The guy backed off quickly, a bit too quickly Tasha noted. ‘No, that’s not necessary.’ He ran a hand through his hair and puffed out a breath. ‘Look, maybe if you could just pass on my information? Here’s my name and phone number. Maybe you could ask Carole to call me when she comes back. It’s really important, so maybe you could be so kind as to pass this along. I really need to talk to Holly.’
Tasha took the card and glanced at it.
‘Sure. Whatever.’
Greg Matthews, photographer.Stalker, more like.
When the guy finally backed off and left, she peered warily at the business card. ‘Whatever, you’re a freak.’ Spitting out her gum, Tasha wrapped it in the card and threw it in the trash.
Just as she reached for the phone, her aunt walked through the door. Quickly, she moved her hand away. She should at least look as if she was working. She stacked some papers on the counter.
‘Hey Aunt Carole,’ Tasha said sweetly.
Carole smiled and came around the counter to where her niece stood. ‘How’s it going? Was it busy?’
Tasha rolled her eyes. ‘Not really. A guy was just in, he didn’t buy anything though. It was a bit creepy actually. He was like, looking for Holly or something, like a stalker guy. I told him to scram.’
Carole frowned. ‘What do you mean “a stalker guy”?’
‘Um, I don’t know. This guy was looking for Holly, he wanted her phone number and stuff, but I told him she wasn’t here.’
Carole was confused. Could it have been Nick? But Nick and Holly were in touch again so she couldn’t see why he’d be asking for Holly’s number. Her mouth set. She didn’t like the idea of strange men in her store, looking for her friend, let alone looking for personal information.
‘Did you tell him that that information is confidential?’
Tasha beamed. She knew she had done a good job. ‘Yup, and I told him that I would call the police.’
Carole nodded, but something still felt off, something wasn’t adding up. ‘What else did the guy say? What did he look like?’
Tasha looked up at the ceiling. ‘Um, he had dark hair, and he was tall, kinda good looking, I suppose,’ and Carole thought she was mistaken; it must have been Nick. That is, until she heard the next words out of her niece’s mouth. ‘And he said something about some bracelet or something. I told him that we didn’t, like, sell jewellery.’
Carole stopped short. ‘He said he was looking for a bracelet … are you sure?’
Tasha took a step back at her aunt’s intensity. ‘Um, like, yeah … ’
Carole rushed towards the front door. ‘Which way did he go?’
‘Um, I wasn’t really paying attention … ’
‘Think about it Tasha,’ Carole snapped, quickly losing her cool.
Startled, Tasha answered. ‘Like, right I think?’ She watched her aunt rush from the store and head towards Bleecker Street. She rolled her eyes. ‘No need to get snippy about it.’
She didn’t understand what the big friggin’ deal was. Why would Aunt Carole want to talk to some stalker guy? Adults were so weird.
Shrugging, she flipped open her phone and pulled up her Facebook account. Quickly typing a new status update, she smiled to herself at the wisdom of the words that she had just written.
‘Hey idiots! When you yell at me, I feel less inclined to tell you what you want to know, OK?’
She closed her phone and went back to leaning on the counter. Maybe Aunt Carole should learn that she shouldn’t shout at her employees. Not if she wanted them to do their jobs properly.
Tasha smiled to herself and picked up the phone again, her attention now on continuing her conversation with her best friend. ‘Hey Gretch?’ she said. ‘Yeah, I’m good now. This place is dead again. It’ssoboring actually. I can’t believe I have to be here for another three hours.
When Carole got back to the shop, empty-handed and without finding the man who had been in the store, she found Tasha hard at work. On the phone.
‘Yeah and did you see what she was wearing? I know! Like, barf city.’ Tasha’s eyes at that moment locked with her aunt’s. ‘Um, I have to go. OK bye.’ She quickly put the phone away.
Carole raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips.
