My Only Christmas Wish

by J. M. Jeffries

  “I had our HR people attend once, but they had a hard time weeding out undesirables,” Arnold replied. “I just didn’t think it was worth our time.”

  “I see. So do you think Walmart considers this a waste of their time?” Walmart was Eli’s major competitor. He watched as a matronly looking woman in a blue Walmart apron handed a pencil to an elderly man who bent over a clipboard.

  “Um—um,” Arnold sputtered.

  “I’m here right now. I want a table and you with a hiring team here in one hour.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. Make it happen, Arnold.” Eli disconnected and went to find an apron.

  Once in line and shoveling food onto paper plates, he watched Darcy zip back and forth. She even had a corner of the warehouse dedicated to medical and dental needs.

  “You’re a newcomer. First time I’ve seen you,” the woman next to Eli said as she dished potatoes onto a waiting plate.

  “I’m Eli,” he said. A teenage boy held out his plate. His hand shook as Eli dropped mixed veggies onto the plate.

  “I’m Nancie,” she said. “I come every time.”

  She had a round motherly face, dark brown hair that curled tightly about her face and huge brown eyes with the longest fake eyelashes he’d ever seen. He glanced down at her yellow shirt. On the pocket the word Goodies was embroidered in bright blue and green. “You look familiar.”

  “I should. I own Goodies restaurant chain and my photo is plastered all over billboards between here and Kansas City.” She gave a throaty laugh.

  “And you do this every time?”

  “I can stop a corporate takeover with one raised eyebrow, but I can’t turn that Darcy down. She’s the sweetest thang.” She grinned at a little girl who waved shyly at her. “And I always find a couple workers for my chains. Most of these people really want to work, they are just a little overwhelmed. I know how they feel. Twenty years ago me and my kids were sleeping in our car after my low-down, dirty cheating husband left me. If not for Darcy’s grandfather, I’d still be sleeping in my car.”

  Darcy was a person who just sounded too good to be true. Today he was seeing a new side to her. He knew her business reputation, but not this depth of involvement in her charities. She involved herself and he just wrote a check.

  How did he outmaneuver a woman with this kind of reputation? A part of him wanted to just win. He didn’t care if the prize was a rock, he wanted to win it. But another part of him wanted to impress her and he didn’t understand why.

  Darcy Bennett was a dynamo. Few people seemed able to keep up with her. Since Black Friday, he’d settled into an uneasy truce with Darcy. He watched her and she watched him. He could see her buffing up her war strategy.

  Everyone employed in the store was part of Team Darcy and he could see their loyalty was unshakeable. Even his daughter had joined the team and made Eli feel like an ogre for even suggesting any changes.

  “Eli Austin,” came a voice from behind him.

  “Michael Duncan,” Eli said, reaching out to shake the other man’s hand as he jostled into position taking Nancie’s spot. Nancie grinned at Eli as she walked away. “Don’t tell me you’re doing your Christmas shopping here at the warehouse?”

  Mike didn’t laugh. He picked up his spoon. “I’m taking a little break from the job fair.” He pointed with the spoon at the tables and Eli realized one table was marked Duncan Auto Parts.

  Michael Duncan was a tall man who kept fit with an exercise regimen that made Eli wince. “When I do shop, trust me, it’s Bennett’s all the way. I’m not allowed to go anywhere else.”

  “Why not?” Though he had to admit to himself he couldn’t see Michael doing his Christmas shopping at Dollar Bin.

  Michael replied, “My wife has a personal shopper at Bennett’s and all I have to do is write a check once a month and pay for everything.”

  “I’m happy to hear that,” Eli said, mentally tallying up the amount a personal shopper was likely to spend for Michael’s wife.

  “How are you doing?” Michael asked casually.

  Eli hadn’t seen Michael since Angela’s funeral and he realized Michael was uncomfortable for some reason. “I’m doing well.”

  “I heard through the grapevine that you’d purchased Bennett’s. How’s that going for you?”

  “It’s a learning experience,” Eli conceded as he watched Darcy dart after a crying toddler. She picked up the child and cuddled the little girl against her shoulder and Eli was reminded of Sophia who had started talking nonstop about how nice Darcy was and how much she loved being at Bennett’s.

  “Let me tell you,” Michael continued, “you have my wife in a panic.”

  Eli glanced curiously at him. “And why is that?” A young woman with a baby in her arms held out a plate. Eli scooped veggies onto it. She smiled at him as she moved down the line.

  “My wife is worried you’re going to turn Bennett’s into a glorified Dollar Bin. She has been shopping nonstop, stocking up on everything she thinks she’ll need in the future and won’t be able to get because you’ve changed the store’s mission statement.”

  That statement made Eli pause. “Is Bennett’s that important?” He was totally bewildered by the women who shopped at Bennett’s and their fierce loyalty to the store and Darcy.

  Michael chuckled. “You’d have a better chance of taking the Braves away from Atlanta than changing Bennett’s. You’re a brave man, Eli, especially going up against Darcy. That woman looks all sweet and nice and well mannered, but deep down inside where it counts, she’s a badger. She will go after anything and never stop until she has it gift wrapped in Bennett’s special wrapping paper.”

