Risky Business (2 page)

10. Find out how much of a discount there is!

“About number eight, I hope we’re not sorry we decided not to look at other places.” Molly shook her head. It couldn’t be wise to limit their options so much.

“We can always make adjustments if things don’t work out.” Jess unfolded her long body and stretched her arms high above her head. She rolled a curl between her fingers.

“Yeah, I think we’ve got a good plan.” Sara’s eyes brightened when the garage door opened. “In fact, I’ll go talk to Mom as soon as you two are gone. A single mom of two teenage girls is never going to mind the idea of one of them getting a part-time job.”

“What about you, Jess?” Molly chuckled. “Do you even have to ask your parents?”

“Of course I’ll have to ask. But they won’t care.” Jess shrugged. “Mom and Dad don’t say no to much.”

“Well, I might have a problem.”
No way they’ll go for it
. Molly sighed.
I’ll have to be very careful how I ask
. “We’ll see. For now, though, we’d better go. My mom is probably waiting for us outside.”

“This is a wonderful dinner, Kay. Will you please pass me the potatoes?” Molly’s dad rubbed his trim stomach.

“You’re awfully quiet tonight, Molly. Something wrong?” Mom peered intently at her.

Uh-oh. This isn’t how I wanted to bring this up
. She sat up a little straighter. “No, not at all.” Molly smiled and took the bowl of potatoes to pass on to her dad. “I’m just thinking about something—nothing bad, though.”
Oops. Looked like Mom wasn’t buying it
.

Mom pressed a little harder. “Why don’t you run whatever it is by me and your dad? I’m sure we can help.”

Better tell her before she gets too worried and assumes the worst
. Molly tried to sound confident. “Well, it’s just that Sara, Jess, and I are thinking that we might want to get jobs. The thing is, we obviously need our parents’ permission. I’m just thinking about the best way to go about getting that.” She took a forkful of meat loaf and rolled it in her puddle of ketchup, hoping to look casual.

Mom pulled her head back like she’d been slapped. Her eyes open wide, she said, “Wow, this came out of nowhere. Hmm. Well, you’re going to have to give us a little time to talk about this.”

Molly’s dad held up one finger.

Antsy, Molly poked at her food while she waited for him to finish the bite he’d just forked into his mouth.

For the next fifteen minutes he peppered her with questions about where she wanted to work, how much she wanted to work, how she’d schedule everything important in her life without letting school or church suffer, and most importantly he wanted to know why she wanted a job.

Molly squirmed. Her answer would sway their decision one way or another. She couldn’t just say she wanted money for clothes. They’d never go for that. Oh, they might offer to buy her a new outfit, but that would be it. Somehow, without lying, she’d have to come up with the perfect answer.

“Well, there’s more than one reason.” Elbows on the dining room table, Molly ticked off the reasons on her fingers. “A job looks good on my transcripts. Working would be a really good experience for me. It will give me extra spending money for activities, clothes, and other stuff that comes up. I can help you guys with my expenses—”

“I’m not sure I’m liking the sound of this so far, Molly.” Mom’s worry wrinkles knit together between her brows. “Your dad and I have no problem paying for the things you need—and even a few wants every now and then. I don’t know if I like the idea of you having a job now. You’ll be working the rest of your life. Why start now?”

Don’t sound whiny
. “The thing is … I don’t do much. I go to school and church, and I hang out with my friends. Why not hang out with my friends at a job? I have the time, and it’s betterto spend my time that way than to just shuffle around the mall aimlessly … isn’t it?”

“In theory, yes.” Her dad nodded. “It’s not the working itself that’s the problem. It’s the commitment to the job and what that will require from you. Your mom and I are going to need to talk about this. We’re not saying no. Just give us a chance to talk.”

Molly opened her mouth to argue but had second thoughts. “Sure, Dad. Thanks for thinking about it.” She stacked the dinner plates and headed off to the kitchen to wash them.

Several times she thought of ways to make her case stronger and turned to run back in to make her argument, but she refrained. Some things were better left alone.

A few hours later, Molly put her math book down and rubbed the creases from her forehead just as she heard a knock at her door. “Come on in.”

The door opened, and Mom and Dad both entered her bedroom.

“Whoa. To what do I owe the pleasure of both of you coming to my room?”
Looks like it’s a no
.

“Your mom and I have reached a decision, and we want to talk to you about it.” Dad pulled up her desk chair and sat backward on the seat. Hisred tie draped over the backrest in front of him.

Mom sat down on the edge of the bed, bouncing Molly’s book to the floor with a thud. No one bent to pick it up.

The suspense is killing me
.

“Well, we don’t really think it’s going to be easy to find one, but if you’re serious about wanting to—”

Molly’s eyes grew wide and expectant, her heart double-timing.

“—we’ll let you get a job. After all, the early bird catches the worm.”

“Reeeally? Are you serious?” Molly slapped her legs and jumped off the bed. She ran to her dad and threw her arms around his neck. “Thanks, Dad!” She gave her mom a huge hug, too. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Hold on, before you get too excited.” Her mom’s expression was very serious. “You have to agree to a few things first, Moll.”
Splash!
Mom threw a bucket of cold water on the excitement.

“A few things? Like what?” Did she really want to know?

Mom looked at Molly. “Now, don’t get all defensive. These are just some basics you should expect anyway.” She looked at Dad as if asking him to take over.

“You’re going to need to keep your grades up. You’ll have to stay as involved at church as you are now—no skipping youth group for work, and no working on Sundays at all so we can go to church together.”

