Sleigh Bells Page 4

  In spite of himself, Josh was intrigued. “It’s the middle of September, Angie.”

  “That’s almost two months until the Christmas season kicks off. If we hunker down, with no interference, I think we might be able to make this a banner season. I’m game if you are.” Angie waited, hardly daring to breathe, waiting for Josh’s answer.

  “I guess I owe my old man one more shot at it. If nothing else but to prove I wasn’t a know-it-all. If, and it’s a big if, we pull it off, I’m still leaving for London after the first of the year. I committed, and I never go back on my word.”

  “That’s your decision, Josh. I, for one, would never try to talk you out of something if your mind is made up. I guess that’s a holdover kind of thing from when I was a kid. I have a ton of stuff to do today. How do you feel about getting some Chinese at the Jade Pagoda this evening after the store closes? We could talk in detail and make a plan. That’s if you’re serious. If you are, check all those suggestions I bombarded you with. There’s a game plan in there.”

  Josh propped his elbows on the table. “Did you just ask me to dinner? A date?”

  Angie laughed. “Well, yeah,” she said. “Now that we’re…uh…friends, I thought…” She flushed a bright pink when she caught Josh smiling at her. “I never asked a guy for a date before. It’s a little embarrassing.”

  Josh threw his head back and laughed, a sound that sent shivers up Angie’s back. “Now you know a guy’s worst fear. Asking a girl for a date is traumatic. I accept. I’ll meet you by the loading dock at six-ten. Does that work for you?”

  “Yes. I want you to think about something today. I’d like to see you close the store for two days. Get rid of all that outdated merchandise on the floor. Close off the second floor until we can decide what we’re going to do, what we’re going to specialize in. Like I said, I have some great ideas.”

  Josh felt his throat close up. “Close the store! In the middle of the week? That had never happened in the lifetime of the store. Are you sure you have a plan?”

  “I do. It will work, too, as long as you don’t fight me. Look, I’m giving up the lease. It’s all yours. That alone should prove I’m on your side. Besides, I hate the thought of going job hunting. Do we have a deal?”

  Josh gulped but nodded. Angie’s hand shot out. He reached for it, marveling at how soft her hand was in his.

  Josh smiled.

  Angie smiled.

  Throw your line into the pond and reel him in, Bess had said. Angie giggled all the way back to the gift wrap department, which she’d just given away.

  The first thing she did when she walked behind the counter was to call her mother. “Josh said okay, but he’s still leaving in January because he committed to Harrods. I’m hoping he might change his mind. We’re in business, Mom. Listen, I’m going to have Bess pick you up and take you home. I have tons of stuff to do. You can work the phones when you get home. You okay with that? Okay, now listen up…” She went on to detail the outline of her plan.

  “Yes, honey. It all makes sense. I just hope you can do it all in two months. The vendors aren’t all that cooperative at this time of year. Is it okay to tell Angus?”

  “Sure. Your job is to make sure he doesn’t waffle on us. Talk it up real good, Mom.”

  “Okay, honey. Congratulations!”

  “Bess, instead of taking me home, take me to Mr. Eagle’s house. It’s just a few miles out of your way since it’s on the corner of Plainfield Road and Park Avenue. Angus has a ramp, so I won’t have a problem with the steps. Angie can pick me up later.”

  Bess raised her eyebrows but only nodded. Something was going on. She wondered when Eva or Angie would confide in her. She didn’t like being kept in the dark. And now this visit to the Eagle home. Something was definitely going on.

  “Just park in the back, Bess. The ramp is by the kitchen door. At least it was years ago, when Angus’s father had to use a wheelchair. No, no, don’t help me. I have to do this myself. I have my cane. Thanks for bringing me here, Bess. You’re a good friend.”

  “Is there anything I can do, Eva?”

  “Not right now, but very shortly there will be plenty for you to do. Have a nice day now. Go, go! I’m fine.”

