Elisa wiped the jam from her navy tabard. She wished her uniform had been a bit shapelier. Turning to the side, she checked her reflection in the window. The tabard hung down from her breasts and that’s where it stayed, sticking out, making her look like her stomach came out as far as her chest. Then her thin legs stuck out the bottom, from the knee down. She was sure the uniform was meant to fall a little below waist level, but at five feet and half an inch tall, it swamped her. She’d do anything to add a couple of inches of height onto her body so that she didn’t always have to look up at friends or get a stepladder out to reach the cereal in the cupboard at home. At least most of the shelves in the shop were within her reach, although she’d been given a wooden box to use as a step, if she needed it.
She screwed the lid on the sample jam after filling up the ramekins. Tipping a few broken crackers onto the plate, she stood, waiting for business. That’s what she did all day, waited. There were occasional customers but never a queue. Two weeks she’d been working for the Taste of Nature farm shop while she decided what to do with her life. Her stomach flipped as she thought about her GCSE exams, not sure if she’d really done her best. All those nights spent with her
boyfriend Ethan could have been put to better use until the exams were over, but she had no regrets.
She had a plan. As soon as was old enough, she was getting her provisional driver’s licence and the money she earned from this job would be spent on driving lessons. No more would her mum have to drop her off or pick her up all the time, like she had that morning.
Elisa grabbed her phone and started to walk out of the shop. Her employers wouldn’t notice and it would only be for a couple of minutes. She wanted to enjoy the sunshine and read Ethan’s texts. Closing the door gently, she crept around the side of the building and leaned against the wall. As she scrolled away, she laughed. If her mother were to ever see some of the texts, she’d go ballistic. They had been sexually active a while and the texts showed that this had been going on way before her sixteenth birthday.
She fluffed up her hair as she pouted for a selfie. Quick edit, dog ears and cute nose, she’d then message it to Ethan and he’d receive it during his break. As she began to creep back towards the front door, finger on the send button, she glanced up and spotted a car parked at the bottom of the drive, a silver saloon. A customer. She hurried back to the main entrance and brushed her tabard with her hands. She turned around; the car was still there. If it was a customer, he’d pull up into the car park, not pull up on the road that led up to it.
She held a hand across her brow to block out the sun and focused. There was a man sitting in the driver’s seat. She trembled and her heartbeat began to quicken as she saw that he was looking right at her. She couldn’t make out his features. She held her hand up and smiled, hoping that he’d respond and put her at ease, but he didn’t. He remained still. She
swallowed and felt sweat prickling under her armpits. She wasn’t alone in the shop and that made her feel safe enough. If anything happened, someone from the office would come down and help.
Flinching as the engine was turned on, she grabbed the door handle and watched as the man did a three-point turn along the gravelly road and accelerated away, turning right towards Cleevesford. She exhaled and opened the main door, heart pounding as she almost hit Mrs Hanley in the face with her phone.
‘Elisa, it’s the third time I’ve caught you playing with your phone while you’ve been on duty here. Put the thing away and look like you’re ready for customers. If I catch you outside, messing around when you’re meant to be working, we may have to review your position here. Go on.’ The woman ushered her forward. ‘Back behind the counter. The sweets need topping up. Grab some cola cubes from the Welsh dresser.’
‘Sorry. It was so quiet. I just wanted some fresh air—’
‘You can have all the fresh air you need at five o’clock this evening.’
The woman tottered on her ridiculously high heels and straightened a few jars of jam, before stepping back and admiring her work. As she searched the room for more jobs that might need doing, she adjusted her breasts in her bra and undid the top button of her blouse.
‘Mrs Hanley?’
‘What now?’ The woman checked her reflection in the window, smiled at herself and looked at Elisa.
‘While I was out there, I saw a car parked on the driveway up here, a silver car. There was someone in it and the driver was just sitting in his car. I think he was watching me.’
The woman shrugged her shoulders. ‘That sounds a little melodramatic. Maybe he’d taken a wrong turn, was making a phone call or having a break from driving.’ She pulled a piece of fluff off her shoulder and dropped it to the floor. ‘Right, back to it and I want that phone turned off while you’re working.’
Back to what? They had no customers. She’d top up the sweets, then what? The woman watched as she held her phone. She quickly pressed send on her message to Ethan and turned the phone off. Mrs Hanley passed her and went upstairs.
Elisa crept along the tiled floor in her flat shoes and stared through the glass door. A shudder flashed across the nape of her neck, making her shiver again. She was sure the man in the car had been watching her. She shook her head, checked back in case Mrs Hanley had crept back down, then she popped one of the loose sweets into her mouth. In hindsight, she wished she had walked a little closer to the car, had a proper look at the man. Her mind replayed the moment she saw the car. He had been looking in her direction. She was sure of that.