by Alex Roberts
She cupped her son’s hand in hers, said a quick, “Thanks,” and walked him towards the bathrooms.
Couldn’t blame her for not being in the best of moods. I didn’t want to be stuck here on a dead night, but I was becoming less interested in driving back home in this weather. The toilet flushed, and muffled talking followed. Another pair of headlights turned from the highway and into the lot, stopping next to the gas pumps. Ding, ding. Nice. Maybe it’ll be a lively night, after all.
I hit the switch to turn on the microphone. “Need to prepay.”
A low pitched huff of disappointment followed. I couldn’t blame him, either. I never liked prepaying – especially when it was this cold – I’d much rather just stick the nozzle in and duck back inside my car until the trigger gave. But, it was a requirement this late at night.
The guy ducked his head between his shoulders, bundled his coat around his waist, and came inside.
“Fifty on pump five,” he groaned, throwing crumpled bills on the counter. Then, he grabbed a bag of chips from the front display. “Make it forty-five.”
I rang up the sale and clicked the button to let him fill up.
“Mommy, I want candy.” The kid tugged on his mother’s coat as they came out of the bathroom.
The guy hugged his chips against his chest and was out the door in an instant.
“Not this late. We need to go, Timothy.” I caught her eyeing the coffee, but she wrapped her hand around her sons and led him to the door. She dropped into a low squat, zipped up his coat and hid his head under the way-too-big hood. She smiled up at me. “Thanks a lot.”
“Be careful out there. Roads are getting pretty bad. They’re closed past Jasper.”
“Yeah, I heard that on the radio report. Well, thanks.” She turned, opened the door, braced herself, and left with child in tow.
She escorted him to the passenger side of the car, and my attention was drawn to the thickness of the snow coming down. Drifts already piled up on the sidewalk and the edges of the lot. Snow blew and fluttered sideways. The sign on the corner of the road flopped around. The wind howled against the windows and door. Wow, I hadn’t even noticed how awful it’d gotten in the last fifteen minutes.
Hope they make it to Jasper okay.
The beep sounded that the guy out front filled his tank to the amount he’d paid and, after a moment of fumbling with the thick pump hose, he was gone. This was how my night was going to go – just like every other night before it.
I’d known it was going to be a slow night, but I hadn’t thought the storm was supposed to get this bad. Up to eighteen inches? We were right in the belt that always seemed to get pegged with the worse of the snowfall when a winter storm warning was issued. I peered out the big, glass front and inspected in both directions. The county route was darker, lonelier — ghostly.
I could imagine how slick it was now. I had actually been a sunny day for Nebraska in winter, and there had been some moisture on the roads. That made it all the worse. That moisture was now ice under what was turning into several inches of snow cover. There was no way the delivery driver was that crazy.
If only I could just close up and go home. I had no idea what our policy was for this. I got this job in the spring and hadn’t the foggiest what we were supposed to do in weather like this. Were we like the post office? Rain, snow, and sleet? I could call Sue. I checked the clock. She’d be in bed, for sure. I could make the call on my own. Just lock up and go.
In this weather? No. My little beater of a sedan wouldn’t stand a chance. I didn’t know what was going on with it since the temperatures started hitting below freezing, but that thing had me worried. Some days, it refused to start until I popped the hood and aimlessly moved around wires and cables. Took me over fifteen minutes last time. I couldn’t trust the old girl anymore. Even if I locked the front door, I’d have to curl up on boxes in the back until the sun rose and I’d at least have stray cars coming by if I got stranded out there.
I stifled a yawn and drummed my fingers on the countertop to the song playing on the speakers. Be nice if I could crank up the music a notch or two. I put my weight on the counter and leaned over to look out at the road. Why not? Sue couldn’t be upset over heavy metal no one was around to hear to begin with.