  At the kitchen door, Eva used her cane to rap on the glass pane. When there was no response, she opened the door and stepped into the kitchen. She took a moment to look around. She’d spent a lot of time in this kitchen, catering to Mrs. Angus Eagle. The truth was, as Angie pointed out more times than she wanted to remember, she spent more time here than she did in her own kitchen. She suspected Angie still held that against her.

  It was all so long ago.

  “Angus, it’s Eva,” she called out. “Are you here?”

  “I’m in the den. What in the world are you doing here? Are you all right? How did you get here? Good Lord, Eva, are you sure you should be out and about? Come in, come in. Sit down.”

  Eva could hardly wait to sit down. Once there she wondered how she was going to get up out of the depths of the deep, comfortable couch. She’d worry about that later. “I suppose I could have called you when I got home, but for some reason I didn’t want to be alone. I thought since I’m clumsy by nature, I might fall or something. So I decided to come here. You’re stuck with me until Angie can pick me up, which won’t be till later this evening. Or, I can take a taxi.”

  “Nonsense. I’m grateful for the company. I was just sitting here thinking about how badly I’ve fouled things up. Josh still won’t take my calls, and I was asleep when he got home last night. I’ve been calling him since eight this morning. My son can be very unforgiving. Is your daughter like that?”

  “At times. When I was standing in your kitchen I was thinking about how angry she got when I had to cook dinner for your family. Then I would rush home and cook dinner for my own family, and it was always late. Then I had to rush back and clean up because your wife wouldn’t do it. That meant Angie had to clear up my own kitchen. It’s one of the reasons why she doesn’t like you. She thought you took advantage of me.”

  Angus looked dazed. “I didn’t know that, Eva. What I mean is I didn’t know you went home to cook for your family, and then came back here. You should have said something. I would have cleared the dishes myself. There’s no point now in me trying to make apologies to you for my wife. But I am sorry, Eva.”

  Eva stared at her old boss. “Angus, who did you think cooked my family’s dinner those days?”

  Angus threw his hands in the air. “I guess I never thought about it. You should have said something at the time. What do you want me to say?”

  Eva snapped her fingers in Angus’s direction. “Earth to Angus! Your wife told me if I complained to you, she would fire me. I needed the job. She was so demanding. I wanted to quit so many times, but my family needed the money I brought in.”

  “Eva, I am so very sorry. I didn’t know. If there was a strain between you two, then why would my wife insist I turn over the gift wrap department to you? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “She didn’t want me around in the afternoon when she…when she…entertained. It was to ensure I never said anything. Fill in the blanks, Angus, and I am never going to talk about this again. Are we clear on that?”

  “No, we are not clear on anything. When you imply something like that you need to…to explain exactly what you’re saying. We’re talking about my deceased wife here. Eva?”

  “How many ways are there to say your wife entertained in the afternoons while you were at the store and your son was out somewhere or away. She did not entertain women with tea parties. I only ever saw one man and that was quite by accident, so I cannot give you a name. That’s it, Angus. Now, leave it alone.”

  Angus rubbed at his jaw. By the stubborn set of Eva’s chin, he knew she had said the last word on the subject. “I didn’t know. Something like that never occurred to me.”

  Eva picked up her cane and waved it around. “I didn’t know, I didn’t know. That’s all
you’ve been saying for several days now. What did you know, if anything?” she asked sourly. “Look at the mess you’re in, and now I’m in the same mess because my daughter is going to be out of a job, and I’ll be losing my share of the profits. ‘I didn’t know’ is not good enough, Angus.”

  Angus felt his shoulders start to shake. He choked up and turned to Eva. “It’s my only defense. I was so obsessed with the store, keeping it going, trying to stay ahead of all the upstarts coming into town. I didn’t want to fail my father. I see now where I was wrong. I’ll be honest with you, Eva. I don’t know what to do. ‘I’m sorry’ more or less falls into the same category as ‘I didn’t know.’ Can you help me?”

