The General Store was open.
Daniel could scarcely believe that those words were true. But true they were, and as another person brushed past him he puffed out his cheeks in wonder that the moment had finally come.
He couldn't believe how busy it was. The store practically thronged with people, the chatter loud in such a comparatively small space. They'd already sold enough to keep the shop going for another six months - a success rate so high he was still reeling from it - and that was before the television crew even arrived.
Technically, they'd opened that morning, but they'd had next to no customers during the day. That was hardly surprising, though, and the time had been spent preparing the store for this: the grand opening ceremony.
He turned to see Claire and Rodrigo hurriedly replenishing a shelf with portraits from the artist Jenny had visited. The man was here too, directing them; clearly he had given them more paintings than they could display at once. Daniel smiled at the huge grin plastered over the artist's face. He'd probably made himself a decent chunk of cash tonight.
He sipped the small glass of white wine he clutched, then turned around. A man and a woman emerged giggling from behind the small curtain that separated Lucy's underwear from the rest of the store, and headed towards the desk. There, Jenny glanced in the bag, rang up the till and took the money from their hands.
Yet more profit for the Oyster Creek General Store.
Things were going so well, in fact, that he wasn't even thinking about tomorrow - the day of the inquisition. The day his parents would arrive in town, coming to screech at him and disown him and do all manner of other things to make him regret his choice of actions. Although, looking at the way Jenny's face was lit up with excitement at the success she was making of the store, he wasn't sure he regretted his course of action whatever the outcome.
Indeed, things were good at the moment for Daniel Porter-Michaels. A palpable buzz was in the air; an infectious excitement that seemed to force the worries from his mind. He was still on edge - this had to go well - but more relaxed than he had been earlier that day or even the night before. Amazingly, things seemed to be going to plan.
Daniel knew he could take very little, if any, credit for that. The woman responsible for turning around the fortunes of the Oyster Creek General Store was standing by the till, a glass of red wine in her hands and a broad grin on her face. He caught Jenny's eye, and she grinned back, raising the glass in a room-spanning toast. He repeated the gesture, letting his eyes cast over her a moment. She was wearing an elegant red dress with a high neck that hugged her figure quite tightly without revealing too much, and she seemed perfectly at home in her heels despite the fact that Daniel knew she dressed comfortably and practically - if attractively - the rest of the time.
Then again, all of the women here were dressed beautifully, both the staff and the guests. The men, too, though in a more uniform manner; he'd never been able to decide whether the expectation on a man to simply wear a nice tux to these sorts of events was good or bad. On the one hand, it meant that unlike his female counterparts he didn't have to put a tremendous amount of effort into choosing what to wear - a expensive tuxedo would do - but on the other, it didn't really afford him the chance to stand out from the crowd.
Rodrigo and Claire hurried past again, directed to grab more portraits. Daniel would allow them to bring out two or three more, then go tell the artist to let them enjoy themselves. Rodrigo was in what looked to be a brand new suit and Daniel didn't fancy letting the young man destroy it by scrabbling around hauling paintings; it was far too nice for that.
"It's going well, isn't it?" said a feminine voice then to Daniel's left, and he turned to smile at Lucy.
He nodded. "It is. Very well. I'd be surprised at that, except with your sister organising things I don't know what else I expected."
"Very true," the buxom blonde giggled as she swept her hair forward over one shoulder. It was wavy, as always, though Daniel thought it was perhaps even more so tonight - Lucy had evidently styled it for the occasion. Then again, the pressure of looking good had got to him, too; he'd actually spent a full
ten minutes
making sure his hair looked right and he was properly presentable before leaving his hotel room. Daniel didn't think he'd spent that long on his appearance since his university graduation ball three years before.
It was Lucy, however, and not memories of that dance which held his attention for now. She was wearing a tight black cocktail dress which hugged her figure and curved wonderfully round her hips, all while revealing a not-inconsiderable amount of her enormous cleavage. She looked at home in her heels, too, though that did not surprise him; Lucy modelled her underwear designs part-time, and Daniel suspected that - ridiculous or not - she would have to wear heels for that.
A small, mischievous smile played across Lucy's face at his gaze. Then, with a gesture around the room, she continued. "Our displays seem to be practically emptying. We're going to have nothing left to sell soon."
"I wouldn't worry about that; there's always more. I'm delighted for everyone involved. After all, they're all here to see the success," Daniel said, pointing out a few of them.
They were all here, too, though that was hardly surprising - for many of these local artists this was the biggest recent event of their careers. Then again, Daniel wouldn't have been surprised to learn that this was the biggest recent event in Oyster Creek full stop.
