The Echoes of Solitude

Chapter Sixteen

"Jesus, Oliver!" I yelled out in fright. I clutched my hand to my chest and tried to bring my heart rate back to normal, "What is it with you and your family, and the need to scare the living daylights out of me! You all should come with a warning bell around your neck or something."

Oliver let out a deep and husky laugh. "But I like sweeping you off your feet." He said with a wink, I could feel my cheeks redden. He turned his head to look at Marcus, "Dad, I'm going to be blatantly honest with you. You look like complete and utter shit."

Marcus, who was still standing behind me and taking in the scene in front of him, rolled his eyes at his son. "Thank you, son, for telling me something that I already know." He looked down at his watch and muffled his yawn, "I thought you were going to come in later? You're here much earlier than I expected. I haven't got everything for you organised yet."

Oliver moved forward to stand beside me, his arm brushing against mine as he folded his arms across his chest, "Are you complaining?" He asked with a smirk on his lips.

"No, I'm just shocked that you arrived earlier than normal for once." Marcus retorted playfully and raised his eyebrow, "you are never one for being punctual."

"Yeah, well, you didn't sound so great on the phone. I thought it was best that I got here as soon as possible."

"Well, that was very thoughtful of you. I might just go finish organising the stuff that I need from my office and then head off." He explained, "I'll see you before I leave, Oliver. Bye, Ally." He said with a small smile and turned to walk behind the counter and to his office.

"I didn't know you worked here," Oliver stated softly. He watched his dad enter his office, then turned his gaze back to mine, his brown eyes meeting my green ones.

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled, "Yeah, I have been working here for a couple of weeks now, Mrs. Webber got me the job."

He tilted his head to the side and a playful smile appeared on his lips, "Interesting...does that mean you're the newbie that I am training up tonight for closing?"

I nodded and pulled my lower lip between my teeth.

"Huh. I'm glad it's you then, it will be a lot of fun." He said softly and ran his hand through his short messy blonde hair. "I'm going to check on the old man," He added and nodded in the direction in which Marcus had headed, "and find out what he needs me to get done."

"That's all good, I need to go and set up the book area and make sure that everything is stocked up."

"Great! I'll see you later." He said with a smile that made his eyes sparkle and then walked towards to his father's office. He stopped briefly at the coffee machine where Susie was and asked her to make him a long black before heading into his dad's office.

With a glance over at the office, Oliver entered, I readjusted the bag on my shoulder, licked my lips and made my way over to my corner of the shop. I placed my bag under the counter and in the cubbyhole, grabbed the box of new books that had come in the day before and began putting them on display.

••••

I didn't end up seeing Oliver for a couple of hours. Even though we were within the same four walls, we were hit by a busy rush of summer tourists who wanted lunch. This busy period had all the staff members occupied for hours. Oliver, much to his enjoyment, ended up stuck behind a till serving customers, taking takeaway orders and sorting out the customer's bills, and I ended up floating between the book department and the cafe, taking plates out to customers and clearing tables.

It was after two pm when we ended up slowing down for the day, and after listening to my stomach rumble through most of the busy rush, I was finally able to grab some lunch.