  Eva leaned her cane against the sofa. “Was that so hard, Angus? Asking for help? This is the same position your son finds himself in right now. With a slight difference. He had the good sense to ask you for help, but you stomped on him. He’s the one you have to talk to, not me. If you don’t, you’re going to lose him. Open your heart and your mind, and if he calls you an old fart again, suck it up. We’re supposed to be older and wiser, the ones our children come to in need. I think that little ditty just reversed itself.”

  Angus forced a laugh. Eva thought it the saddest sound she’d ever heard.

  “How’d you get so smart, Eva?”

  “By trying not to do the things you did. I had to think about my family. We weren’t well-off like you were. We struggled for everything. More than once Angie had to wait weeks when she needed new shoes. There were a lot of things she couldn’t have when she was younger because they cost too much money. My husband worked on an assembly line. We had a mortgage payment, car payments, appliance payments. Then we had to save for college. Until you leased me the gift wrap department, we barely made ends meet. I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Angus. I want your word that you are not going to interfere with the kids when they do whatever it is they’re going to do. Your word, Angus, or I’m leaving and will walk home, at which point I will collapse and my condition will be on your conscience.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, Eva. You have my word. I’m not going to like what they’re going to do, am I?”

  “Not one little bit!”

  “Can you give me a clue, a hint?”

  “Try this one on, they’re going to close the store and get rid of all that stuff that came over with the ark.”

  “The merchandise? That represents money. What…What are they going to do with it?”

  “My guess is there’s going to be one heck of a supersale followed by a bonfire somewhere real soon. Like I said, Angus, get over it.”

  “What the hell, okay. Want to stay for dinner? Dolores is still with me, so you know there’s something delicious waiting.”

  “I’d love to stay for dinner.”

  “Do we have a date, then?”

  “We do indeed have a date. Speaking of dates, Angie and Josh are going out for Chinese this evening. I rather imagine the two of them will be venting to one another about the two of us,” Eva said.

  “Imagine that!”

  “I think the two of them think you and I had an affair years ago,” Eva said, her face taking on a rosy hue.

  Eyes twinkling, Angus said, “Imagine that!”

  Eva laughed. “Yes, imagine that!”

  Chapter Four

  The Jade Pagoda was bustling when Josh held the door for Angie. They were shown to a table into the back section of the room that was separated from the other diners by strings of silver beads—beads that tinkled as the servers walked in and out. It was a pleasant sound, as was the fountain that trickled over lava rocks in the middle of the room. A smiling Buddha holding a fortune cookie sat atop the fountain, welcoming all guests.

  “I come here sometimes just to relax,” Josh said, waving his arm about. “Win Lee told me if you rub the Buddha’s belly he’ll bring you good luck. For some reason, that little fat guy never worked for me.”

  Angie smiled. “Maybe it’s because you aren’t Chinese.”

  “Do you think?”

  “No! I just said that to have something to say.”

  “Do you come here often?”

  “After my father died Mom and I used to come every Friday night. When she went to Florida to help my aunt I stopped coming, mainly because I don’t like to eat alone. When Mom finally came back we just never picked up where we left off. I agree with you, though, it is soothing and peaceful in here. People seem to whisper when they’re here. Then again, they might have some top-of-the-line acoustics.”

  Josh held a chair for Angie before he took his own seat. “My mother wasn’t one of those warm, fuzzy mothers. I used to hang out at friends’ houses because I liked the way they interacted with their mothers. It sounds like you and your mother had a good relationship.”

  “We did. Sort of. Kind of. I hated you and your family for a long time,” Angie blurted. “That…That probably colored my determination to fight you on the lease.”

  Josh looked so shocked at her words, Angie hastened to explain. “My mother spent more time at your house than she did at her own. Every time I needed her, she was at your house. Back then I didn’t understand my family’s need for money. I also didn’t like it that my mother cleaned your house and cooked for you. Our dinners were always late. Then my mother would go back to your house to clean up after your dinner while I was the one who cleaned up ours. I wasn’t always as kind as I could have been to my mother. Of course I regret that now. My dad did his best.”

