The moving van pulls up promptly at 2pm. Cass sees it from the register, and even though she has been waiting for it, she still cringes. After 92 years of Hammond & Hammond Shoes, the store has been sold. Cass, her mother, her grandmother, and her great aunt, must move out of the small apartment above the store where she and all the other Hammonds have lived since Great-Grandma Hammond first opened the store. The store had been run by woman to woman, mother to daughter, without any husbands to speak of. Cass’s mother lives in hope that Cass would find a nice young man to settle and keep, but Cass doubts it: her heart is still shattered and she doesn’t have it in her to try again.

            Out of the moving van cab steps a huge woman, easily six feet tall and all curves and muscles. Cass stares as the woman adjusts her company cap and fishes in the cab for a clipboard.

            “Ahem,” says the customer trying to pay.

            Cass snaps back to herself. “Sorry,” she says. “Here you go: receipt in the bag?”

            As the customer leaves, the moving woman steps inside, followed by a scrawny young man trying and failing to grow facial hair. The woman comes up to Cass, smiling just a little, and Cass feels her heart thump harder. This woman is beautiful, with the greenest eyes Cass has ever seen, and a gorgeous bronze completion. She is a towering Greek goddess, and Cass again forgets to stay in the present.

            “I’m Cass,” she blurts, somehow losing all social skills. She can feel her face heating up.

            “Hi,” the woman smiles, “I’m Pent, and this is Jason, we’re with J & R Moving?”

            “Right,” Cass tries to focus. “We’re just moving the stuff upstairs.” Cass glances around to make sure there are no other customers in the store: it is a Wednesday, and they are predictably slow. She gestures to Pent. “Follow me, it’s up this way.” As Cass turns to lead them through the shelves of shoes to the back of the building, she is acutely aware of how she is walking, and because she is thinking about Pent watching her from behind, Cass trips on nothing and lands on her face.

            “Oh god, are you okay?” Pent sounds genuinely concerned as she bends over Cass to help her up.

            “Um, yes, I’m good.” Cass has turned an inhuman shade of red an is acutely aware of Pent’s nearness. She stands up, not letting Pent help her. “Sorry, I’m a klutz.”

            “Yeah, you are,” Jason laughs at her unkindly and Cass wishes the ground would swallow her up.

            “Here,” Pent shoves a clipboard to Jason. “Go start the evaluation.” Her voice is cold and dismissive, and Jason doesn’t answer her. Instead, he takes the clipboard continues to the back of the store.

            “Ignore him,” Pent says. “He’s insecure because I beat him at thumb war like, thirty times this morning.” Cass laughs. “That’s better. Are you really okay though? That was the most dramatic fall I’ve ever seen.”

            “Yeah, I’m alright, I think my dignity might even recover someday.” Pent laughs and Cass feels something in her try to unfurl at the sound, the part of her that wants to love and be loved, the part of her that shattered when he left her. Cass shoves it down to keep herself safe and turns to head back the register at the front of the store. “I’ll let you get back to work,” she says.

            Pent looks a little thrown. “Ah, okay.” Pent heads after Jason, but halfway, she spins around and dashes back over to Cass. “See, here’s the thing: I have two tickets to see this concert, but I can’t find anyone who wants to spend their Sunday night listening to newgrass music with me,” Pent rushes. “What I mean is, do you want to go out with me?”

            Cass winces a little. “I don’t think that’s such a great idea,” she says, not looking at Pent. The second it leaves her mouth, she hates herself for it.

            “Oh, right.” Pent shuffles a little. “Well, I guess I’ll go help Jason.”

            Cass spends the rest of the day mindlessly marking down prices and helping what few customers came to shop. The whole time she berates herself. Why did I say that to Pent? I want to hang out with her! Finally, after closing time, she slowly hauls herself upstairs. The living room is a labyrinth of boxes, packed and labelled. Pent is nowhere to be seen, but Cass can hear her and Jason in the bedrooms, working industriously. Slowly, Cass heads towards them.

            She finds Pent in her mom’s room, wrapping fragile knick-knacks in bubble wrap. “Hi, Pent.”

            “Oh hey,” Pent looks at her and seems to forget what to do with her hands. “Listen, I’m sorry-“

            “About before,” Cass starts. They both stop and Cass says nervously “I just wanted to say I’d really like to go out with you. To listen to the newgrass concert, although I have no idea what it is. I went through a rough break up a year ago, and I guess I’m still a little scared. But I really want to go if the offer still stands?”

            “Of course the offer still stands,” Pent deflates with relief, “I thought you were gonna say I wasn’t your type or something. It would have made this whole job so much worse.”

            “Well,” Cass can feel her face going red, “Give me your number and I can help make it more interesting, at least.”

            Pent laughs. And gives her the number.

I wrote this story for the 2021 NYC Midnight Flash Fiction challenge. My prompt was Romantic Comedy in a shoe store with a moving van. It was hard to write and I am proud of it, even with it’s flaws.