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Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run
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Chapter 357 Fateful Decision
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Louise was surprised when Jaime the owner of the convenience store she worked at told her he wanted to take her to lunch and talk about work. He'd never been creepy or anything short of kind to her, so she wasn't worried about this lunch turning into something weird.
They were sitting at a table at one of Charming's versions of a fast food burger place. Louise was eating a double bacon burger, her favorite. Jaime had his usual burger and fries.
"I wanted to bring you to lunch and talk to you a little bit about your job," he said.
"You're not firing me?" Louise asked.
"Oh, no, no. Not you," he said quickly.
"Kidding," Louise said.
"I would never fire you. You are my best worker. You always show up on time and you know how to do your job."
Louise had no idea that something as simple as showing up on time and doing her job were enough to make her Jaime's best worker.
"That's nice of you," she said.
"It's true Louise. If I had two more employees like you, my life would be perfect."
"You've always been really nice about working with my school schedule, showing up on time seems like the least I can do."
"I know you don't want to work nights anymore even though there haven't been any robberies in town. Just to make sure everyone is as safe as possible though, I'm getting an alarm system for the store that's hooked to Charming PD so help will be a push button away. I'm also going to upgrade the video camera system."
"I didn't think the camera system worked."
"It doesn't. I'm going to get a camera system that works and has good quality video."
"I like that there's going to be an alarm system."
"I'd like to make you the night manager," he said.
"Uh-huh," she said slowly. Night manager was a misleading title because normally there wasn't anyone to manage.
"It isn't just a title. I want you to do it so much, I'll give you a $5 an hour raise."
That raise would mean $100 more a week. That was a lot of money to her. It meant she could save for a better car and maybe visit her dad again paying her own way this time.
"When are you getting the alarm system?"
"Tomorrow they are coming to install it."
"My mom was the one who really wanted me to change to days. Let me talk to her. Can I tell you tomorrow?"
"No problem."
That night Louise talked it over with her mother. She wasn't thrilled with her daughter returning to working nights, but she understood that the raise was a lot of money to turn down. Reluctantly, she gave her daughter permission to return to working nights as long as the alarm system was installed and working.
Louise accepted the promotion and returned to working nights a week later. This would turn out to be a fateful decision.
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Next Up: Scarlett's father shows her the test results.