And hello."
"Well, boss, what are we doing today?" Jenny said, amusement in her voice. "We couldn't get started until you tell us what to do."
He turned to her, sarcasm heavy in his voice. "Really."
"Really!" Jenny responded with a chuckle. "I'm sure you want to change things so it was no good pointlessly carrying on as before."
Daniel shrugged then, glancing round the shop. He really wasn't too sure where to start. The revelation about the will had taken up all of his time and he hadn't been thinking about what he'd do to get the General Store back on track.
But his three employees were all looking at him and he knew he would have to think of something. Gazing at the shelves, he was once again reminded of the tat that made up this store's inventory, and he sneered slightly at the crap on display. Well, it was a starting point.
"To begin with, we're going to clear out the stock. You've done brilliantly to keep this place open on limited funds but most of that is junk and it needs to go in the bin."
Claire giggled, and he raised an eyebrow at her. She stood up straight and attempted to suppress her amusement.
"Yes?" he said.
She grinned broadly. "Nothing, Daniel. Sorry. It's just... you said 'bin' not 'trash'. That's... quite adorable."
"I'm not sure I want to be adorable. I'm your boss," he replied with a wry smile, enjoying her amusement but unsure of whether that was a good thing or not.
"You can be our boss and still be adorable," Jenny interjected with a laugh of her own. "Who knows, it might encourage us to do what you say."
"Although with a sexy accent like that, we'll likely ask you to repeat everything," Claire added. The two women dissolved once again into giggles.
Daniel rolled his eyes and looked exasperatingly at Rodrigo. The lad grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
"Are they always like this?" Daniel asked.
Rodrigo nodded, with an air of amused resignation. "Pretty much, boss."
After giving Jenny and Claire a few moments to stop laughing, Daniel carried on. "Well, anyway, I'd like most of the stock thrown in the bin." He glared at Claire as a snort issued from her lips. "And after that, if you could dismantle the display cases and chuck them out, too. The whole lot needs replacing so we have to make room first."
"You do realise we're a small shop, Dan, yeh?" Jenny said then, putting her hand on her waist. "It's not like we have giant trashcans out the back to fit all that in."
He paused a second. He hadn't considered that.
"So, do you think we should hire a disposal lorry?"
A grin spread across Jenny's face. "Do you mean a disposal
truck
?"
He sighed. "Yes. I mean a disposal truck, Jenny."
"Then I think that's probably a good idea."
"Then go and do it, Jenny. That's an order," he chuckled.
"Getting your own back, are you?" she said with a wink, before moving off towards the counter. She picked up the telephone directory and began to leaf through it.
"Well, I suppose we should get started," Daniel said, motioning to Claire and Rodrigo. "I'll be in the back if you need me."
He walked from the room, his nerves slightly abated. His employees might be cheeky, but they seemed nice. And with Jenny around he was quite sure things would proceed smoothly.
Reaching his office, he pulled open the door, then sighed as he looked around. The place was still a complete mess, although less so since his tidying spree two days before. Yet what it really needed was a good
clean
, and Daniel grimaced as he went to find the mop and bucket.
Minutes later, he was wiping the floor down with hot water and soap, chuckling to himself at the juxtaposition of this with his previous high-flying job. This was menial work, something he would have considered far beneath him back in London, but it was also strangely satisfying. Seeing the old office taking on a new gleam as he scrubbed the dirt away gave him a tingle of pride he was not sure was normal.
Either way, after an hour or so he decided his job was done. The floor was clean, the crap was thrown away and the desk looked almost new he had treated it so thoroughly. It really was a nice desk. He was not going to throw that away, although with a languid look round the rest of the office he noted that most of the furniture needed replacing if he was to call it his. He might have just secretly enjoyed a spot of cleaning but he wasn't going to lower his high standards