A Heartfelt Christmas Promise

by Nancy Naigle

  “When will you know something?” another man yelled from the back. “We’re all working double shifts to keep up with the orders. Business is good.”

  “Yeah, you could probably go home now,” another man scoffed. “Things are fine the way they are. There’s no such thing as good change.”

  “I can promise you that I’ll work as quickly as possible. I appreciate your help and patience through the process. Lilene, put us down for a two-week touch-base. Same place, same time. Hopefully we’ll be celebrating another good football night. Thank you.”

  Mike watched her step offstage on the high note, and head out the side door faster than a horse could canter. She hadn’t even paused for one question. She’d handled the crowd like a seasoned cowboy herding wayward calves.

  It was doubtful anyone else in the room even realized that she’d already made it out the door.

  Smart lady.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  When Vanessa stepped outside, the brisk air took her breath away. She pulled on her coat as she walked, lowering her head as she moved quickly around the corner toward the street. Luckily, a taxi was already parked there.

  At least, it looked like a taxi, with the removable white glowing TAXI sign on top of the driver’s side of the roof. Honestly, it looked more like a pizza-delivery car, but at this point she’d pay a hundred bucks to get back to the apartment.

  She slid into the backseat of the black Toyota. “Are you Jimmy?”

  “I am. Lilene asked me to be on standby tonight. Where to?”

  Not a taxi. The taxi. One for the whole town. There were probably six taxis to the block at home. “Back to the apartment.”

  “I know where that is.” He leaned forward, checking his mirrors, then slowly pulled away from the curb and drove down Main Street. From the backseat, she watched townsfolk walk out of the auditorium. No smiles. No joy. Some had their heads down, and some looked ready for a fight.

  She checked her phone. Still no response from Edward. It wasn’t like him to not respond at all. Anna had texted her, though.

  Vanessa raised her phone in the air, checking for a better signal.

  She texted Anna back. Spotty connection. I’ll call as soon as I get to the apartment.

  Vanessa had no idea what her driver’s affiliation was with Porter’s, but there was no sense in taking a risk by talking business in the car about things that no one else needed to know right now.

  Jimmy pulled his car in front of the warehouse. “Will you need me to take you anywhere else tonight?”

  “No, thank you.”

  He handed her a card. “Here’s my number you can contact me directly. Lilene already has the payment handled.”

  “Great.” She slung the car door shut and dialed Edward again as she ran inside. His phone went straight to voice mail again. This time she left him a detailed message, and asked for clarification on how to proceed.

  She’d closed down companies before, but never when locals had such confidence that nothing would change. As if they’d been made promises. Usually, the locals knew it was coming and why. This seemed sketchy, and she didn’t like that feeling at all. Knowing it had been Micky’s account, and that he wasn’t above that kind of deal, worried her most of all.

  She walked into the apartment and hung her coat next to the door. She was too tired to deal with cleaning it tonight.

  Kicking off her shoes, she lay across the couch and used the remote to turn on the gas log fireplace. One quick whoosh and the flames danced to life, flickering between the logs. She scooched from the couch to the floor, enjoying the soothing sound of the fire as she lay there thinking about the situation and thawing out.

  She dialed Anna. “Hi, Anna. It’s me.”

  “How’d it go tonight? It was your meeting with the employees, right?”

  “I’m glad it’s over. At least for now. Things have become complicated.”

  “How so?” Anna asked. “You handle this kind of business all the time.”

  “I know. I do. I have. It’s different this time, though. Several of the people in town seem to think there was a promise that things wouldn’t change. I don’t know if it’s hearsay, a handshake deal, or something that was in the contract, but my boss isn’t returning my calls, and frankly, there’s nothing in the papers I was given to prove or disprove it. Edward has always taken my calls in the past, but he’s gone radio silent.”

  “I hope he’s okay.” That was Anna. Always caring and concerned for others.

  “I hope he’s not hiding something from me. You should have seen their faces, etched with worry, hoping I’d tell them everything was going to be all right. I couldn’t lie to them.”

  “So, what did you tell them?”

  “The truth. I mentioned reallocation of the unused warehouse space. I promised I’d work quickly to assess the site, and that I needed their help to make those decisions.”

  “Well. That’s a promise you can keep, isn’t it?”

  Kind of. Bottom line was Edward wanted this cleared out and ready for January first and the clock was ticking. “Yes, except I’m sure it’s still going to result in a lot of unhappy people. Some of them will be able to transition into the warehouse positions that will come with the new business, but there are employees that have been with the company for over twenty years. They aren’t young enough for the kind of physical labor required for those positions.”

  “That’s not good. It’s hard for older people to get work, no matter what all the equal-opportunity people want to say.”

  “I know. I can usually reskill and reallocate across projects, but there’s a big difference between skills needed on this one.”

  “You’ll find a way. You’re always fair.”

  “I pride myself in that, but right now I feel like I may as well be green and stealing presents in this little Whoville town.”

  “You’ll get it straightened out.”

  “I’m just the one executing the project. I didn’t recommend shutting Porter’s down. That was Edward. I honestly think they can do both from my first look at things…”

  “But?”

  “I’ve never felt so personally responsible before. I guess I haven’t looked as closely at the people as I have here.”

  “Are you going to truly assess the site, and make recommendations? Or just do what your boss asked you to do?”

  “Edward doesn’t really like people challenging him on things. On quick jobs like this one, I usually fly in, sweep through all of the changes, and fly back with everything wrapped neatly in a bow.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure out the right thing to do. It’s rather late. How long did that meeting run?”

