Pawnshops and Carousels

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Sunday my wonderful readers! We've got a fun chapter here today, with some cute moments. That baby is almost upon us, just you wait! As always don't forget to review and I'll see you guys next Sunday.

Chapter 23


Les: I realized a lot of things when I was laid up over that surgery. But most important was: Sabrina really was my best employee. She was in the hospital with me through everything. She has the best customer service and can calm down the staff and my children when necessary, she was the only one who was calm when I was lying there on the floor. AND she was right about me having a hernia.

So, I put her in charge of AJL.

My kids were absolutely livid and I felt bad. I put strain on Ashley and Sabrina's already strained relationship, and I also made things awkward with Sabrina and Seth. But I figured it was the right thing to do for the shop.

So you could imagine how unhappy I was to come back and find Sabrina missing and my kids arguing in my office again.


"Going to tell him what?" I ask as I hobble into my office with my new cane. I have Ashley behind my desk and I have walked in on my two kids going at it again. I do not see Sabrina though, neither on the floor, nor in the office, which worries me cause I left her in charge.

Both Seth and Ashley stop arguing. Ashley was just shouting about how she was going to tell me something, but she doesn't seem to want to tell me now.

"Get out of my chair… oh but thanks for the flowers."

Ashley gets up out of my chair and goes to stand beside Seth who looks pleased as punch that she's been forced to move. She purposely chooses to sit in the chair that Seth was leaning on, forcing him to move. I'm just completely shocked that my two children didn't learn anything.

"Unbelievable," I say. "I come back to you two arguing again. Really? See this is why I didn't leave you in charge."

"At least we were doing it in the office."

"Is that the answer you have for me?"

"At least we weren't doing it on the sale's floor, you taught us that."

"But the door was open!" I thunder but Ashley's in a snarky mood and doesn't see that she's being unreasonably bratty. "Okay, what's the problem?" I ask instead hoping to smooth things out and frustrated that I still have to do this.

And Ashley pounces right on the issue. "Okay. Seth sent staff home today!"

"We're slow, why would we pay people to sit around and do nothing?"

"No, we'd rather have agitated customers on the floor."

"You had one pissed off customer Ash, one pissed off customer!" Seth argues.

"Where's Sabrina?" I ask to get them to stop arguing.

"She went to get something to eat."

"Again," Ashley snaps. "She's never here!"

It's never good when Ashley turns on Sabrina. Seth is crazily over protective of Sabrina, something which has gotten worse since the pregnancy.

"It's cravings Ash. It's cravings! You were pregnant, you know what it's like!" he thunders but then he pauses and turns to me. "But Ash is right she's rarely here, and when she's not she leaves us in charge."

"Who's rarely here?" Sabrina asks appearing with a milkshake in one hand and an in-and-out bag in the other. "I got the food you guys asked for by the way… oh Les! I didn't know you were coming back today!"

Right, so Sabrina's having pregnancy cravings and my two children were benefiting from her food runs, yeah, boo-hoo for them. I let Sabrina clasp Seth in a tight but careful hug and then she frowns at me.

"If I knew you were coming, I would have got you something."

"He can't eat that stuff, Sabrina," Ashley growls at her and Sabrina turns her patient eyes back to her.

"Don't you have customers to scare away from the jewelry section?"

Damn that was ice cold, she had gotten better at that. Ashley turns to me and shouts my name at me. Well she shouts: Daddy, but I say nothing. Sabrina now turns her eyes to her husband and the father of the baby in her belly.

"And you!" she growls and his eyes widen. "How dare you tell your father I'm rarely here. I have been here every day. I just happen to need more breaks and who's fault is that Seth? You! You and your unsafe sex practices! You put this baby in me and now I have to pee every three minutes and you're always too busy to get me burgers when I need them."

She's started crying which I know is just the hormones but it looks like it's physically hurting Seth to see her that distraught with him.

"You see what we've been dealing with?" Ashley cries and I nod because I do, but even with the cravings, and the mood swings Sabrina probably ran this place better then my two kids would have.

"They were arguing again weren't they," Sabrina asks me and when I nod, she turns to them. "Alright, what's the problem now. Seth you didn't butt into one of her sales again, did you?"

"No!"

"Okay and Ashley you weren't unnecessarily bossing him around, right?"

"No! He gave too many people the day off…"

"Oh, no we talked it over, Scott has his niece's birthday party today, one of the cash window girls was unwell and another has family emergency. Today's a slow day and we can handle it."

"Uh well obviously not because I had a guy screaming for service…"

"And what were you doing?" Sabrina asks casually as she takes out her burger, and then takes the top off of milkshake. Ashley almost answers the question with snark but we're all distracted by Sabrina pouring some of her milkshake onto the burger and then putting the bun back onto it.