  Josh blinked. He struggled to find something to say. “I guess I would have felt the same way. As a kid you just more or less take things for granted. I’m ashamed to admit I never thought about Eva in terms of having a family to take care of. She was just there sometimes. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, Angie.”

  “Well, that was then, this is now. We were both kids back then. You know what they say, you can’t unring the bell. Isn’t it ironic that we’ve come together like this? Your father with his hip operation, Mom with her knee replacement. If it weren’t for that, you and I would still be battling one another. I guess everything happens for a reason.”

  “So we have a truce. At least for now.”

  “Yes. We have to make it all work. I think we can. Did you look over the suggestions I put in the box?”

  “I did. Most of them are really good. I particularly like your idea to turn the gift wrap department into a Christmas wonderland. But the retail side of me can’t quite accept the idea that for a fee you’re willing to gift wrap merchandise from other stores.”

  “The idea, Josh, is, those customers will browse the store and buy point-of-purchase merchandise with the money going into Eagle’s coffers. The gift wrapping is not going to be cheap, I can tell you that. Most of that money will now go into your coffers, too.”

  Josh nodded as he motioned to the waitress. He told her that they were ready for some green tea. “I sent out memos today. We’ll close the store this weekend for two days. Three if we need an extra day. I also made arrangements for everything on both floors that has been marked down twice to go to Goodwill. Everything else will be sold below cut-rate to two different discount stores. This will get underway Friday night after the store closes. You might want to walk through the store to see if you think there’s anything we can salvage.”

  “Get rid of it all. We’re starting fresh. No holdovers. You also need to get an electrician to install some better lighting. A nice new, shiny tile floor will work wonders.”

  “I’m not a miracle worker, Angie. Two days, even three, it’s a monumental task.”

  “Offer a bonus. Tap into your workforce. The salespeople have spouses who might like to make some extra money. Your new motto from here on in is, ‘The Eagle Soars.’ Start running ads in the local newspaper. Get some flyers made up. Hire some kid to put them on the windshields of the cars in the parking lot. Have a raffle every day. All entries have to have a sales receipt attached. That kind of thing. In order to make m
oney, you have to spend money. You might need to close for two weeks.”

  Josh brought the little cup of tea to his lips. His gaze locked with Angie’s. “Two weeks! Young lady, you’re scary!”

  “I’m going to take that as a compliment. A scary compliment. What did you do about laying off your staff?”

  Josh leaned back in his chair. “It was hard, but I did it. I think a lot of the staff were more or less relieved. I laid everyone off for three weeks except for a few I knew we would need. I don’t know why, but I thought some, if not most of them, welcomed the decision. Some of the staff are my father’s age. Past retirement age, but Dad wouldn’t let me lay them off. I checked all their files, and none of them are in dire need of money. They work to have something to do. I can’t fault them for that.”

  “You might be able to use the grandmothers to man the day care I want to put in on the second floor. Think about it, Josh. Mothers dropping off their children so they can shop! At thirty dollars a day with lunch and snacks, it would be a bargain. Of course you’d have some moms who just might want a few hours at a time. We’d work out a reasonable fee. I can see you taking in a couple of thousand bucks a day. The more activities you have for the kids, the more demand for the service. The kids would get a day with a real grandma who will read them stories, sing songs with them, rock the babies. Your dad and my mom will be perfect if we can get them to agree and at the same time still be in the loop. I already earmarked all the things on the floor that could go into the day care. I have a lot of friends whose kids have outgrown many of their things. I can ask to borrow them. Next year, if this all works, we could really do a bang-up job, but for now, I think this will work.”

  “My father is going to go nuclear!” Josh laughed. “Day care! Never in a million years would I have come up with that idea. You’re right, you are an idea person!”

  “Thank you, sir!”