  “You don’t think anything about Bennett’s should change,” Eli said cautiously.

  Michael shrugged. “What I think really doesn’t matter, what I do know is that the people of Atlanta won’t be happy if you do. Bennett’s is an institution and Darcy does a lot of good here. If you do anything—”

  Eli laughed. “You make it sound like I’m going to burn the store to the ground and turn her out into the hard, cold world.”

  “I have two words for you. New Coke.”

  That startled Eli. He remembered the misguided marketing campaign. “I guess any decisions I may make bears some thinking about.”

  “Not only once or twice, but ten or fifteen times. Whitman Bennett must be rolling over in his grave now that the store is out of the family. My grandmother shopped here even before it turned into what it is now and my mom shopped here even when she didn’t have the money. I came here as a little boy and played with the toys in the toy department, taking them out of their boxes and building my own little empire on the floor. Not one person ever scolded me even though they knew I couldn’t afford even one of those toys.”

  “You’re being sentimental,” Eli said. One of the first things he’d learned about business was to put sentimentality aside.

  “I’m being practical and saving my marriage.” Michael Duncan said as he served the next person in line.

  By the time the day ended and the last of the volunteers had packed up their tables and chairs, Eli realized he was tired. In fact, he was exhausted, which made him wonder how Darcy could still have as much energy as she did. Yet, he felt good. He felt…satisfied in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time, especially after Arnie arrived and set up a hiring table.

  Sophia had joined him later in the day. Darcy had assigned someone to watch his daughter. And later, Eli’s mother had arrived and found herself corralled into helping as well. When his mother left, Sophia dug her feet in wanting to stay longer but Eli could see she was tired.

  “How many job applications did you take, Arnie?” Eli asked as Arnie folded up the last chair.

  “A few,” Arnie replied.

  Darcy walked up
and studied Arnold. “Only a few?”

  “I took a hundred and seven,” Arnold said with a resigned sigh. “And one application for that opening in the accounting department.”

  “Good.”

  “I thought only homeless people and street bums would be here.”

  Darcy’s gaze sharpened as she walked past, her arms folded around a large pile of folders. “Everybody thinks that until they attend one. A bad economy hits everybody. I’ve had former executives from Fortune 500 hundred companies show up here willing to take anything to keep their families afloat. I know a man who used to be president of a huge freight company who is now a barista in a coffee shop.”

  Arnie looked uncomfortable and Eli held back amusement, happy someone else was at the end of her sharp tongue and not him.

  Arnie closed his brief case with a snap. “I have to get home.”

  “Thank you for coming,” Darcy said. “Can I count on you for the spring event?”

  Again, Arnie looked uncomfortable, but he glanced at Eli. His mouth opened then closed. “We’ll be here,” Eli said with a sharp look at Arnie.

  Arnold simply looked resigned as he headed toward the door. Someone started turning off lights and Darcy reached for her coat.

  “How about dinner?” Eli asked, just as surprised at his words as she looked.

  She paused in the act of putting one arm into the sleeve. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  “You act like you don’t want to go home.”

  “I don’t,” she replied as she buttoned up her coat with no further explanation.

  The warehouse took on a drafty, empty feel as he walked her to the door. The night shift had come on and a lift truck trundled along, bring a pallet from the loading dock.

  “It was pretty amazing today,” Eli said.

  She stopped and he deftly stepped aside to not bump into her. “You’ve never worked any type of charity function before.”

  “I write a check and usually my mom acts in my stead.” Or Angela had. She’d been into charitable volunteering and Eli had always given money.

  She gazed up at him. “You don’t have a lot of fun in your life, do you?”

  He stared at her as he opened the door and they stepped out into the cool, crisp evening air. “You think this is fun?” Fun for Eli was winning. When he played golf with some of his business associates, he played to win, while they played to relax. His country club membership was about making contacts, not about socializing.

  “Helping people and making things happen for them makes me happy.”

  They stood outside on the street, their breaths spirals of steam in the cold air. She pulled gloves on her long slender hands and knotted a scarf about her neck, pulling up her collar.

  “Where’s your car?”

  “I walked,” she said. “It’s six blocks from my home.”

  “You walked? This isn’t the safest neighborhood in Atlanta.”

  “Like I said, it was only six blocks.”

  He guided her to his car and opened the door. She slid inside.

  “How about Infinity?” he asked as his Escalade purred to life.

  “I’m a little underdressed for Infinity.”

  “I doubt anyone would notice.”

  “I’d rather go to Goodies.”

  “Goodies! I can take you anywhere.” Not that Goodies was bad, even though he’d never eaten there. He liked the service and the intimate serenity at Infinity.

  “Goodies is one of my favorite places. Plus, I believe in patronizing the businesses that support my charity.”

  “I can’t quite picture you shopping in Dollar Bin.” He fantasized about her prancing down an aisle looking too regal and too haughty to shop at Dollar Bin.

  “Laundry soap is laundry soap and even I like a bargain,” she replied.