He saw Jill out of the corner of his eye then, talking animatedly with a handsome man in a pristine suit. He was grinning at her, nodding furiously at whatever it was she was saying, and Daniel chuckled to himself as the Asian-American beauty reached out to place her hand on his arm and smile wickedly. He'd be very surprised if that conversation didn't lead to some more "memories" for her to work with later that night.
A murmur went around the room then, and Daniel glanced outside to see a large white van emblazoned with a logo pull up by the kerb. Three people climbed out, one carrying a camera, another a boom microphone.
The television crew are here!
his mind said nervously, and Daniel glanced over towards Jenny.
She smiled, no hint of apprehension in her demeanour, and came over.
"Well, here it goes, I suppose," she laughed sweetly. "Who wants to talk to them? You or me?"
Daniel smiled. He suspected his nerves were evident on his face. "I'm going to be honest, I don't think I can imagine something I'd rather do
less
."
"I can tell. You've gone as white as a sheet."
"Thanks, Jenny."
The stunning brunette laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you." Then she winked. "You'd only go and insult someone anyway."
"Well then, good luck."
She grinned. "I won't need it."
Then she marched off towards the entrance, greeting the woman who was clearly the reporter and showing them into the store. Daniel darted over to the till, determined not to be in shot; for all of his confidence when dealing with people face-to-face, he had no desire whatsoever to appear on television, especially not when it was being shown on the statewide news.
He smiled at a young man who approached with a set of postcards, ringing them up and taking the twenty dollars from his outstretched hand. Daniel wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the money in this country; not only was it all the one colour, it was all the same size! Though, admittedly, he had seen some notes of varying colours in circulation, so perhaps it wasn't so bad.
He realised he was forcing his mind to wander so as not to acknowledge the television camera that was slowly panning round the room. The reporter was talking to Jenny, clearly not on the record at the moment, and they seemed to be getting along.
Good. It might make for a better review,
he thought to himself.
Then the camera passed over him, and Daniel hurriedly started to arrange things around the till so as to appear busy. He didn't look up; didn't stare into the camera. He waited until he was sure it had passed, then glanced at the cameraman. Indeed, he had panned beyond Daniel now and was getting shots of the crowd milling by the displays, but it was Lucy, stood behind him, that caught Daniel's eye. She was grinning broadly, evidently well-aware of why he just burst into action, and he scowled at her in mock-annoyance. Which, of course, only caused her to laugh harder.
Shaking his head with a resigned smile, he continued to serve the guests who periodically came up to the till to purchase their chosen wares. Surprisingly, it was Lucy's underwear that seemed to be selling the most, although every artist present was going to leave tonight a happy person. He couldn't believe how well it was going.
That was when he realised that Jenny was being interviewed. He couldn't hear what was being said, but the woman was a natural in front of the camera, relaxed and assured. She looked comfortable despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people would soon be watching her on the evening news. Daniel wondered if her and Lucy's parents would be watching it, then guessed that they would; even if they couldn't get the Oregon state news in Florida, he was certain it could be watched online.
The interview continued, Daniel making sure he was out of shot in the background, but thankfully nobody seemed to care. Jenny held the attention of not just the reporter, but seemingly everyone in the room. A hush had descended when they realised the interview was in progress.
The minutes passed, with fewer and fewer people approaching the counter, so enraptured were they by the television crew, until at last the reporter closed out and the camera was switched off. She smiled at everyone, and they hurriedly went back to their chatting, eager to show that they had not been eavesdropping.
And with their return to the surroundings came a great rush of people to the till. Daniel hurriedly began taking money and bagging items, working his way through what was suddenly a throng of people so that none of them had to wait too long.
Meanwhile, Jenny had sauntered over and was watching him with a small smile, engaging those waiting in conversation to keep them entertained. Lucy, too, had joined them, and as Daniel worked his way through the group they both moved to stand by his side.
At last he had dealt with the final person, and sighed. Whilst there were still a lot of people here in the store, he hoped they wouldn't all rush to the till in a group of that size again.
"Tired?" Lucy teased, and he glanced up at her.
"That was fucking exhausting," he responded, puffing out his cheeks. "I don't know how retail staff cope with it."
Jenny laughed. "I've worked retail jobs before. You get used to it. Did you give them all the right change, Dan? I know you struggle with dollars."
"I hope so. Or else I'm going to have to deal with some very irate customers soon."
"
You
won't have to deal with anyone, Dan. You're going on a break."
He cocked his head at Jenny. "Am I? I'm fine. You're the one who should take a break after your sterling work with the interview."
"Thank you," she smiled, clearly flattered. "I don't need a break though; I've already had one. No, that interview has given me a real buzz, actually, and I want to take advantage of that. Socialising to do, you know?"
