Hello. And welcome to the second installment of A Better Lie. For the .pdf of the installment, Top Shelf subscribers should scroll to the bottom of the post.
Laura Petrov put her cane against the wall and tried to unlock the heavy back door of Adele’s Flowers. She tried and failed to ignore the rain. The deadbolt always stuck and had for as long as she could remember. She thought of replacing it over the years, but really, what was the point? It only bothered her when the rain didn’t let up. She brushed a few red hairs out of her face and jiggled the lock again. The key finally turned. As she pulled at the door, Augie approached her.
“Morning, Mrs. Petrov,” Augie said.
Augie and Laura had worked together for over twenty years and Augie still insisted on calling her ‘Mrs. Petrov.’ She had long since abandoned any attempt to get him to call her anything else.
“Morning, Augie.”
Laura turned on the lights and looked around. The shop was called Adele’s but Laura was the owner. She wasn’t the original owner, but over the years she made it what it was. Each day when the lights came on, she felt a swell of pride.
Located a few blocks from Union Station, Adele’s was one of the few downtown shops that survived the 1980’s. At the time, the combination of the Tacoma Mall being built far from downtown, and Union Station no longer being the major train station for the city effectively killed most of the businesses in downtown Tacoma. It wasn’t until the mid-1990’s that the city put any real effort into revitalizing downtown. First, Union Station was remodeled into a courthouse, then the University of Washington took over some of the old buildings on Pacific Avenue and opened a Tacoma Campus. The influx of college students brought with it shops, restaurants, and bars. A new locations for the Tacoma Art Museum, The Washington State History museum, and the glass artist Dale Chilhuly’s all new Museum of Glass solidified downtown Tacoma’s comeback, and Adele’s had remained through all of it.
Laura had been around for almost all of it, too. She’d started working at Adele’s in 1980s when she was barely out of high school. Back then it was just Irene and her brother-in-law, Augie. Irene named it ‘Adele’s’ after her daughter. She’d hoped to hand the business down to Adele when the time was right. All that changed on a cold October night in 1986, when Irene’s husband and daughter were killed in a car accident. Adele was only four at the time.
After hearing the story, Laura was amazed how happy Irene always seemed to be. Laura imagined such a thing would devastate a woman for the rest of her life. But Irene was rarely in a bad mood and never talked about the accident. Augie told Laura about it one night. When Irene retired, she asked Laura to take over the store. Irene had made only two requests: Keep the name of the store and keep Augie.
Now Augie was starting work on today’s arrangements without a word. He was in his mid-60s but looked younger. If anyone asked him his secret to youth, he’d say it was due to clean living and not sleeping with women.
Laura entered her office, set down her cane, and checked the messages. There was one from her son, Brandon, saying he and Ashley were going to be late. She grinned knowing he hadn’t called her cell so she couldn’t argue the point with him. The kid missed no tricks.
She turned on her computer to see if any orders came in overnight, heard the back door open, and knew it was Ray. She opened the small office safe and pulled out the cash drawer.
“Ray, you’re driving today,” Laura called out.
“No problem,” Ray popped his head in the doorway. “Everything okay, Laura?”
She sighed. “Yes. I’m fine. The delivery list is on the dashboard of the van like always. Remember to write down the mileage.”
“I got it,” Ray remained in the doorway. “So…do you figure Brandon called in due to the weather or due to the girl lying next to him?”
“I try not to picture any portion of my son’s love life. So let’s assume he doesn’t want to drive in the rain.”
“Gotcha.”
Ray grabbed the van keys from a post in Laura’s office then opened the bay door. Laura turned on the register and put the cash drawer into the slot below the register. Like always, she left her cane in the office. She checked her watch. Almost seven. Morning supplies would be arriving any minute. Ray would help with that and then head out on the deliveries. The store would open at eight. And if Brandon and Ashley knew what was good for them, they would be there by then.
Laura’s cell buzzed. She picked up, knowing it was Nick’s morning phone call.
“Hello, Nick.”
“Hey. How’s your morning?”
“Just getting started. It’s raining so it’ll be fairly quiet.”
“I know the feeling. All is quiet on Antique Row. It is fine with me, though. I have time to get ready for the auction next weekend.”
Nick’s antique auctions often brought in more than his shop made the rest of the time. For such a small store, he made incredible profits. He once told her she didn’t need the flower shop. At the time, she had told him that it’s good to have diverse sources of income. She didn’t bother to tell him that she didn’t run Adele’s for the money. He wouldn’t have understood.
“Are you there?” Nick asked after Laura was silent too long.
“I am. Sorry,” she said, returning her thoughts to the present.
“I love you, Snezhinka.”
“I love you,” she said, grinning at his use of his nickname for her.
Augie looked over at her as she ended the call.
“And I love you,” Augie said.
“Thanks, but I was talking to Nick.”
“Maybe I was too. He’s cute in a Soviet Bloc kind of way.”
“You’re irrepressible this morning.”
“Just this morning?”
Laura laughed, which she knew, was Augie’s intention. Never content to just receive a smile, Augie would find a way to make her laugh as if it were part of his job description.
It was another hour and a half before Brandon and Ashley came through the doors. She wanted to yell at them, but their giggling and touching as they came in made her happy.
If you’d prefer to read this as a .pdf click below.
Afterthoughts
Welcome to the second installment and the first paid installment of A Better Lie. In this one we get to meet another major character, Laura Petrov, owner of the store. We meet Augie again (who was the star of an earlier story you can read here.) It was important to me to establish what the routine was in a typical day at Adele’s while introducing a few elements that will come heavily into play later. The character of Laura is primarily based on a friend, but her business work ethic and her pride in running her store comes from the dozens of women business owners I’ve worked for over the years.
The character of Augie lives in a handful of relentlessly positive coworkers and friends I’ve had who have endured the unimaginable and still come out smiling.
This is also the first appearance of Laura’s husband, Nick. Nicolas Petrov is based on two or three Russians I’ve known and an Iranian gas station manager I used to talk to who had been a general in the Iran/Iraq war.
Lastly, this installment gives a better idea of the neighborhood they operate out of and of its history. Below are links to various museums and shops in the area.
Museum of Glass
Washington State History Museum
Tacoma Art Museum
Union Station Courthouse
Tinkertopia
Thanks again for joining me on this journey.
Please consider telling others about this. You can help make Shot of Jack Top Shelf bigger and better.
- Jack Cameron
NEXT: Chapter 3 Brandon