Chapter 19: Emily

After lunch I return to the shop floor. There are a lot of customers: the bananas and peaches and apples are selling quickly. I worry that they are not being replenished quickly enough. A girl in supermarket uniform approaches. She has dark brown hair with hints of red and pale skin. She is very pretty. She is wearing a name badge with ‘EMILY’ printed on it. I smile at her without any conscious effort. She smiles at me. She has a very pretty smile.

Hi, she says.

Hi, I say.

Are you the supervisor?

What? Oh… er, yes, that’s me. My name’s _____; I’ll be supervising your first day. Have you had your induction?

Yes, very dull, usual training video stuff.

Great. Shall we start in the storeroom?

We go to the storeroom. Emily chats all the while. It turns out she is an actress, and has taken this job to support herself between roles. She asks questions and smiles. She is funny, and makes me laugh. She laughs at my jokes. I feel like I am spinning inside, gently.

I show Emily where the trolleys are kept. I point out the tower of bananas, the tower of apples and the tower of peaches. I show her where the ladder is kept for fetching crates from the tops of the towers. Emily collects a trolley and takes the ladder over to the tower of bananas.

Like this? she says, positioning the ladder.

I nod, hugging the clipboard to my chest.

She climbs up the first couple of steps.

Would you mind holding it? she says.

Sure, I say.

I hold the ladder. Emily climbs to the top. I look at the ground, at my foot bracing the ladder. I know I shouldn’t look up. I should be a gentleman and hold the ladder. I will not look, I will be good. I look up.

Emily removes a crate of bananas from the top of the tower. She looks down at me, looking up at her, and she smiles.

Everything okay? she asks.

Fantastic, I say.