  The SUV moved smoothly out into traffic. The heat blasted out and she opened the scarf about her neck a bit.

  “You have shopped in Dollar Bin?”

  “Sure, there’s one on the way home from work and it’s open until midnight.”

  “I’m just…just baffled.”

  She glanced at him. “Don’t you shop at your own store?”

  “I have no idea where my staff gets the laundry soap from.” Though his staff probably did buy it from Dollar Bin, he just didn’t know.

  “For a guy who runs his business with an iron thumb, you sure don’t watch your pennies, do you?”

  “That isn’t the point.” He did watch his pennies. When he inherited his father’s store, they had nothing. His father had spent too much time trying to compete with Bennett’s rather than figure out what niche he could occupy. They’d been scraping by and Eli saw what was needed and turned the store into the first Dollar Bin.

  “It is the point. People who watch their pennies are in much better economic shape than those who don’t.”

  “You can’t blame the economic crisis on people who didn’t watch their pennies.” There were things he could do better, but there were also things about his empire that were good. He could improve on employee loyalty. Seeing Bennett’s stable employee base did help the profits. Instead of training new personnel all the time, his employees could focus on customer loyalty.

  “No, I blame it on the government, though that answer is way too simple,” Darcy contended. “A lot of different areas of business are at fault for the problems we’re experiencing right now.”

  “Then people shouldn’t be shopping at high-end department stores.” Though he could tell that people felt good shopping at Bennett’s. How could he make people feel good shopping at Dollar Bin?

  “Touché,” she said. “Score one for the Dollar Bin king.”

  Eli felt a thrill of pride. He’d outthought her for the first time since he’d walked into Bennett’s. Yet at the same time, he was completely aware of her perfume wafting through the SUV and the way her coat molded to her body. He kept telling himself he didn’t want to be attracted to her, yet he was and the feeling was growing stronger.

  “There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a little fantasy if you can afford it. There are always going to be people with money and there will always be people without money. And we should always be ready to give a helping hand to those less fortunate.”

  “Like finding them jobs?”

  “Exactly,” she snapped impatiently. “I was raised to understand that just because I have money doesn’t mean I can ignore what needs to be done.”

  They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence as Eli drove to the nearest Goodies following Darcy’s instructions. He’d started to regret his impulsive invitation. Maybe he should have simply taken her home.

  As they moved through the downtown area, he saw that Atlanta was finally completely dressed in its Christmas clothes. Blinking Christmas lights twined around fir trees and store windows blazed with electronic Santas. Light standards held large wreaths that tinkled around banners advertising various events happening around the city during the holiday season. Christmas was finally in the air and while it had never been his favorite holiday, his daughter adored it. He tried to make every Christmas work for her, though at times his heart wasn’t in tune with the merriment of the season.

  When they arrived at Goodies, the parking lot was half-empty.

  “Evening, Ms. Darcy,” the hostess called as they entered.

  “Good evening, Anne.”

  Eli had never been in Goodies before. He glanced around, surprised at how homey it was. On his right was a gift shop and on his left was a bakery from which the most heavenly smells originated. The hostess led them into the dining room and he saw lots of red-and-white booths with families at them and amazing smells that started his taste buds salivating.

  Darcy took off her coat, folded it and set it on t
he bench next to her as she scooted in to sit down. Eli sat across from her.

  “You’ve never been here before, have you?” she asked.

  He shook his head.

  “You’re in for a surprise.”

  Eli read through the menu. “What do you recommend?”

  “I have to confess I’m a sucker for Nancie’s meat loaf.”

  “Meat loaf!”

  “Yes, Nancie, in her own words, says she specializes in ‘broke’ food.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s food that goes a long way when you don’t have a lot of money. Macaroni and cheese is ‘broke’ food. Potatoes are ‘broke’ food. You put hamburger and cheese on top to make it last longer and go further.”

  A waitress came for their order and Eli decided to try the meat loaf. His mother used to make a pretty mean one and he hoped Goodies compared.

  He settled back against the bench. “Tell me how the job fair works for you?”

  “There’s this perception that people who don’t have a job don’t want to work, but I’ve hired more people than you can imagine at the fair for so much of my seasonal needs and have rarely been disappointed. Even college students come.”

  “I thought everyone at Bennett’s had been there since the dawn of time.” Looking at the personnel files he could tell they had a low turnover compared to other companies, especially Dollar Bin.

  “People’s lives change,” Darcy said. “They move, or they retire. They graduate from college and get jobs in their professions. I use the job fair to fill my openings and a lot of them turn into full-time employees. I believe in training people in the business of working. Many of my employees have really listened and gone on to better jobs. If I could pay my employees a hundred grand a year each, I would. I do not treat my employees as commodities. They are worth their weight in gold. I try to help people make better lives for themselves.”

  The waitress brought a basket of hot rolls. Eli inhaled the smell. The yeasty aroma was enough to make his taste buds sit up and take notice even as his mind grappled with Darcy’s statement. His turnover rate was deplorable. He felt a little guilty because he did treat his employees as commodities. Even in this bad economy his turnover was still high.