"Oh, no, Reenie don't eat that," Seth starts but I know what it's like to argue with a woman with pregnancy cravings and it is not pretty. When Lilli was pregnant with Ashley she wanted pickles with everything, and I mean everything, ice cream, spaghetti, peanut butter, you name it she put pickles on it. When she was pregnant with Seth it was marshmallows.

We all kind of gag as she takes a bite but she seems unaffected by what she's just done.

Once Ashley is done pretending to vomit. "Oh god that's nasty."

But Seth is ready to defend his wife. "You know, I didn't say anything when you were pregnant with your first daughter and you were putting cheese on everything."

"Because putting cheese on things is normal!" Ashley complains.

"Yeah, cheese and ice cream? Normal? Yeah."

"Okay, stop it, that's enough. I'm really disappointed in all of you!" I say and immediately regret it because now Sabrina is sniffing again.

"I'm really sorry Les, I really did try…"

"Not you, I know you did a good job, it's just the pregnancy," I assure her and surprisingly I hear two groans one from Seth and one from Ashley.

"See, she gets away with everything!" Ashley cries.

"I mean, Ashley's got a point, it was us picking up the slack when Reenie was going off on one of her mood swings or spending a half hour in the washroom," Seth complains, he catches one hell of a glare from his wife and immediately lowers his eyes. "Sorry Reenie, but it's true."

"Look, I wish I could come back at full strength. I don't know when that time will come. I have to make sure that this store that I built can stay afloat. I'm concerned that it won't. I'm going to be watching you today and I'm going to make a choice. I'm going to have to pick one of you to be in control. Do you understand?"

"Got it," Seth says immediately. "Can we please pull my pregnant wife out of the running, all of this has been upsetting her and I don't want that…"

"Oh, you're just afraid that dad will give control to her again," Ashley snaps and Seth's face goes red.

"Yeah, so are you!" he shouts at her. "Look, she shouldn't be on her feet all day, she's gotta go to the washroom every thirty minutes, and I just… I don't want her on the floor. So for right now, right now can she please just not be one of the choices, and then later, when she's not pregnant you can do a re-evaluation or something?"

I glance to Sabrina who doesn't even look upset, she seems to guess that I'm waiting for her input and she eventually swallows down the last bite of her burger and milkshake and says: "Honestly, I didn't like Seth being mad at me because you gave me the store. He said he wasn't but I could tell he was."

"I'm not mad, Reenie, I'm worried!"

"I can tell when you're lying Seth."

I watch my son tip his head back and groan and I know that I've put an unfair strain on he and his wife.

"Alright, for right now it'll be between Seth and Ashley," I tell them and Sabrina smiles and hugs me again. "Now get out of my office. I'll make a decision by the end of the day."

They all go to leave but I call Reenie to come back. "Not yet, me and you need to catch up. I wanna hear all about my newest grandchild. You two pick any names yet?"

Seth was literally right about to leave but I know from Sabrina's previous complaints that he has not been leaving her alone. So, I know the fact that I want him out of the office but his pregnant wife is still inside is not sitting well with him.

"Shut the door behind you Seth," I order and the confliction is clear on his face. But he gets a smile from Sabrina and only then does he close the door.

Well at least that hadn't changed.


Les: I've been watching my kids. I watch as Ashley deals with a customer rudely, but hey she made the right call. I watch Seth deal with a customer correctly and almost get into a fight. They've both been behaving well. Very well. But Ashley's customer service is lacking and Seth is extremely distracted by Sabrina. I also know that whatever I choose will upset the other, and it will feel an awful lot like I've picked a favourite child and that's not fair. Now I don't know what I'm going to do.


I blew up at a patron who was trying to tell me that his clearly not-original engine was completely original parts, not touched up. Lies. All lies. He wasn't going to pull the wool over my eyes, not even close, the little shit.

But Seth had wanted me to calm down, so he sent me inside. "Go sit in your office," he had said to me and while I was horrified that Seth had bossed me around like that, he had kept a level head both with the patron and with me. Which is surprising cause Seth is a short fuse. Maybe it was a fluke.

But when I got into the office, I found I wasn't the only one. Sabrina is sitting there drinking what was probably caffeine free tea and munching on a cookie.

"Ah I see you've been put in the naughty-slash-calm-down corner," she says to me with a wry grin. "I get sent here like three times a day."

Seth sent her into my office as a time out corner? That better have been all they were doing in here.

"Oh yeah?" I ask. "What did you get sent in here for this time?"