A glance at the clock on the wall overhead read 11:45. Not only had it not even been an hour since I clocked in, but fifteen more minutes, and the truck should be here if he managed to stay on schedule. I grabbed a wet cloth and wandered away from the register to the condiments stand. Suppose I could get a little bit of cleaning done until the delivery showed up — if it did at all.
I wiped at a sticky pop stain next to the machine then at a pile of sugar near the coffee pot, bobbing my head to the beat of guitars and drums. I clicked the carafe heater off while I was at it. No use wasting electricity on something no one would drink.
A little less than a cup was left in the pot and this was going to be a long night, so I grabbed a Styrofoam cup and sniffed at the carafe. Wow, how long had that been on the burner? Good coffee I could drink straight, but this? I thumbed through the mini-packages. Sugar. Cream. Oh! Hazelnut. I stirred the liquid with a straw and took a sip.
Damn, that’s bitter. Hazelnut, my ass.
It’d probably been sitting on the burner since the beginning of Carly’s shift. Oh well. I’d needed something to keep me awake if it was going to be this dull tonight. I alternately slurped and winced at it while cleaning underneath everything, singing the tune that was playing on the speakers in my head.
Wiping off the nacho cheese machine, I cringed at the irritating blare of a horn honking not once but three times at the back of the building. The headlights must have whizzed by while I was working on that dried cheese. I threw the towel on the counter, turned the volume down, and pushed open the door into the back room.
It was always pitch black back there, no matter what time of the day, and the light switch – I could never find it right away. Most switches were directly within inches of the doorframe just a little below chest level. But the back room? Nah, too easy. And, my brain couldn’t hold the position in memory. I felt along the wall a few inches, then up, then over further. Right when I thought I was too far and high – that I must have missed it – my fingers came into contact with the damned thing, and light flooded into the little storage area.
I took a few paces to the back wall, avoiding the mop bucket. “Finally,” I said, opening the heavy delivery door.
Holy hell, why hadn’t I grabbed my coat? The wind flung a drift of snow into my face as the door open, and the deep chill immediately set into my bones. The truck motor hummed, rattling its back fender and license plate, the hot exhaust coming out in heavy waves of white fumes against the freezing air. A single flood light cast a pale shadow on the back of the truck, and the thick, floating snow made the world look like a snow globe.
I tensed my muscles to guard against the cold and grabbed my clipboard, ready to take inventory as soon as the driver was ready. Come on, what’s taking so long? I started to bounce, hoping the added motion would produce a little heat.
It took a while — was the guy even alive in there? — before the truck’s engine shut off. The driver’s door slammed. Boots crunched and left prints in the snow as the driver came around the side of the building.
“Hey, sorry I’m so late. Got stuck in Jasper. The roads are horrible,” he said. His voice was the same smooth baritone I remembered from before.
“As long as everything is here, I’ve got no problem with it.” I kept my eyes on the inventory sheet, taking note of what we ordered so I didn’t get confused.
The driver chuckled. “Yeah, well, if anything’s missing, take it up with my boss, eh?”
Same cocky attitude as always. “I’ll have my boss call your boss.”
“Ah, that’s how you roll here.”
I glanced at him as he peeled away a hoodie from over his head. He looked differently than he had just three month
s ago. I swore up and down he used to be thicker in the gut and cheeks. Not, like, fat. But, now he looked tighter all around – from the strong jawline to his waist, where that tight workout fabric tucked into his jeans. The black, bulky coat was hefty on the outside, but being unzipped, I could see the outline of a chiseled chest underneath that shirt. And, that ass was just as nice as ever.
He’d grown a black, trimmed goatee on his chin. It suited him. I’d almost wanted to ask what the hell happened.
He didn’t move – just returned my curious gaze. The guy shifted his weight to one leg, warming himself by rubbing a set of knuckles into the opposite palm. A grin twitched at the corner of his goatee, and his eyelids dropped a little. He was doing it again – reading my mind.
“You gonna start bringing everything in? It’s the freaking Antarctic out here.” I motioned with the pen to the truck and averted my eyes lest I say what was really on my mind.
