Despite my, well, not-so-great track record with hanging storylines, I promise this series is finished!!! I'll release a new chapter every week.
~Pentopaper
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~Part One~
Spring
Late Friday afternoon
Nancy left the warm parking lot and entered Snyder's Hardware and Garden Store, a small mom and pop place where the air conditioning was working overtime. It felt good, but still she sighed. Such potential, a Friday afternoon. The weekend was completely ahead of her, but she couldn't help but feel the weekend looming instead of it being something exciting to look forward to.
Ever since her husband had passed, her life had settled into a lonely routine that she found herself repeating every day and every weekend. Breakfasts alone. Dinners alone. Work took up a lot of her time, thank goodness. But weekends usually ended up being solitary affairs that seemed to last too long without enough structure to her liking.
She mused to herself as she walked. "Working' For The Weekend" by Loverboy played on the overhead speakers. She brushed a lock of her thick, straight brown hair out of her face. Maybe she needed to get a hobby? She was a widow now, but she was only 42. Too young not to have things to fill up her time. Maybe she would take up a hobby - something she could do just for herself. Knitting? Eh, probably not. She wasn't good with stuff like that. Maybe get a dog? No, a dog was too much work. Maybe she'd join a book club and make some friends outside of work to boot. Yeah. Maybe she'd look into that.
In the meantime, She couldn't believe her hammer had disappeared. She had always kept it in a bag with her other tools, but it was missing. She must have loaned it to somebody at work, but for the life of her she couldn't remember who it could have been nor when she had done it. Her only option now was buying a new one. That old painting wasn't going to hang itself, and she had found that she liked to do little things like that herself rather than calling apartment maintenance who would indeed do it for her.
As she walked the tight aisles of the little hardware and garden store, she noticed that it was all decked out for spring and for the coming summer. Several circular displays boasted oodles of tiny packets of seeds that would turn into everything from marigolds to sweet corn. Green potted plants abounded on low display tables. Gardening supplies were prominently displayed - everything from gloves to watering cans to gardening stools.
On her way to the aisles with the hardware tools, she heard unhappy voices.
"I don't think I can go any higher."
"But we want that bird feeder!"
"Can I get you one from a lower shelf?"
"No! We want the one on the top!"
Nancy turned to see a frustrated white-haired man and woman in their early sixties talking to a young female employee who was standing on the bottom rung of a ladder.
"Just get down. I'll get it my own damn self!" The man was saying.
"I can't let you on the ladder, Sir-"
"The hell you will, John!" The older woman butted in. "With your dizzy spells you'll fall off and hurt yourself!"
Nancy caught the young girl's gaze as she made her way down the aisle and grew closer. Her eyes held Nancy's for a split second and Nancy felt her breath catch.
The young girl was absolutely stunning.
She was wearing tight, light colored ripped blue jeans that covered her well-formed thighs and perky ass. Her dark blue T-shirt was mostly hidden by her bright red apron that said How May I Help You? on it in black lettering. Her badge clipped to her apron said "Shelby".
But it was her hair that had caught Nancy's attention. It was a beautiful strawberry blonde color that made her green eyes pop.
The old man rolled his eyes. "Well then, get another worker to climb the ladder," he said.
Shelby shook her head. "I'm the only one here on the floor. Well, except for my step-brother, but he's working the front register."
"Maybe you can trade?" The older woman suggested.
Shelby smiled sadly. "I'm new. They haven't trained me on the register yet," she said, "and someone needs to man the register at all times."
"He can't come over just for a second?" The woman asked.
"Excuse me? Can I help here?" Nancy finally said.
All eyes turned to Nancy.
The old man spoke up. "Well, the wife and I want to buy this birdhouse - the one that's on the top shelf," he said, pointing to a gaudy green and gold birdhouse. "But she," he said, now pointing to Shelby, "is afraid of ladders, or something."
The girl flushed adorably when Nancy looked at her. "I don't do well with heights," she mumbled.
"Why don't you let me climb up and get it?" Nancy asked.
Shelby shook her head.
"She won't let us up there either. Only employees are allowed, she says," the older woman said.
"How about..." Nancy began, "you start climbing and I'll hold on to you to give you balance?"
Shelby looked at Nancy. Shelby was a short girl but because she was standing on the first rung of the ladder she and Nancy were about the same height. "I guess we could try it," Shelby finally said with a shrug.
Nancy nodded. "I'll hang onto your hips and you start climbing."
Shelby nodded. "Um. Alright."