Page 35 of The Woman on the Jury

I stood back, watching him unlock the door, then move out into the alley, looking around, then up, and not looking happy about whatever it was he saw.

“Aight,” he said, coming back in, and locking the door. “You don’t go out back,” he said. “Not to take out trash. Not to get a moment to yourself. Nothing.”

“Ah, okay,” I agreed, then watched as he walked over to a metal storage cabinet, giving it a shimmy. “What are you doing?” I asked. “I said I wouldn’t,” I said as he started to haul the damn thing over in front of the door. I’d tried to empty it and move it once. I couldn’t make it budge. It was currently full of crap. I had no idea how he was sliding it across the floor like it weighed nothing.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you,” he said, giving me another of those smirks as he rubbed his hands together, likely coming away with dust. This place was full of it. I felt like I could never stay on top of it. “Now you can’t go.”

“And if I have trash?” I asked.

“Bring it out front to me. When someone comes to take over for me, I’ll take it to the dumpster.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Any other rules?”

“The bathroom.”

“What about it?” I asked.

“It got a window?”

“Yes.”

“Show me,” he said, all business, and I found myself leading him into the cramped little space that was hardly big enough to throw your arms out in. “You know that’s a fire hazard,” he said, turning back to me after trying to jam it open.

“This whole place is a fire hazard,” I reasoned.

“Fair enough. I don’t think anyone is getting in that, so I think that’s it,” he said, leading me back through the store like he owned the place. “I’ll be out front,” he said, waving toward the front door. “If you suddenly don’t see me, you lock your ass in that bathroom and call Cosimo, yeah?” he asked, giving me a hard look when I didn’t immediately answer.

“But…”

“No buts. If you don’t see me, something is wrong.”

“But what about when you change shifts?”

“I will bring the next guy in to introduce to you. And he will introduce the third shift guy. If at any point one of us is missing, bathroom, lock, call Cosimo. Got it?”

“I got it,” I confirmed, nodding.

I guess I had to appreciate how seriously they were taking this thing.

“Oh, Miko?” I called as he unlocked the door.

“Yeah, sugar?”

“Do you know what the guys look like?” I asked.

“Sure do. They won’t be getting past me.”

With that, he was moving outside.

And I was alone in the store.

Then there was a strange mix of emotions in my body then, an anxiousness and restlessness that seemed only to amplify the unmet desire that Cosimo had sparked inside me that morning.

To try to think past it, I put on one of my grandfather’s records, and got right to work.

A few hours in, I found I’d managed to do more work than I accomplished all day when my grandfather was around, questioning my every move.

He meant well, but was just set in his ways, and didn’t think things needed to change. But considering it was almost impossible to walk around the store without bumping into a table or display case, it did. He especially didn’t factor in that women had bags, and when we turned, we sometimes didn’t realize they stuck out beyond our bodies, and therefore easily knocked things over. No big deal in a department store. A big, big deal in a store full of priceless and one-of-a-kind antiques.

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