The new stock delivery was almost counted in when it began to rain softly on the last few stacked boxes of soap. Rushing outside to pick up the last half dozen boxes before they turned to suds, Piper hoped the contents would not be ruined by the weather before she could bring them all into the dry stock cupboard. They had invested a lot of their business loan in these supplies and they could ill afford to have anything wasted by an unexpected downpour. She inwardly cursed the lazy ass driver for dumping the boxes outside as he rushed off to another address, too hurried to wait while Piper inspected each individual box for any possible damage or missing items.

She stacked the last box in the stock room before continuing to open each box to check contents. "Piper? Piper what are you doing down here? It's past 6 and I'd like to go home and eat something that doesn't smell like soap if you're done napping!" Piper's business partner and best friend, Polly was standing in the doorway now waiting expectantly. "Sorry, I was just checking we got what we paid for from this shipment. I think some of the labels might have got wet in the rain..." She went back to start counting the labels out to see how many were damaged. "Piper, seriously. We are not going to be bankrupt from a few soggy labels. We could starve to death though...so if you're done, can we lock up?" Piper knew she wouldn't sleep if there was a possibility any of this stock was damaged and it hadn't been reported to the supplier immediately, so she smiled and sent Polly on her way while she finished up.

As she took inventory, she remembered how far they had both come to get this business up and running. It was still early days for PoPi, with their store being open only a couple of months now. Of course, they could never have afforded a store in Brooklyn if it hadn't been for some excellent work by Polly to secure the necessary bank loans and investments. They would still be operating out of Polly's kitchen and be elbow deep in soap mixture every night.

Noting 20 soggy 'silent night' body lotion labels and a batch of 'sea kelp' soaps that had bashed corners, Piper turned out the lights and set about locking up for the night. She would complain to the suppliers tomorrow that their drivers need to take more care and would get reimbursed for the damages. Every cent counts, right? She made her way to the subway station for the short ride back to her apartment.

It was after 8 when Piper arrived home to her dark apartment. She threw her keys onto the coffee table and opened the fridge, praying there'd be something edible inside. Reheated pizza was on the menu which was probably a day past being thrown out. It tasted like cardboard, but at least a bottle of red wine could make it more palatable. She fished her phone from her handbag and saw that it was completely dead. Plugging it in, she uncorked the bottle of red and poured out a generous half glass as the pizza pinged in the microwave.

Taking a seat at the kitchen table, her phone beeped into life. Three messages flashed on the screen. Her Mother had left a voicemail inviting her to a 60th birthday party for her Grandmother's gardener this weekend. She always liked Joe, so it might be worth heading out to Boston for the night to say hi. Polly has left a couple of messages too, the first to check she hadn't stayed at the shop too late and the second to ask Piper to check if she had left her phone on the counter in the shop. Oops, guess it's too late to check now anyhow.

Piper forced down the last bit of pizza with a second glass of red before heading into the bathroom for a quick shower. It had been a long day and she knew she had to be in early tomorrow to call the suppliers before the shop opened. Polly was taking the day off to get ready for a hot date, so she was on her own to look after everything.

She headed to her bedroom, changing into some fleecy PJs before slipping between the sheets and falling into a deep slumber.

Piper was up early the next morning, already pumped to talk with the supplier customer services department. She stopped at the coffee shop on the corner as she left the subway station and got an extra shot of espresso in her skinny latte to go before heading through the back door of the shop. Picking up the inventory on her way into the office, she sat and dialled the number of the customer services department.

"Hello, NY Logistics. How can I help you?" A strong New York accent answered the phone after several rings. Piper gulped down a mouthful of coffee and responded quickly " Hi, I'm one of the owners of PoPi in Brooklyn and we got a delivery from your company yesterday. Our order was damaged and I wanted to let you know as soon as possible so you can make some improvements to your services." There was a pause on the line as Piper waited for a reply from the customer service operative. The pause continued and Piper wasn't sure the call was still connected.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes."

"Oh, OK. Great, so you heard me say my delivered goods were damaged?"

"Yep."

"So we want you to improve your services if you want to continue to get our business."

...silence

"Did you hear me? I don't think you understand that I'm very unhappy with the service you are providing and we could take our business elsewhere if you don't keep us happy."

"Listen lady, you placed an order with us to deliver 6 boxes across town. It's hardly a million dollar contract we are talking about here. Plus you made our guy late to his next delivery with your calculator antics. You're actually in breach of your contract with us if you read the small print."

Piper was not expecting that. Shit.

"Well...I will have to speak to your manager about that. You're not getting the money for those broken shipments until I speak to someone more senior."

"Sure lady. I will leave a note."

The line went dead. What the Hell just happened?! Piper hadn't signed the logistics contract so had no idea that it might contain such a clause that they could'nt delay the delivery drivers. She had to speak to Polly. Piper dialled her number and walked into the store to start opening up. A phone started ringing on the counter...shit. Polly did leave her phone at work then.