Molly cringed. “Youth group—I totally agree. But Sundays?” She tipped her head and stuck out her bottom lip.

“Just because you think it’s boring to sit in church with us doesn’t mean we’re going to cave, Moll. We’ve had this talk before.” Mom lifted her chin and crossed her arms.

Oops! Now’s not the time to cause a problem
. “No big deal. I didn’t want to work on Sundays anyway—because of God, not church.”

“God is everywhere, every moment. Sunday mornings, we’re in church. Period.” Dad continued after a slight pause. “You can only work two weeknights and one weekend shift. No more. And we get final approval on the type of job you get.” He raised one eyebrow in a question mark and looked at Molly.

“That’s it?” Molly breathed a sigh of relief. “No problem. I pretty much expected those rules anyway.”

“Well, okay then.” Mom smiled. “As long as we’re clear on those things, you can go ahead and try to find a job somewhere like the mall, but I don’t want you working at a restaurant.”

She rose to leave the room, and Dad followed.

“Wish me luck,” Molly called after them as they pulled the door shut.
I’m going to need it
.

“Check your watches, girls. You have an hour and a half to collect applications. If you use your time wisely, you may even be able to fill them out and turn them in before I pick you up.” Molly’s mom inched the car up to the side of the curb in front of the main mall entrance to drop off Molly, Sara, and Jess after school on Tuesday—during the mall’s slowest hours—so they could go job shopping.

“It won’t take even that long, Mrs. Jacobs. We only want to apply at Magna. So we’re going to go right there.” Jess got out of the car first. “We should be able to fill out our applications and be back here to meet you in plenty of time.”

“Really?” She looked surprised. “I hope you realize that by only applying at one place, you severely limit your chances of actually getting hired.” She smiled and shook her head.

Sara and Molly climbed out of the car next, careful not to wrinkle their clothes or mess up their hair. They each took a moment to look in the side-view mirror. Jess took a quick peek at her clear complexion and no-fuss curly hairdo, and Sara smoothed her dark flyaways.

Molly tousled her straight blond bangs so they wouldn’t look so blunt. One last glance—makeup was fine. All set. They turned and waved good-bye to her mom. There it was, that familiar longing. She knew what Mom was thinking:
My little girl is growing up too fast
. Molly smiled and blew her mom a kiss before she turned to catch up with the others.

Sara and Molly stalled at the makeup counter in Macy’s while Jess checked out the running shoes. They wasted at least thirty minutes.

Enough’s enough
. Molly took control. “Okay. We’re either going to do this or we’re not. What are we so nervous about anyway? I mean, you guys, it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. We’re offering to work for them—not trying to steal clothes.”

Sara and Jess nodded, their tense shoulders relaxing.

Molly looked in the mirror at the makeup counter and wiped at the edges of her lipstick. “We’ll go together, walk right up to the manager, and one of us will do the talking. Ask for three applications—how hard could it be?”

“Okay, but who’s going to do the talking? I don’t think I can.” Sara blanched.

“Oh, I’ll do it if no one else will.” Molly sighed. She spun toward the entrance to Magna and marched in.

Jess and Sara scrambled to catch up.

Passing the tables of folded screen-print T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts, racks of expensive jeans, and finally, toward the back, the clearance racks of shorts and flip-flops, Molly approached a woman with a scanner in her hands.

She looks important. Must be the manager
. “Hi, I’m Molly Jacobs, and these are my friends Jess Stuart and Sara Thomkins. We’d like to know if you’re hiring right now.”

“Hi, Molly. I’m Donna.” She nodded at Jess and Sara while she shook Molly’s hand. “As a matter of fact, I do have some openings. I had several girls leave for college in the past couple of weeks. Let me get you girls some applications.” She bent down to get the pad of applications from under the cash counter. The girls grinned at each other.

“Here you are. Just fill them out and bring them back when you can.” She shook Molly’s hand again and nodded at Jess and Sara.

Jess reached out her hand to shake Donna’s. “Thanks so much for your time.”

Sara shook Donna’s hand and smiled but said nothing.

Be calm
. They walked out of the store as casually as they could. As soon as they entered the mall commons and turned the corner, out of the view of Magna’s front entrance, Molly turned to the other two, grabbed their forearms and squealed, her feet doing a little dance.

Jess collapsed against the brick wall that divided two stores, and Sara fanned her face as though she were hyperventilating. So relieved to have the hardest part behind them, they dissolved into nervous giggles that gave way to laughter.

The girls slumped in their bus seats for their ride home from school on Friday afternoon. “I can’t believe she hasn’t called yet.” Molly looked out the window. Sara was glum beside her.

“I’m sure we won’t get a call over the weekend, because that’s when the mall is the busiest,” Jess added.

“My dad said we should call to check on our applications if we don’t hear anything, so maybe we could do that on Monday.” Molly stood up and held on to the seat in front of her when the bus stopped at the corner where she and Jess got off. Molly slipped on a wet step and held on to the door to avoid falling into the muddy puddle. Once she regained her footing and they were out of the way of the departing bus, they looked back to wave good-bye to Sara.

She mouthed through the rain-covered window, “Meet me online.”

Molly and Jess nodded, pulled their hoods over their heads, and plodded through the cold, pouring rain. They hurried to their front doors, right across the street from each other, waved good-bye, and then disappeared into their homes. Molly stepped into her foyer and shook the rain off like a puppy. Small droplets hit the floor as she wriggled out of her hoodie.