Amy glanced at her watch and sped up her pace. If Eric thought she wasn’t coming in to work that day, she knew he was going to give her hell for the rest of the evening. And she wasn’t in the mood for his passive-aggressive attitude. Still, she knew she would never tell Rich about it. If it cost Eric his job or Rich showed her any more favoritism as far as Eric could discern, she was sure she would have made an enemy for life. Why was it so hard to just make friends and get along with people? Her disease made her such a target.
And yet, there was definitely a hidden strength within her that the disease seemed to mask. For example, the way she had dealt with the wolves during the attack. It was easy for her to defend herself. She had a dark, secret strength within her that came out when she needed it the most. And yet, it was never strong enough to help her to stay healthy. It only came out randomly at times when she was afraid or angry, and during those times it was intimidating and scary. She put it back as quickly as it came out. That was the kind of thing she felt safest keeping a cap on.
“Good morning, Amy,” Rich said as soon as she went through the door. Amy smiled distractedly, her eyes scanning the room for Eric. He was busy sweeping the floor and she sighed in relief, getting herself situated behind the counter.
“Good morning,” she said quietly, tying her apron on, and unlocking the register.
“I know this is probably going to be short notice, but Eric has to leave early today. He requested the day off and I forgot about it until he reminded me this morning. Do you think you can stay until close? I know that would be hard for you, especially if you aren’t well, and if that’s the case, I can always ask Eric to take off another day…”
Both Eric and Amy froze in place at the words and Amy shook her head quickly. “No! No, of course, you don’t have to do that. I will stay. Eric has done a lot for me, I don’t mind doing this for him.”
She couldn’t see his face, but she could sense the boy’s relief. Amy was relieved as well, especially knowing she had done something to try to make up for her illness having inconvenienced Eric so many times before. It felt good to be able to help. Like she was pulling her own weight. It was a feeling she relished in whenever she was able to do it. It was sadly a rare occasion.
“That’s great! I would do it myself, but you know that I have to go out of town this weekend.”
“Out of town?” Amy looked a Rich with a frown. “Oh, right, that conference in Stonybrooke. Shifters.”
Rich’s eyes lit up. “I’m going to bring you some evidence you can’t refuse,” he said. “It’s going to be great. And you will have no choice but to believe what I tell you.”
“It’s not that I disbelieve you,” Amy said slowly. “It’s just that some of it is a little bit hard to believe. And I don’t really know how to think when it involves…”
She trailed off. This was the last thing she wanted Eric to overhear. He probably already thought she was enough of a whack job as it was. “Anyway, you have a good time at your conference. We will keep everything working as well as we can without you over the weekend.”
“I know. I trust you two. And Sandra is coming in too, so I am not too worried about it. And the three stock boys will be around. It’s just a matter of making sure everything runs smoothly.”
“Right,” Amy said with a firm nod. “And it will. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Unless she gets sick,” Eric muttered.
Rich shot the boy a stern look and Amy looked down at her hands. She hated how big of an issue this illness could be in her life. She couldn’t even blame Eric for his anger and bitterness. She was sure she would feel the same way if their roles were reversed.
“If Amy gets sick, I have another person on call. Don’t worry about it, Eric. I am not going to let you take on too much of the burden.”
Eric scoffed and disappeared into the canned food section of the store. Amy refused to look up from her hands until Rich put his hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry about a thing, Amy. It’s all going to come together. You will see.”
Amy nodded but didn’t say anything. Rich seemed to sense her mood and took off on his way back to his office. Amy sighed and leaned against the counter as she prepared her work station for the day, wishing she was able to do something, anything, to change her situation once and for all.