“Yeah, man.” He cleared his throat and turned around to get to it. “Not a big order today. You must be slacking on the upsells in there. Get those truckers to buy more powdered donuts, and you could see this fine ass a little more often.”
He unhitched the back door of the truck, sliding it up until it latched. I checked out that fine ass. He knew I would. He jumped inside and out of sight, and I released a sigh. I knew he was the same guy by that visible cocky bastard attitude — that I don’t give a fuck ‘bout nothing posture of his. But how the hell does someone change that much in only a few months?
He slid a long ramp from the back until it hit the snowy ground. The ground was even there, but he still jumped out of the truck and bent over to adjusted the ramp until it was steady on the snow-covered concrete. My eyes flitted up from the clipboard again. It wasn’t just his ass. He had the kind of thighs that made his jeans stick tight around them.
He disappeared once again, and the thump of boxes followed next. I meandered to the back of the truck where I could see inside, shivering at the cold air — damn, I wish I’d remembered my coat — as he piled boxes on a dolly with ease.
I didn’t even notice the ache from my tattoo until I started to shiver. How long could one be in sub-freezing temperatures before hypothermia set it? Go get your coat, dummy… But I stayed there, eying him as he bent down, grabbed a box, and hefted it on top of the others. Those big legs flexed every time he bent. Maybe I needed to stick with this job until summer so I could volunteer on some of the earlier shifts. Might get to see him without that coat on, then. From the glimpses I was getting of his chest flexing between that overstuffed coat, the show of him in that tight t-shirt would make the beefy-legs-in-jeans show into chump change.
After the third large box, he pulled back on the dolly and began down the ramp. I proceeded him to the back door and opened it wide, using it as a temporary shelter from the blowing wind and snow. I could barely catch the labels on the boxes, because I was too busy studying him. Were those Fritos or Cheetos? Be better if I waited until everything was unloaded, anyway. Coat, dumbass, coat.
He left the pile of boxes right inside the door, and he passed by with his dolly, I caught the flash of a name embroidered onto his blue work shirt.
“James?” I said aloud. Damn.
“Yeah?” he answered back from inside the truck.
“Be right back,” I called, heading for the store.
James quirked a smile at me again, a bit of an incredulous look on his face. “But who will hold the door open for me?”
“I’ll be right back, promise.”
His shoulders shook in silent laughter. “Dude. It was a joke. Take your time. I can handle a doorknob.”
“Right.” Goddamn him. I turned away and headed up front before he could see the blush.
I tossed the inventory sheets down on the counter, snatched my coat, and headed to the front windows while I slid my arms in. I bent left and right, checking the road outside. Nothing in sight. The snow was really coming down, but the rough wind was still blowing the fluffy stuff off the road and parking lot before it could settle. It was getting caught in corners and against the building, though, and it was really adding up.
With a sharp zip of my coat, I turned back to the storeroom. The temperature difference between the store and the back room was stark. When I opened the door, James was guiding another dolly full of boxes into the room, keeping the exterior door propped open with his back.
I jumped forward and grabbed the cold, steel door. “Got it.”
“Thanks, man.”
I went for a jesting tone. “Thought you said you could handle it.”
That cocky grin had never left his lips. “Oh, I can handle it, young man.”
Young man? There was no way he was over thirty. “Well, I’ve been trained to lend a helping hand to the elderly.”
His shoulders shook in silent laugher again, and he didn’t respond, settling instead on waggling finger at me. He plopped his load flat to the ground and used the toe of his boot to keep the boxes in place while he slid the dolly free.
“So.” God, I had to think quickly. “Have any other deliveries tonight?”
“Nope. My last one.” He hustled out and mounted the ramp again, ready for another load. “But, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it back to the warehouse with the roads the way they are.”
“Yeah.” Desperate to look away, I focused on the inventory sheet and pretended to check things off with my pen. “You gonna go on to Sommersville, then?”