"A got into a screaming match with lady at the counter who was being unreasonable, and he thought I was giving myself too much excitement so here I am." I nod yeah, that sounds like something Seth would do. It took some maneuvering that I didn't ask for, but Sabrina pulled herself up out of my chair to give it to me. Once we had switched seats and she had handed me one of the cookies she was eating she asked: "What did you do."

"Some little punk was trying to pull the wool over my eyes, tried to get in his face, Seth thought I was gonna pop a stitch and sent me in here."

"I feel your pain."

"My pain?"

Sabrina turns bland eyes to me. "I'm not allowed to have an excitement anymore," she says plainly. "I mean seriously, if I laugh too hard, he freaks out. And you don't even want to know what happens if I sneeze."

I turn a dry glare to her. This is not what I want to talk about with her. "What do you think? About who should be in charge until I'm back on my feet."

Sabrina shakes her head. "Nope. No, I'm not getting in the middle, it was hard enough just being the boss with those two going at it and ganging up on me. I threatened to divorce Seth twice."

Oh, that must have been rough, must have set Seth right off. I try not to laugh thinking about it.

We sit there for only the briefest of seconds munching on our cookies when Seth bangs into the office.

"I turned down the car, he wasn't being reasonable," he announces as if anyone cares. "How are you feeling dad?"

"I feel fine," I tell him without lying.

Seth then turns to Sabrina. "And you, are you okay?"

"I am fine. I was fine when the woman started yelling at me, and after too. You have got to stop coddling me Seth."

"Sabrina, be reasonable," he pleaded, kneeling in front of her because it was easier than her getting up. "You're only supposed to answer my phone and do administrative tasks, you're not supposed be at the front."

"Is that all you think I'm good for?" she suddenly screeches and both Seth and I cringe. From what I heard she was doing that a lot, the mood swings. Ashley said the two of them would have screaming matches in the office about how unreasonable she was being.

I wonder if I'll witness one now?

Seth puts his hands to her shoulders and looks at her with a soft smile. "Of course not. You're wonderful and kind and ever so patient, you would be wonderful at the front and you know normally I don't mind if you cover or if you're out on the sales floor with me and Ashley, but you have to remember what the doctor said."

Sabrina rolls her eyes. "I know, I know."

"Remember he said you need to rest, any form of excitement could put you into early labour, and I don't want that, you don't want that, no one wants that." His hands rub up and down her arms in a soothing manner. "I want both you and the baby to be healthy, happy and…"

"Safe," she finishes for him.

"Alright, so where should you stay?"

"At my desk unless I'm with you or Ashley."

Seth smiles happily and then turns to me, clearly hoping for a streak. "And can you promise not to get that riled up? None of us want you to go back to the hospital dad."

I nod and give him my promise. I'm impressed, I can't help it. I've never seen my son seem so mature and calm. Maybe it wasn't a fluke.


It's the end of the day when my dad calls a meeting, for the whole store. He just came into the back and demanded that me and Ashley meet out at the front. I think I know what this means, that he's going to announce which of us is going to be in charge while he's getting better. It better not be Sabrina again. I know he said he took her out of the running for it, but I wouldn't put it past my old man to put her back into it without discussing it with us.

"So, as you know it's been a couple weeks since I've been here. I'm back but not at 100. So, for the better of the store, while I'm recovering, I have decided to put someone else in charge."

Yes, this is it. I'm reasonably confident that it's going to be me, I mean… if it's Ashley I'm going to die, but I'm pretty sure my dad will make the right choice and put me in charge.

"And my decision is…"

He purposely swung his head towards me and Ashley, beside me Sabrina nestled into my side, an arm around my torso. It helps the jitters since my dad has decided to pause dramatically.

"I'm going to put Seth in charge."

YES! It is me. Beside me, Sabrina kisses my neck. While Ashley huffs and sighs on the other side of me, she's no doubt rolling her eyes too.

"Anything that needs to be decided will go through him. I will be back eventually at 100% but for right now Seth's in control."

We all get up to leave, to go back into the back and I turn to see the shocked look on Ashley's face. Ohhh she's not happy.

She goes to open her mouth but Sabrina puts a hand out and into her face. "Nuh-uh we can talk about it later."

I smile patronizingly at Ashley and tug Sabrina away before the two can get into an argument. I can't believe my dad picked me. I knew he'd make the right choice one day!


Ashley: You know what? Let Seth run the store. My dad will see, he'll see that he made the wrong choice. And I won't have to do anything to Seth. All I'll have to do is pick on Sabrina and my brother will flip. That's all I'll have to do to prove he's not manager material.