The Unpacking

The morning she lost her job started well enough. She was looking forward to the upcoming wedding. In their last conversation, Ayala had said she wanted Miriam’s help choosing linens, and she planned to visit the store when Miriam was in. Miriam anticipated the chance to lend her expertise, and the thought of taking part in Ayala’s wedding preparations made her happy.

The store was empty when she came in, so she had some time to look through the selections with Ayala in mind. She ran her eye over the new birch shelves. The sun hit the brightly colored pillows stacked in their neat diagonal row. She was pleased with the recent renovations; they made Counting Sheets a pleasure to browse. Miriam eyed a set of linen that had come in last week — white with little sprigs of pink flowers. Perfect for Ayala, she thought.

She heard the murmur of a one-sided conversation coming from the back of the store. The Rubins. The door to their office stood slightly ajar, and through the gap, she could see Young Mr. Rubin talking on the phone, his eyes focused on his computer screen.

I hope he didn’t hear me come in, Miriam thought guiltily. She glanced over at the shelf where they kept the hotel linens. That’s where she’d stored the iPad Young Mr. Rubin had given her. The one with the custom-designed POS system. He’d been after her for months to record every sale in it. But she was happy with her own system, which required only a marble composition notebook and some carbon paper.