Everything will come together in good time.”
Vanessa hung up and laid her phone aside feeling more confident about the task ahead. Anna had a way, as Mom always had, of making her believe anything was possible.
* * *
The next morning, rain blew sideways, making yesterday’s pretty blue mountains nothing but a soaking gray blob. She’d already texted Jimmy, who was on his way.
Downstairs waiting, she checked messages until she heard his horn honk. When she opened the door, the wind caught it and dragged her outside, almost yanking her off her feet. She stutter-stepped to regain her footing, then slammed the door behind her and ran for the car.
“Thanks for coming. It’s a mess out here,” she said.
“At least it’s not snow.”
“I don’t mind snow. I’m from Chicago. I can deal with snow.”
He drove her to the office without another word. “Here we are,” he said as he pulled in along the curb. “Have a good day.”
“You too.” Raindrops dropped, fat and rapid, on and around her as she made a dash for the front door of Porter’s. She worked her key in the lock and let herself inside. It was quiet, but it still smelled of sugar and nuts and sweet confectionery and now she craved a pastry to go with the coffee she desperately needed.
Moving through the dim store, she made her way to the staircase that led to the offices. She wondered if running three shifts was an option for this space. She’d have to check into local ordinances. A third shift could give more opportunities to keep employees in their original roles if they didn’t qualify for reskilling into warehouse positions. Plus, they could fulfill all the pending orders before the holidays and move all hands on deck to the transition date on New Year’s.
She turned on the lights upstairs, and started the coffee. In her office, Lilene had set out the reports she’d requested exactly as Vanessa had asked. Lilene was proving to be very dependable. She spread the them out across her desk, then grabbed a cup of coffee and got down to work.
By the time she’d reviewed everything, she’d separated the employees into four lists.
Lilene marched into the room with that ever-present smile. “Good morning, early bird. Why didn’t ya call and let me know you were coming in early? I’d have been happy to accompany you. Can I get you some more coffee?”
Vanessa flipped her wrist, checking the time. “Yes. I have time for one more before meeting the guys at the warehouse. Thank you.” She picked up the phone and called Chicago. “Kendra? How are things going?”
“Quiet. It’s the day before Thanksgiving. Just about everyone is out of the office.”
“I need a couple of incentive retirement packages, like the ones we did in Jersey last spring. Can you get them pulled together for me? Today would be great. I’d rather not push this until next week.”
“Sure thing,” Kendra said. “I saw Michael in the break room earlier. I’ll grab him to sign off on them.”
“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver. As usual. I’ll send you all the details.”
“No problem.”
“As soon as we get that done, you can take off.”
“I’ll be in on Friday. Anything to keep my sisters from dragging me Black Friday shopping.”
“Whatever you decide. I have another question for you. I’ve been trying to reach Edward and he’s not answering his phone. Any idea what’s going on there?”
“I heard he flew out to Paris with Micky and Gary.”
“If he’d put us on that project, he wouldn’t have had to fly out to hold our hands to get the project done.”
“You know that’s right,” Kendra said. “I don’t know what he was thinking giving it to those guys.”
“Can you please pull Micky’s contracts with Porter’s and send them to me? I’m looking for any addendums to the original contracts. Any promises to keep things status quo for a certain amount of time. That kind of stuff.”
“Sure. Is something wrong?”
“Something isn’t adding up.”
“Coming from Micky’s project? I’m not surprised. I’ll look at them and get them right over.”
“Thanks for everything. Have a nice Thanksgiving with your family, Kendra.”
“Oh, I will. I hope you find a good way to celebrate Thanksgiving too,” said Kendra.
Lilene’s offer popped into Vanessa’s mind, and as nice as it was, could she … should she do family dinner with the people she was evaluating? Mixing business and pleasure was never a good idea, but she hated to hurt Lilene’s feelings too.
“Vanessa, I want you to know that I’m really