As she undressed, she dialed her dad’s number and put him on speaker.
“Hello again, pumpkin. Lost you in Culver Park?”
“You know it.” She left the phone on the chipped second-hand dresser and moved into the bathroom.
“Glad you got home safe,” he said.
“Thank you, Dad.” She grabbed a hair tie and pulled her brown tresses into a ponytail. She felt slightly naughty, talking to her dad while naked from head to toe – but she found she also enjoyed the secrecy of it, the unspoken deception. It made her feel ever so slightly mischievous. Like it was something she shouldn’t be doing – but she didn’t see any harm either.
“So did you get the movie?” he asked.
“I did! Seventh Sacrifice, 1979, directed by Douglas Pierce. That’s the one, right?”
“That’s the one. I think you’re going to love it.”
Juliet had inherited her love of horror movies from her dad, whose encyclopedic knowledge of obscure films from before she was born had inspired her. Their mutual love of haunted-house stories and ghostly tales had brought them together even as it annoyed her mother. In Juliet’s teen years, her mother’s annoyance had gone from inconvenience to asset – a way to bond with her father while quietly defying her mother. To this day, Juliet still felt a tingle of satisfaction when they settled in to watch a new horror movie together.
“I can’t wait,” she said, looking at herself briefly in the mirror as she talked. Her self-esteem had never been sky-high, but long hours standing at Midnight Dreams, combined with poverty, had melted off her high-school weight and left her stomach trim and her muscles defined. Best of all, she hadn’t lost her breasts in the weight loss. They stayed big and round.
Her job and life situation was far from ideal, but at least she liked what she saw.
“Me neither,” her dad said. “I look forward to it all week.”
She blushed to hear his voice, suddenly self-conscious about her nakedness, but – once again – enjoying it at the same time.
“I’ll be there tomorrow night, right after work,” she said, doing a little twist and hop in front of the mirror. “You make the popcorn.”
“Always. I’ll see you then. Love you, pumpkin.”
“Love you, Dad.”
Juliet walked to the phone and thumbed the hang-up icon, then flopped into her messy unmade bed and stared at the ceiling. She lay there for a long time, thinking. Thinking about the cute customer who had left her his card. Thinking about her dad’s soothing, tranquil voice. Thinking other, more dangerous thoughts she didn’t yet dare give voice or form.
She wormed her way under the covers and fell asleep that way, the comforting thought of his voice lulling her into sleep.
***
Her next shift at work was uneventful but lonely. She was alone in the video store on a Thursday, which always made her nervous, especially as the creep factor tended to get worse as the night went on.
But tonight, for whatever reason, the creeps were relatively few and far between. The one regular who was obsessed with kung fu movies hit on her, as he always did. She declined, as she always did. He left without remark.