  Vanessa glanced at the clock on the wall. “Not long. I’d scheduled the meeting for five-thirty, but apparently this whole town goes to the football game. My assistant said I’d be facing an empty room unless we scheduled for after the game. So, she did. Have I told you all of this? It’s crazy. By the time the game ended and everyone left the ball field to get to the elementary school for the meeting it was almost nine.”

  “I’d have been too tired to listen. But football is fun. I haven’t been to a game in years. I loved watching you cheer when you were in high school. Cold nights in the stands, huddled up in scarves and blankets. Such great memories. Please tell me you at least went to the ball game and had a little fun.”

  “I did, as a matter of fact, and it was a lot more fun than I expected. I met some nice folks. And there’s this one older man I keep bumping into. He said I had to try the chicken stew. They make so much of it they stir it with a boat oar!”

  “Yeah, down here in Georgia we have something called chicken mull that’s in a milk base. Must be like that. They do the same thing. Seems rather unsanitary, but I guess it’s no different than stirring with a wooden spoon. A giant one.”

  “I really liked the chicken stew. Well, until one of the guys sitting in front of me at the ball game accidentally knocked me and it spilled dow
n the front of my coat.”

  “I hope it wasn’t hot.”

  “No. I’m fine. It had cooled down, and the guy who bumped into me was really nice about it. In fact, he asked me to go to the Christmas parade with him.”

  “I hope you said yes to the parade.”

  “I did. I’m not exactly sure why I did, but I’m looking forward to going.”

  “Good. You deserve some fun, and I can’t wait to join you and share in it. You’re already doing a good job of keeping your promise to balance some fun with the workload.”

  “I guess I am.”

  “Good. Keep it up. I can’t wait to get there so we can have some fun together.”

  “It’s going to be great. I need to have Lilene figure out where you can stay. They put me up in this little corporate apartment at one of the warehouses. It’s fine for one person, but it’s not that big, and it’s kind of off the beaten track. I’ll get her to find a place for us.”

  “Don’t go to big trouble. I could sleep on the couch.”

  “No. If anyone is doing any couch sleeping it’ll be me.”

  “I can find somewhere. I’m quite resourceful, you know.”

  A heavy emptiness hung over her. “I miss you, Anna.”

  “Well, it won’t be as long as it has been.”

  “Thank goodness,” Vanessa said. “It’ll be great to see you.”

  “You get some rest. You can handle whatever this situation is. 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 grateful to be working for you. No matter if we get the projects in the cool cities or not, I wouldn’t change my position to be working for any other person in this firm. I just wanted you to know that.”

  “Thank you, Kendra. I really appreciate all you do.”

  She hung up the phone thankful that it wouldn’t be long before she’d be spending time with Anna over the holidays.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “I just put those last two meetings you asked me to set up on your calendar,” Lilene said proudly from the door.

  Vanessa straightened in her seat. It was the third time Lilene had startled her today. She just poked her head in the office and started talking like Vanessa had nothing else to do but wait for her next story.

  Why couldn’t she at least knock?

  Pasting an appreciative smile on her face, she thanked Lilene. With the office closing early for the holiday, she’d been worried Lilene wouldn’t get them scheduled before everyone left for the day.

  Edna Barkley and Bill Campbell had more years of service than anyone else at Porter’s. They’d probably cut their teeth on fruitcake, they’d started at such a young age. Or chipped a tooth. Vanessa giggled at her own terrible joke. Folks around here wouldn’t have found it funny. They loved fruitcake. Wore it like a badge of honor.

  “You’re just going to love them,” Lilene said from the door. “They are two of our longest-tenured employees. They know everything about the history of Porter’s.” Lilene clapped her hands, so excited for Vanessa to meet them.

  A knot formed in Vanessa’s stomach. I’m doing the right thing. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t forget about Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I sent you the address in a little email earlier so you can just print it and tuck it into your pocket. I’m not going to ask if you’re coming, you just be there. Edna is already here.” Lilene stepped farther into the office, pulling the door closed a bit. “She’s always early for every
thing,” she whispered across the room. “Should I send her on in?”

  “Sure.” Vanessa took a long sip of her coffee.

  Lilene walked Edna into the room. An attractive woman, she had hair as white as if she’d been caught under the powdered-sugar duster. Her rosy cheeks lifted a smidge when she smiled, as if recognizing an old friend in a crowd. Her sassy blue tortoiseshell eyeglasses matched her blazer.

  “It’s so nice to meet you, Ms. Larkin.” Edna approached the desk.

  Vanessa stood and came around her desk, extending a warm handshake.

  “I’m a hugger.” Edna had completely ignored Vanessa’s extended hand.

  Vanessa stiffened at her touch, closing her eyes as Edna spoke.

  “Everyone is family around here. Welcome to our town. You’ve come at such a great time of the year.”

  Vanessa harrumphed under the squeeze of Edna’s enthusiastic hug. “Thank you,” she managed as she broke free and smoothed her shirt while escaping to the security of being behind her desk. “Have a seat.”

  Lilene still stood there, beaming.

  “You can close the door on your way out,” Vanessa said to Lilene.

  “Oh. Yes. Right.” Lilene scurried from the room.

  “Thank you for your years of service, Edna. I was reviewing all of the personnel files and yours is quite impressive.”

  Edna glowed. “I love this company. Porter’s is my whole life. I started on the factory floor, even improved the recipe a few times over the years to help make it easier to ship to our customers across the country. Now I oversee the quality of our products. My name, or someone on my team, signs off on every batch.” With a snap, she’d tugged an ink pen from her blazer pocket. “Personally sign off on them.” She squiggled her autograph in the air.