“Road’s closed in Sommersville, too. We’re the only area that’s not getting hit so bad,” he said as he settled box on top of box.
“Unbelievable, huh? So, what are you gonna do?”
He stopped and shrugged, his baggy coat rustling. “Don’t know. Stay in the truck, but there’s really nowhere to sleep in there.”
True. That wasn’t exactly a big rig he was driving.
“Why don’t you guys close up on nights like these?” he asked, clomping down the ramp, dolly in tow.
That was a very good question.
“I wish. But, the company thinks we’d benefit by staying open rain or shine. Or, snowing like hell.”
“Like the post office?”
I huffed out a breath of laughter. “Exactly.”
“Yeah. Sounds like where I work.”
He passed by with a load of chips. He left the pile on the floor, stopped a moment, and casually wiped his brow with the back of his hand. The motion opened up his unzipped coat further, and I got a good look of how that spandex material clung to his pecs. I shifted my hips. My cock enjoyed that sight a little too much.
“Have you been working for them long?” I muttered, unable to pull my attention away from him as he pulled at his coat in a fanning motion, showing off more of that ripped torso.
“About a year and a half.” He turned in curiosity. “You?”
“Since the spring.” I hid behind the clipboard, checking the list for the millionth time.
“Cool.” The dolly creaked, and the ramp thumped as he walked back into the truck.
I propped the door open and hugged myself against the cold. There was more pounding inside. The truck shook as he loaded up his dolly for the last time, and he wheeled it back down with only two boxes. “Well, that’s it.”
He scooted the last boxes aside and disappeared up the ramp. He latched the dolly to the inside of the truck with a bungee cord and then jumped to the ground, scooted the ramp back into the truck, and pulled a rope to close the door with a slam.
“You don’t mind if I hang out here for a while? At least until the road crews come by, do you?” He secured the lock on the sliding door.
“I’m not sure the road crews will be coming by any time soon.”
James brushed past me into the back room. “In that case, how’s the coffee here?”
I scrunched my nose. “Bitter.”
“Just how I like it.”
He kept moving forward, pulling open the door to the store, and I follow
ed him. James shrugged his coat off once inside. I stood stock-still a moment, pondering his questions. If he truly intended to wait until the plows came through, he’d be here till morning, just like me. It’d be an awfully long night without any customers. But, I was sure that old, small truck couldn’t handle well on the snow.
I plopped my clipboard down on the counter. “If you don’t want to be stuck here, you should get going pretty soon. How is that box truck in the snow? I know you were already having a hard time tonight.”
James sent an appraising look over the interior of the store until he landed on the coffee machine. “There we are. Yeah. The tires are pretty bald. New ones are on order, but ya know. Delivery is delayed.” He winked at me as he headed for coffee. “Got held up in Jasper cuz I slid straight through an intersection. No one else was on the road, but I hit the curb, and the boxes shifted in back.” He waved a dismissive hand. “Had to check on the truck and make sure the load was secure.”
“Doesn’t sound good.”
“Hey!”
James stood with hands outspread, and entirely overexaggerated expression of despair on his face. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah. Meant to tell you. I drained the last cup before you came in.”
He turned to me with that faux incredulity plastered on. “What kind of establishment are you running, here?”
I shook my head but squatted down to the cabinets beneath. “I’ll make another pot. Looks like we’ll be needing it.”
“Great. Ring me up, Brandon.” He slapped my arm then searched for a place to lay the coat he’d being carrying around on his quest for coffee.
“What kind do you want? Plain, hazelnut, or French roast?”
He pursed his lips in actual concentration. “French roast.”
He sauntered over to the front counter and set his coat next to my clipboard. With his back turned, I had my opportunity. I watched him go. And, I was right. That tight polyester clung to every dip and valley. The man had lats. I wanted to bite them. No. What the fuck? No, I did not. I busied myself with measuring the grinds and checking the water reservoir, instead.
