"Hey, Angela?" She yanked her baseball cap off, letting her sweaty, toffee-colored curls fall down around her shoulders.
"What do I know
about Ken Jenkins and Myerhausen?" She leaned forward on her partially
cleared counter, blue eyes sparkling. "Myerhausen is about eight miles
north of Neighborlee. It handles a lot of the shipping, logistics and
warehousing for companies around Cleveland. As for Ken..." She sighed and
shook her head. "Ken is a nice guy who always lends a helping hand, but
never seems to get a break."
"That's what I
thought," Jo murmured. She thought of Ken's big, chocolate brown eyes, his
snub nose and his short-cropped hair. Something warmed deep inside.
"The two of you
would make a nice couple." Angela almost sang the words, under her breath.
"Don't even go
there. Until Auntie's hospital bills are all paid up, I'm too busy working
three different jobs to have a social life, much less..." Jo sighed.
"Get distracted
by a truly nice guy?"
"Hormones.
Especially if I end up working with, or even for, my Santa Claus. So Myerhausen
does warehousing and shipping, huh? Well, that suits me. All my clothes look
like this." She slapped at her grime-streaked clothes. "Working all
the time has been great for my diet, but not my wardrobe."
Jo had worn her
oldest clothes today to help haul boxes out of storage. Her good clothes
weren't much better. She had lost a lot of weight since coming to Neighborlee,
so her baggy clothes made her look like a ragamuffin. That hadn't mattered
before, because her paper route and other odd jobs didn't leave her time for
socializing. With Aunt Myrtle's bills to pay off, she didn't have the money to
shop for a new wardrobe now, either.
"You are not aiming at a dirty warehouse job," Angela scolded. "I have some nice dresses in the back, just perfect for an office job." She hooked her thumb over her shoulder, in the direction of the secondhand clothing room. "Holly, you helped me hang them up, you know where they are. Don't let her leave until she has something nice."
Holly saluted. She wiped her hands on the seat of her jeans as she crossed the room. When Jo didn't follow her immediately, she growled teasingly and grabbed hold of her hand. They went laughing through the doorway, Holly pretending to drag her.
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