Calling Polly at home, Piper was still angry with the fact the supplier got the upper hand on her.

"Pol! Thank God I got you. You won't believe what just fucking happened! I just spoke to this really annoying woman on the phone because 20 of those 'silent night' labels got damaged in the rain last night and that soo wasn't my fault because-".

"Piper, stop. Breathe. What the fuck is your point? I'm heading out for a manicure in 5 minutes and you PROMISED me a long overdue day off from soap talk today. And thanks for letting me know you got home OK last night."

"Oh, yes. Sorry, got home OK. Right, I have to see the contracts you signed with the logistics company. They are saying we are in beach of our contract from making their driver late, so I need to check the contract over."

"What the fuck Piper?! They are just messing with you. Did you start a reasonable conversation with them or did you go all Rambo on them from the start?"

"I was fair. I just want to check what you signed up to..."

"Seriously? You don't think I checked what I was signing?! You're going there are you? You weren't exactly accessible for checking contracts over when you were incarcerated for 12 months and left me on my own to set all of this up Piper..."

Piper closed her eyes and pressed her head against the counter. Her foot in mouth disease strikes again. Polly had her bang to rights and she realised she had little involvement in getting the contracts in place for this venture. Piper had walked out of Litchfield Prison and straight into co-owning a new business a year ago. She had much to be grateful to Polly for and felt really bad all of a sudden.

"You're right Pol. I shouldn't have interrupted your day off with this. Forget I said anything and let me make it up to you tonight with drinks."

"As much as I'd normally snap up such an offer, I already have a date tonight dumb ass. I will take a rain check to cash in another time though, so don't think I will forget. Oh, did you find my phone by the way?"

"Sure, no worries. Yes, your phone is here at the store. I'll put it on charge for when you're in again tomorrow. Hopefully I won't fuck anything up without you eh?" Piper laughed humbly as she was relieved at not making the situation any worse. She said her goodbyes to Polly and set to work at tidying the shelves up.

Piper was serving a customer at the counter when Polly's phone started ringing. She carried on packing the order when the phone started ringing for a second time. Reminded that she was supposed to charge the phone, Piper was on her way to plug the phone in when a new text popped onto the screen. As she plugged it in, the text lit up - 'We need to talk. SC' Piper didn't want to appear like she was being nosy, especially after stepping on Polly's toes once today already. So she left the phone charging and forgot about it.

Just before closing time, Piper heard the door chime as a customer walked into the store. The short red-head didn't seem to be in any hurry to buy anything and strolled around the shelves. Inwardly cursing her chance of an early finish disappearing whilst this person browsed the shelves, Piper tried to hurry them along.

"Welcome to PoPi. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

The red-head didn't even turn to look at her when she replied. "You could say that."

Piper waited a couple of seconds for her to elaborate, but the red-head just meandered further along the store and towards the counter.

Frustrated that she was practically chasing the customer around the store for the potential sale, Piper headed over to the counter to press further. "Perhaps I can help if you tell me what you are looking for?"

Looking beyond the counter to the back office door and seeing nobody behind the counter, the red-head seemed perturbed by Piper's buzzing around her. "Not what. Who."

"I'm sorry?" Piper didn't have the energy for guessing games and was less interested in the customer now it sounded like a soap sale was unlikely.

"I'm looking for the owner."

"Oh well, in that case I can help you as I am the owner."

"Cool. You wanted to speak to my boss about your delivery contract or something. She said, and I quote 'If it's so fucking important to speak to me, maybe you can pick up your fucking phone'. She asked me to deliver the message since you don't seem to be very good at, you know, answering a phone. So there you go. Message delivered. This shit smells good by the way." She shrugged her shoulders as she walked out of the front door, leaving Piper standing with her hands on her hips.

Piper made her way to close the front door before anyone else delayed her closing up for the night. She turned off the lights and went to the back office to pick up her bag when Polly rushed in through the back door.

"Hey Pol, you look amazing! Wait, you are not having your date in the store are you because there are loads of candles to set the mood and not a fucking drop of alcohol to help you in there..."

"Thanks. And no, shit head I am not meeting my date here. I just wanted to pick up my phone so I can text you an SOS if he turns out to be a total bore. Or a nerd. Or a Mummy's boy. Did you charge it?"

"Yep, it's right here. I didn't realise I was on call tonight. I can still drink and text your escape plan can't I?"

"Haha, of course. I will call you twice so you know it's an emergency, so you'd better pick up wing woman!"

"Count on me Ma'am. Oh someone called you twice earlier, was that another SOS wing woman you got yourself there? Am I being replaced?" Piper laughed and nudged Polly out of the door as she locked up for the night.

"What? No, of course not! It's probably my Mum."

"Nope. Think it was 'SC' who was trying to talk to you...who's that then...Secret Comrade? Saucy Creampie?"

"Ew, no. Don't know who that is, but I gotta run Pipes or my nerdy date might stand me up before I need you to rescue me!"