Overheard at Chipperfields' ... Part LXIII ...

Jaydee came back from her lunch break with a parcel tucked under her arm.

"What's in the bag?" asked Adeline, brushing a stray clump of blonde hair out of her eyes.

"A gift for Ross," snapped Jaydee, her face set and noticably unsmiling.

"He do something wrong?" asked Adeline.

"Not him," said Jaydee as she rounded the counter, the parcel still tucked under her arm, "just his dumb ideas."

"What's he done this time," asked Adeline, leaning against the counter, the spray bottle of sanitizer in hand, "another one of his crazy schemes or something?"

"No nothing like that," Jayee's face softened into a smile, "It's just ..." she paused and put the parcel down, "you know how Ross is always saying we need to remember to be friendly to the customers and chat with them when we are serving them?"

"Yeah," Adeline's eyes widened, "what happened?"

"Well," Jaydee looked around the store, the only customers were a couple of the women who come in each afternoon for tea. They were out of earshot, so she continued, "yesterday there were two American tourists in here."

"The ranchers?" asked Adeline, her eyes widening even more, "the big guys with the cowboy books and the cowboy hats."

"That's them," Jaydee paused, "you weren't working. How did you know about them?"

"They came in last night when I was on," said Adeline, "and they were looking for you."

Jaydee gasped, "You're kidding?" Adeline shook her head.

"They were looking for me last night too?" Jaydee's voice was a loud whisper, "what did you tell them?"

"It wasn't me that talked to them," said Adeline, "it was Tracy, and she told them you were off for a couple of days."

"Oh," Jaydee sounded relieved, "thank God. I was worried for a moment."

"So, tell me about yesterday?" urged Adeline, her hands gripping the spray bottle as though she were about to strangle it. "What happened?"

"Well, these two guys come in," said Jaydee, "the two cowboys. And I know right away that they aren't from around here. Their accents alone gave them away. So, like Ross says all the time, I asked them to sign the guest book."

"So, we ask people to sign the guest book all the time," observed Adeline, "what's the big deal about that?"

"It wasn't the signing of the guest book that was the problem," said Jaydee quietly, "it was the conversation around the signing that was."

Adeline's face had no expression, "I don't get it." she said quietly.

"You will," replied Jaydee, "you will."

Jaydee stepped up to the counter and served a customer a large Chipperfield to go, before continuing, "So, these two guys invite me to sit down with them while they are signing the guest book. And they start chatting with me. I foolishly ask, 'what brings you to Canada?' and it turns out they both are looking to buy some ranch land up here, and so heard West Man was a good place to start looking."

"So?" said Adeline, looking bewildered slightly.

"It was the obvious attempt to pick me up that was the problem," said Jaydee her eyes glaring at Adeline.

"Pick you up?" Adeline said clearly confused, "but you're married. Why would they try to pick ..." her voice trailed off as her mouth formed a soundless 'O', "Oh I get it now!" She exclaimed.

"Exactly," said Jaydee, now smirking slightly, "these two were trying to pick me up right here in the store, all because I followed Ross' crazy edict that we need to chat up the customers and flirt with the a bit."

"Flirt with them?" marvelled Adeline, "he's never told ME to flirt with them."

"Okay, not exactly flirt with them," said Jaydee shaking her head, "those are my words not his. But you know what I mean. Ross wants us to be extra friendly to our customers and to make them feel special and important."

Adeline shrugged,"I guess it does sound like flirting doesn't it?"

Jaydee nodded her head in agreement, "So, anyway, these two guys both invite me to come along with them as they look at ranches and land and so on, then they offer to take me out for dinner and maybe some dancing in Brandon or somewhere."

Adeline's eyes were again wide with wonder, "Did you go?"

"NO!" hissed Jaydee under her breath, "but they wouldn't take no for an answer. They wanted to know what time I was off, and what my number was and so on."

"Why didn't you tell them you were married?" asked Adeline.

"I don't think they cared one way or another," said Jaydee, "they had one thing on their minds and it was ME."

"Wow," Adeline's mouth formed another 'O'. "Did you tell Ross about it?"

"Yeah," said Jaydee, her mouth forming a frown, "and he just laughed. He thought it was big joke or something. I told him about it and he said he was just trying to pimp us out for extra profits for the company."

"Seriously," Adeline's face was filled with shock and wonder, "He said that?"

"He was kidding," said Jaydee, doing her best to reassure Adeline, "but he didn't see the problem with the two cowboys trying to pick me up. He said 'consider it a compliment' and just laughed."

"So why are you giving him a gift?" Adeline motioned to the parcel Jaydee was holding, "if he's not taking you seriously is it a good idea to give him a present after all that?"

"Oh this present is more than a good idea," laughed Jaydee, "afterall, if he wants to pimp us out, he might as well look the part ..." Her voice trailed off as a customer came up to the counter and ordered a specialty latte. Adeline shook her head and went out to clear off the tables and use the spray bottle she had been holding so tightly.

(to be continued ...)